Writing’s hard work. Any creative endeavor is. So sometimes it’s good to step away from the computer and let your mind empty. I sit in front of a jigsaw puzzle. Some people I know play video games, while others go work out. (The latter would clearly be better than jigsaw puzzles but I’ve been using puzzles as a palate cleanser since I was a teen and old habits die very hard.)
Movies are always a good way to escape. But maybe not too far—here, for your enjoyment, is a list of movies about writers. (No pronouncements made as to their artistic quality.) It’s incomplete, of course, but these are flicks I’ve seen. (I was astonished at the length of the list … but you’ve always known where my interests lie.)
About Real Authors (more or less)
Adaptation (Charlie Kaufman, Susan Orlean) / 2002
An Angel at My Table (Janet Frame) / 1990
Becoming Jane (Jane Austen) / 2007 *
Bright Star (John Keats) / 2009
Capote (Truman Capote) / 2005
Eat Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert) / 2010
Finding Neverland (J. M. Barrie) / 2004
Gothic (Mary Shelley) / 1986
Hans Christian Anderson / 1952
Haunted Summer (Lord Byron, Percy Shelley) / 1988
Henry & June (Anaïs Nin) / 1990
Hoax, The (Clifford Irving) / 2007
Howl (Allen Ginsberg) / 2010
Hours, The (Virginia Woolf) / 2002
Il Postino (Pablo Neruda) / 1994 *
Infamous (Truman Capote) / 2006
In Love and War (Ernest Hemingway) / 1996
Iris (Iris Murdoch) / 2001
Last Station, The (Tolstoy) / 2009
Midnight in Paris (lots) / 2011 *
Miss Potter (Beatrix Potter) / 2006
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (Dorothy Parker) / 1994
Permanent Midnight (Jerry Stahl) / 1998
Prick Up Your Ears (Joe Orton) / 1987
Quills (Marquis de Sade) / 2000
Shadowlands (C. S. Lewis) / 1993
Shakespeare in Love / 1998 *
Sylvia (Sylvia Plath) / 2003
Tom & Viv (T. S. Eliot) / 1994
Wilde (Oscar Wilde) / 1997
Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm / 1962
About Fictional Authors
Barton Fink / 1991
Deathtrap / 1982
Deconstructing Harry / 1997
Door in the Floor, The / 2004 *
Finding Forrester / 2000
Freedom Writers / 2007
Love Song for Bobby Long, A / 2004
Misery / 1990
My Brilliant Career / 1979
Player, The / 1992
Ruby Sparks / 2012 *
Secret Window / 2004
Shining, The / 1980
Squid and the Whale, The / 2005
Stranger Than Fiction / 2006
Sunset Boulevard / 1950
Wonder Boys / 2000 *
Young Adult / 2011
About Journalists (who are, after all, writers)
Absence of Malice / 1981 *
All the President’s Men / 1976
Almost Famous / 2000
Broadcast News / 1987 *
China Syndrome, The / 1979
Citizen Kane / 1941
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas / 1998
Frost/Nixon / 2008
Good Night, and Good Luck / 2005
His Girl Friday / 1940
Insider, The / 1999 *
Killing Fields, The / 1984 *
Missing / 1982
Paper, The / 1994
Pelican Brief, The / 1993
Salvador / 1986
Shattered Glass / 2003
State of Play / 2009
Year of Living Dangerously, The / 1982
Zodiac / 2007
Some of my personal faves are asterisked—but what do you think? Have I missed something really great?
Tweet: Movies about real authors, movies about fictional authors, & movies about journalists!
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I loved Stranger Than Fiction. What novelist hasn’t wondered what would happen if her characters were real. My son made me watch this other movie. “You’ll like it, Mom. It’s about a writer.” Secret Window. Oh, man was I mad at him for that one!
Too bad authors are typically shown as drinkers, smokers, and unstable people. Yeah, we hear people talking to us, but…
LOL!
The writer is not the central character, but Field of Dreams comes to mind.
Good point!
What about Veronica Guerin?? The assassinated Irish crime reporter… Does that count?! I paint by the way, to try and escape. P.s I love this blog so much I read it religiously 🙂
Loved Cate Blanchett in that one.
And, btw: THANK YOU for your kind words!
Oh, you should add Her Alibi to the fictional writer list! It’s 1989 comedy. A little goofy, but worth a watch!
I will definitely update this list one of these days. Thanks for this one!
Of course, now I’ll have a new list of movies I need to watch. 🙂 Hahahahaaa
Along the same vein, I watch a TV show called Castle about a writer who’s murder scenes get played out in real life. This leads him to follow (See: stalk) the hot young detective who becomes the lead character in his next novel series…
Of course, there isn’t a whole lot of focus on his writing after the first season, due to the fact that he is no longer just following (See: stalking) Detective Beckett for inspiration. However, the writing theme is still woven into the script…as a big fan of murder mysteries growing up, I definitely appreciate the story line! 🙂
I haven’t watched it, but it’s definitely good to see a writer depicted doing research. 🙂
I just re-watched The Hours the other day. What a beautiful story.