You conveniently left out Arrival. Also, Blade Runner 2049 was not a remake, but a sequel with original content. Also, Dune was a book adaptation, not a remake. Also, that's just a weird reason to reject a director. Is it easier to direct a movie that's set in an existing universe? Should we reject all World War 2 movies as potential masterpieces since they're just remakes of a thing that happened?
Just to further your point, we are in a thread about Kubrick who did numerous book adaptations including Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining, and Clockwork Orange and this is just off the top of my head. Tons of directors adapt novels. Bringing the story to the screen is the skill.
As an aside, 2001 is an interesting case as it was produced concurrently with the novel. It's clearly not an adaptation, but I wouldn't say it's clearly original material either.
