Favorite Movies about Writers

Ben Stiller is supposed to be a struggling novelist in "There's Something About Mary" but we get rooked because it's only mentioned a few times and he never does anything but chase Mary all over the place. Bah!

"Back To The Future." Dad's a nerdie sci-fi writer who goes HARD BACK at the end!

Tri

Royal Tannenbaum.

I vote "Not Misery". Just because. Brr...

Although, to be honest, I spend most of my day writing computer related copy, and thus find films about writers to generally be about as much fun as watching one about hackers and 14 year old computer geniuses. I'd much rather watch something like, say, Ed Wood, where I'm not thinking 'So, are you ever planning to touch a keyboard at any point' or 'What? They're taking over the internet with random scrolling text?!'...

Jose Chung!! That's my second favorite X-Files episode ever! (My first being the one with Peter Boyle (also in season 3) as the dude who can predict when people are going to die. Those two episodes were so well-written and so damn funny and charming...

One of my favorite writer movies is one that I don't think that anybody has mentioned yet (though it was on that Amazon.com list that was posted a while back): THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. It's about Robert E. Howard and his relationship with a teacher.

So that's three Stephen Kings (Misery, the Shining, Stand By Me) and four Jack Nicholsons (As Good as it Gets, Reds, the Shining, The Wolf). Not a bad hand of poker.

For a couple more...

Room with a View - Gorgeous Merchant-Ivory take on EM Forster's novel, with a superb cast and a novelist who writes of what she saw in that field on the hill.

Anne of Green Gables - the PBS miniseries filmed on Prince Edward Island, with Megan Follows as the young writer out walking the woods and quoting "The Lady of Shalott." It's mostly for kids, with that old Disney sense of humor, but still good (as anything would be with Colleen Dewhurst and Richard Farnsworth).

...four Jack Nicholsons (As Good as it Gets, Reds, the Shining, The Wolf)...

My brush with movie fame -- if you look on the wall of bookshelves behind Jack Nicholson in The Wolf, some of my books are on that shelf.

(That's because the publishing materials that the set decorator used were picked up at Tor books.)

I don't know if this counts, but Heathers. There was just something about Veronica's journal writing and her voice-overs throughout the movie, that made the movie feel even darker.

my movies

Misery--I have so many reasons to love this movie (and the book) that I could literally write a ten page critical essay on the topic. It's just a brilliant exploration of the role of a writer, the role of fans, the process of creativity, being an artist, selling out, writing to save your life which I think we all do to some extent...just brilliant.

Secret Window--Starring Johnny Depp based on King's "Secret Window, Secret Garden." Honestly, I saw myself in the main character. Slight Spoilers Ahead:


Even the part where he's fighting with himself and yells "I don't need to take this @#%$ from you!" I've had the same conversation. Napping all day, smoking even though you don't smoke, eating doritos, not getting dressed for days at a time...and of course, the undeniable fear that you just aren't as good, you just aren't as creative as you thought you were, and any day, somebody is going to knock on the door and say "I know you're a fraud."

Re: my movies

James Macdonald said:

My brush with movie fame -- if you look on the wall of bookshelves behind Jack Nicholson in The Wolf, some of my books are on that shelf.

Click to expand...

That is way cool!:smokin

Re: my movies

Movie fame ... I'm behind a tree in a scene from a 1980s TV movie VANISHING ACT with Mike Farrell, Fred Gwynne, Elliott Gould and Margot Kidder. They were shooting down the street from my house and I went to watch. At one point, Mike Farrell jumped into a red Camaro to get away from Fred Gwynne who was shooting at him ... and drove right at me! I hopped behind the nearest tree and he zoomed on by. In the finished film, you can see the tree I jumped behind to the left of the car.

I know I can't prove it, but it's the closest I've been to being in the movies, and I'm a writer, so in a bizarre way, it counts as a writer movie ... no?

Didn't think so.

Re: my movies

Just thought of another one: Something's Gotta Give. Oh, no, another Jack Nicholson movie! But Diane Keaton was wonderful in it. Didn't both get Oscar noms? It's a delightful movie (except I didn't like the ending that much) and the writing part is central to the plot (but wouldn't everyone love to work in a beachfront Hampton house?)

p.s. it just shows you that "write what you know" works. Some people complain about books/movies about writers. But look a Stephen King. Many of his books are about writers.

Re: my movies

I am not above admitting I have had conversations similiar to the climax of Secret Window starring Johnny Depp from Stephen King's novella Secret Window, Secret Garden.

Andrea and Aerdna 0]