Words into Film: 20 Movies Based on the Lives of Writers and Poets
If you're intrigued by the lives of poets and writers who often produce their most renowned works while facing challenging circumstances, you're in for a treat. Have you ever wondered who inspired them, how they coped with financial struggles, and how they overcame their existential pains? Well, you're in luck, because we've compiled a list of 20 films that draw inspiration from the biographies of famous writers and poets. Get ready to immerse yourself in their worlds as we explore their lives, loves, and struggles on the big screen. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the cinematic journey.
20. Kill Your Darlings (2013)
IMDb: 6.4
Synopsis: A murder in 1944 brings together one Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, the great poets of the beat generation.
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Michael C. Hal
Director: John Krokidas
19. Mary Shelley (2007)
IMDb: 6.4
Summary: The film sheds light on the life and realities of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, who met the 21-year-old poet Percy Shelley when she was 16 and wrote Frankenstein.
Starring: Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth, Tom Sturridge
Director: Haifaa Al Mansour
18. Young Goethe in Love (2010)
IMDb: 6.6
Summary: Poet-candidate Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is sent to a provincial court to reform after failing his law exams. Here, he falls in love with Lotte, a young woman who has been promised to another man.
Starring: Alexander Fehling, Moritz Bleibtreu, Burghart Klaußner
Director: Philipp Stölzl
17. Mavi Gözlü Dev (2007)
IMDb: 6.6
Summary: Nazim Hikmet, the poet of struggle, passion and love, adopted Communism as a philosophy of life, reflected this idea in his art, and as a result, he was constantly chased by the police. Every move he makes, every word he writes, every word he says is under the strict control of the state.
Starring: Yetkin Dikinciler, Ozge Ozberk, Full Moon Soysert
Director: Biket Ilhan
16. Rebel in The Rye (2017)
IMDb: 6.7
Summary: The life of reclusive author J. D. Salinger, who gained worldwide fame with the publication of his novel The Catcher in the Rye.
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Kevin Spacey, Victor Garber
Director: Danny Strong
15. Anonymous (2011)
IMDb: 6.8
Summary: Based on the theory that the author of Shakespeare's plays was actually Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford, the film is set against the backdrop of Queen Elizabeth's successor and the Essex Rebellion against him.
Starring: Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson
Director: Roland Emmerich
14. Tolkien (2019)
IMDb: 6.8
Summary: The Lord of The Rings series tells about the life of Tolkien, the author of major works such as The Hobbit, starting from his childhood years when he was orphaned.
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Colm Meaney
Director: Dom Karukoski
13. Wilde (1997)
IMDb: 6.8
Summary: The film is about the turmoil in the life of Oscar Wilde, a poet/playwright, after discovering his homosexuality.
Starring: Stephen Fry, Jude Law, Vanessa Redgrave
Director: Brian Gilbert
12. Bright Star (2009)
IMDb: 6.9
Summary: Nineteenth-century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne have to cope with many obstacles in their three-year love life between them.
Starring: Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw, Paul Schneider
Director: Jane Campion
11. Becoming Jane (2007)
IMDb: 7.0
Summary: The film, which presents a biographical portrait of the famous English writer Jane Austen, tells about the author's love with a young Irishman.
Starring: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, James Cromwell
Director: Julian Jarrold
10. Iris (2001)
IMDb: 7.0
Synopsis: The true story of the lifelong love between novelist Iris Murdoch and her husband John Bayley, from their student days to when they battled Alzheimer's disease.
Starring: Judi Dench, Kate Winslet, Jim Broadbent
Director: Richard Eyre
9. Infamous (2006)
IMDb: 7.1
Summary: While researching his novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.
Starring: Toby Jones, Sandra Bullock, Sigourney Weaver
Director: Douglas McGrath
8. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
IMDb: 7.1
Summary: William Shakespeare, the world's greatest playwright ever, is young, short of ideas and cash, but he meets the ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.
Starring: Imelda Staunton, Judi Dench, Joseph Fiennes
Director: John Madden
7. The End of the Tour (2015)
IMDb: 7.2
Summary: The story of a five-day interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and the famous novelist David Foster Wallace, which took place immediately after the publication of Wallace's groundbreaking epic novel Infinite Gesture in 1996.
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Jason Segel, Anna Chlumsky
Director: James Ponsoldt
6. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
IMDb: 7.2
Summary: The film, which presents the story of the life of Emile Zola and his struggle against anti-semitism, also deals with the Dreyfus Incident.
Starring: Paul Muni, Joseph Schildkraut, Donald Crisp
Director: William Dieterle
5. Capote (2005)
IMDb: 7.3
Summary: In 1959, Truman Capote learns that a family has been murdered in Kansas and decides to write a book about the case. While doing research for his novel In Cold Blood, Capote begins a relationship with one of the murderers, Perry Smith, who is on death row.
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr.
Director: Bennett Miller
4. The Quills (2000)
IMDb: 7.3
Summary: The writer Marquis De Sade, a prisoner in a mental hospital dating back to the Napoleonic era, wages a war of wills against a doctor when the last text he wrote is stolen by a servant girl.
Starring: Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix
Director: Philip Kaufman
3. American Splendor (2003)
IMDb: 7.4
Summary: The film tells the story of the life of Harvey Pekar, the creator of the comic book American Splendor. An original mix of fiction and reality.
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Harvey Pekar, Hope Davis
Directors: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
2. The Hours (2002)
IMDb: 7.5
Summary: In 1923, Virginia Woolf begins to write the novel Mrs. Dalloway. In 1951, Laura Brown chooses to read this book as an escape route for herself. In 2001, there is a special bond between Clarissa Vaughan and her ex-husband in the novel.
The film tells the story of how it affected three generations of women, all of whom had to deal with suicide in one way or another in their lives.
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep
Director: Stephen Daldry
1. The Postman (1994)
IMDb: 7.8
Summary: An ordinary Italian postman learns to love poetry while delivering mail to a famous poet, and then uses it to impress the local beauty Beatrice. The Sicilian coast will impress you a lot!
Starring: Massimo Troisi, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Philippe Noiret
Director: Michael Radford
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