Best Writer Movies
Here are some of my favorite "writer" movies...
Stranger than Fiction is quirky, funny, and the scene where Dustin Hoffman plays an English professor trying to determine the genre of the novel taking over Harold Crick's life is one of the funniest things I've seen in years. Will Ferrell as you've never seen him and Emma Thompson is classic as the off-balance writer who always kills her characters.
Sideways is funny in the way we find humor in bleak recognition. When hapless, unsuccessful writer Miles shakes his pill bottle to indicate he's properly medicated (in the hysterical "I will NOT drink any FUCKING merlot" scene, when he describes himself as a piece of excrement floating out to sea, when his happily clueless friend gives him utterly unhelpful reassurance, when Miles douses himself with spit-bucket wine after getting bad news from his agent... The familiarity of Miles's misery is uniquely funny to writers.
Adaptation is one of those movies where I like to imagine the pitch meeting. "OK, so there's this book we want to adapt about orchids, only not totally, because the film will be about a writer trying to write this story about orchids, only he can't, oh, and there's this twin brother, and ..." I'm sure it didn't really go like that. I was laughing with recognition as Nicolas Cage wrestles with writer's block.
The Big Chill is maybe a stretch to include, but the Jeff Goldblum character is a writer for People magazine (soulless sellout!) and the JoBeth Williams character, now a housewife, once wrote poems and stories, and the deceased character whose funeral brings the whole bunch of yuppies together was a journalist in college. I love the dialogue in this film, and in a way it's about how many of us have big (literary) plans but few ever carry them out.
What are your favorites, and which obvious ones am I missing?
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Dale Estey says:
I wonder how may know that
I wonder how may know that Kevin Costner played the corpse being dressed at the beginning of THE BIG CHILL.
One author movie I enjoyed very much was MISS POTTER with Renée Zellweger.
Kristina Riggle says:
I knew that!
Fun piece of trivia, that... I believe he was also filmed for some flashback scenes that were never used.
Dale Estey says:
Yes he was. In effect, he
Yes he was. In effect, he took part in the writer's creed: "Cut cut cut."
Jennifer Gibbons says:
Ooh, this is a good one!
I loved Finding Forester with Sean Connery, which tells the story about a J.D. Salinger type who befriends a African American teenager and helps him find his voice.
I enjoyed The Muse (probably the only Sharon Stone movie I saw on the big screen) where a screenwriter gets help from a "muse."
The Player- I LOVED this movie. I should own it. It doesn't make anyone want to be a screenwriter anytime soon.
My Favorite Year was great in that it showed what it was like writing for a variety show in the fifties. I always thought Mark Linn Baker was underated in this part.
All The President's Men-I own this movie, I loved it so much. Funny bit of trivia: When Mark Felt was outed as Deep Throat, many bloggers said: "Hal Holbrook? He was all wrong for the part!"
Jennifer Gibbons, Red Room
Libby Gruner says:
Hmm, I guess The Shining is
Hmm, I guess The Shining is a wrong-way example, but that's the writer movie that comes to mind first. Also, oh, that one with Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire...ah, imdb.com to the rescue: Wonder Boys. Also something of a wrong-way example, but a great movie. I love all the ones you listed as well, and have now added Finding Forester and The Muse to my must-see list...(loved the others Jennifer Gibbons listed, too).
Evelyn Sharenov says:
Stranger Than Fiction and
The Big Chill are my favorites, followed by Finding Forrester. I don't bother to buy DVDs but I purchased Stranger Than Fiction last year, with another film (Daniel Craig's first Bond movie for his swimsuit scene), and have watched it several times since then. It's poignant, LOL funny, well written and just tickles me every time I see it.
Thanks for this post. It's a charmer!
Kristen J. Tsetsi says:
Ooh...fun topic!
I liked the 2007 Ed Burns movie, Purple Violets. Two characters were writers, one literary fiction and one commercial. The Wonder Boys has long been a favorite, and I fell in love with Best Friends (Goldie Hawn and Burt Reynolds are screenwriters)when I was a kid.
The World According to Garp, too - but, the ease with which Garp gets a book deal is kind of annoying. :)
caroline m grant says:
What a good list! I'll add
What a good list! I'll add The Swimming Pool (with Charlotte Rampling), Infamous, Capote, The Hoax, and The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio -- all interesting writer movies, with Infamous (Sandra Bullock as Harper Lee) and The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio my favorites of the lot. I wrote a column on Prize Winner a while back...(http://www.literarymama.com/columns/mamaatthemovies/archives/2007/05/the...)
Kristina Riggle says:
Such great suggestions!
Oh yeah, "Capote," how could I have left that one off the list? Philip Seymour Hoffman is ASTOUNDING in that role.
Oh, and I should also have added "Shattered Glass" to my list, about Stephen Glass who was caught making up stories for The New Republic. It was a great psychological study about ambition with some terrific performances. (Too bad the title is cheesy.)
I'll be busy with my Blockbuster queue now!
Miriam Forster says:
I loved Finding Forrester
My contributions:
Dead Poets Society isn't really a "writer" movie, but for some reason I always think of it in that category. :-)
Alex and Emma is one of my absolute favorites. It's more romantic comedy, but there's a lot of good explanations of the writing process.
Finding Neverland was also pretty good.