My favorite movies are mostly about writers. I love them the way I love memoirs by writers and interviews with writers. Now that we’re all stuck at home with time to write, we can look for inspiration and binge watch films at the same time.

Here’s my list of TOP TEN MOVIES ABOUT WRITERS. It’s my list, based on my own personal preferences, organized by neurosis, in no particular order. But I stand by it.

 

1. WEIRDEST EXISTENTIAL EXPLORATION OF WRITING:

BARTON FINK, 1991

Written and directed by the Coen Brothers

A Coen Brothers classic and one of my all-time fave movies ever. One long writer’s hallucination.

 “I’ve always found that writing comes from a great inner pain.”

—John Turturro as Barton Fink in Barton Fink

 

 

2. MOST DELICIOUS MOVEABLE FEAST OF WRITERS:

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, 2011

Written and directed by Woody Allen

Worth it for Corey Stoll’s performance of Ernest Hemingway alone.

“If it’s bad, I’ll hate it because I hate bad writing, and if it’s good, I’ll be envious and hate it all the more. You don’t want the opinion of another writer.”

—Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway in Midnight in Paris

 

3. ULTIMATE “WHY I GREW UP TO BE  WRITER” INSPIRATION:

LITTLE WOMEN, 2019

Directed by Greta Gerwig, screenplay by Greta Gerwig, based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott

Any of the many film adaptations of the novel that made me (and most every other female writer I know) want to be Jo will do, but this latest one is especially wonderful. Greta Gerwig was robbed. I’m just saying.

“Those are just stories, of course. But I’m working on a novel.”

—Saoirse Ronan as Jo March in Little Women

4. SOUNDEST “WHY YOU NEED AN EDITOR” ARGUMENT:

GENIUS, 2016

Directed by Michael Grandage, screenplay by John Logan, based on A. Scott Berg’s Max Perkins: Editor of Genius

Colin Firth stars as Max Perkins, who edited Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, among others. Enough said.

“Imagine you’re a reader. You’re wandering through a bookstore and lots of books, and you see a book titled Trimalchio in West Egg and you see one titled The Great Gatsby. Which are you going to pick up?”

—Colin Firth as Max Perkins in Genius

5. BEST WORST WRITER’S NIGHTMARE:

MISERY, 1990

Directed by Rob Reiner, screenplay by William Goldman, based on the novel by Stephen King

Leave it to King, Goldman, and Reiner to pair James Caan and Kathy Bates in the ultimate showdown between jaded novelist and deranged reader.

“I am your number one fan.”

—Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes in Misery

 

 

6. MOST URGENT “I NEED PEACE AND QUIET ” PLEA:

CROSS CREEK, 1983

Directed by Martin Ritt, screenplay by Dalene Young, based on Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ memoir

In this moving and meaningful film, we watch Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings evolve from wannabe writer to the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Yearling. A beautifully rendered reminder to write about what matters.

“I was desperate to express myself. Even as a child I’d been consumed with the desire to be a writer.”

—Mary Steenburgen as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in Cross Creek

 

7. GREATEST CHARACTER OUT OF CONTROL GLITCH:

STRANGER THAN FICTION, 2006

Directed by Marc Forster, screenplay by Zach Helm

Killing off your main character is harder than it looks when that character takes his life into his own hands. (Especially when the author is played by Emma Thompson and the character is played by Will Ferrell.) We’ve all been there.

“You have to understand that this isn’t a philosophy or a literary theory or a story to me. It’s my life.”

—Will Ferrell as Harold Crick in Stranger Than Fiction

 

8. MOST MARVELOUS META ADAPTATION:

ADAPTATION, 2002

Directed by Spike Jonez, screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, book by Susan Orlean

When screenwriter Charlie Kaufman is hired to adapt bestselling book The Orchid Thief into a film, he gets stuck—and writes Adaptation instead. I first saw this in an art house in Dedham, Massachusetts, and laughed twice as hard as anyone else in the audience. It’s an elaborate insider writer’s joke. And if you’ve ever taken Robert McKee’s Story seminar….

“Sir, what if the writer is attempting to create a story where nothing much happens? Where people don’t change, they don’t have any epiphanies, they struggle and are frustrated and nothing is resolved. More a reflection of the real world.”

—Nicolas Cage as Charlie Kaufman in Adaptation

 

9. WRITER’S BLOCK FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY:

THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS, 2017

Directed by Bharat Nalluri, screenplay by Susan Coyne, based on Les Standiford’s book The Man Who Invented Christmas, inspired by Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

How Dickens conquered writer’s block at the lowest point in his career to write A Christmas Carol—and went on to self-publish it to great success. Now that’s a happy ending.

“People don’t change.”

—Christopher Plummer as Scrooge in The Man Who Invented Christmas

 

10. HOW TO WRITE 10K A DAY, RUN FARM & FAMILY, AND SEDUCE CHOPIN: IMPROMPTU, 1991

Directed by James Lapine, screenplay by Sarah Kernochan

The Writer’s Life, as lived to its very fullest by Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, also known as George Sand. Best. Romp. Ever. Ooh la la.

“I don’t believe you’re, you’re ill at all. You just need more strength. Take mine. Really–I have too much of it.”

—Judy Davis as George Sand in Impromptu

 

 

 

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