Our friend Scott sends us this request:
I'm going to put a little guide to movies featuring writers/writing. Please add any I've forgotten, and I'm sure I've forgotten plenty. No movie is too good or awful to be on this list, by the way.
Adaptation
All the President's Men
American Splendor
Capote
Dead Poets Society
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Finding Forrester
Her Alibi
The Libertine
Misery
Mother
The Notebook
Quills
Romancing the Stone
Secret Window
Shakespeare in Love
Wilde
Wonder Boys
Hmm…We came up with il Postino. If we're allowing portraits of the artist as a tortured young man, we would suggest the oeuvre of Leo DiCaprio, most notably his turn as the young wild Jim Carroll (Basketball Diaries) and as the young wild Toby Wolf (This Boy's Life).
So I am turning this request for help over to my blog readers, who are sure to be able to fill in some of the blanks on this list, along with those wise girls over at Romancing the Tome. Does anyone else have a film or two to add?
The Squid and the Whale
Posted by: Colleen Rich | May 02, 2006 at 10:55 AM
Naked Lunch
Basketball Diaries
Barton Fink
The Hours
Posted by: Jeff | May 02, 2006 at 11:08 AM
The Shining
Where the Buffalo Roam
Orange County
A Clockwork Orange
Posted by: Horacio Mono de Calcetines | May 02, 2006 at 12:21 PM
State and Main
Posted by: Leslie | May 02, 2006 at 12:40 PM
Little Women — why didn't we think of that earlier?
Posted by: thb | May 02, 2006 at 01:43 PM
Alright. I've officially used up too much time thinking about this, so here are a few more:
Hannah and Her Sisters (and just about any Woody Allen movie), Moulin Rouge, The Accidental Tourist, Finding Neverland, Shadowlands, Before Sunset, Sideways, Adaptation, Before Night Falls, and An Angel at My Table.
Posted by: Christy | May 02, 2006 at 03:44 PM
"Joe Gould's Secret"-- How did I forget that one?? About a real writer and a not-so-real writer. Worth renting, if only for Ian Holm's performance.
Posted by: thb | May 02, 2006 at 03:59 PM
A reader writes in to remind us we've left "Total Eclipse" off our DiCaprio-as- tortured-writer movie list.
We've never seen this film, but apparently DiCaprio stars as the young and wild French poet, Arthur Rimbaud. The movie chronicles Rimbaud's affair with older French poet, Paul Verlaine.
Somehow this movie didn't make it to our netflix queue.
Posted by: thb | May 02, 2006 at 04:39 PM
I'm back. You all got my brain working.
How about Henry Fool? And My Brilliant Career.
And I'd second Wendi's mention of Joe Gould's Secret, especially for the scene when Joseph Mitchell tries to explain just what his novel is about. Anyone who's ever tried to explain a novel at a cocktail party will appreciate his utter failure.
Posted by: Christy | May 02, 2006 at 05:20 PM
How about Field of Dreams? James Earl Jones was a novelist in that one. He wasn't the main character, but he did figure prominently in the film. This sounds like an interesting project!
Posted by: panasianbiz | May 03, 2006 at 08:00 AM
Oh, and Stand By Me.
Posted by: panasianbiz | May 03, 2006 at 08:02 AM
What about Henry & June (about Henry Miller and Anais Nin), The Diary of Anne Frank and that Leo DiCaprio one, Total Eclipse (about Rimbaud)?
Posted by: Amy | May 03, 2006 at 12:45 PM
Love Actually (Colin Firth's character is writing a novel)
Carrington
The Hours
Posted by: kim | May 03, 2006 at 01:22 PM
Much thanks to all of you for making my little list so big.
Posted by: Scott | May 03, 2006 at 02:13 PM
Julia
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
Man of La Mancha
The Door in the Floor
Posted by: Billy | May 03, 2006 at 11:52 PM