They adapted their own!
by yrnej | created - 05 Nov 2014 | updated - 05 Nov 2014 | PublicFrom Entertainment Weekly, 10/24/14: It's a wonder more authors don't make the jump to screenwriting, especially when studios are hungrier than ever for popular literary brands such as The Fault in Our Stars and The Silver Linings Playbook. So why don't more novelists adapt their own work? Short answer: They're usually bad at it.
"The two big differences between books and movies are pace and perspective," says screenwriter and cohost of the popular Scriptnotes podcast John August (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), "Novels can luxuriate in internal moments of indecision and longing. Movies keep chugging along at 24 frames per second."
Which of these Oscar-nominated screenplays the authors adapted from their original book or short story is your favorite?
Discuss the list here
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1. The Fallen Idol (1948)
Approved | 95 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
A butler working in a foreign embassy in London falls under suspicion when his wife accidentally falls to her death, the only witness being an impressionable young boy.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Ralph Richardson, Michèle Morgan, Sonia Dresdel, Bobby Henrey
Votes: 9,657 | Gross: $0.34M
written and adapted from the short story The Basement Room by Graham Greene
2. Sabrina (1954)
Passed | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A playboy becomes interested in the daughter of his family's chauffeur, but it's his more serious brother who would be the better man for her.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden, Walter Hampden
Votes: 70,275
written and adapted from the novel Sabrina Fair by Samuel Taylor (adapted with Billy Wilder and Ernest Lehman)
3. Tunes of Glory (1960)
Not Rated | 106 min | Drama
After World War II, a Highland Regiment's acting Commanding Officer, who rose from the ranks, is replaced by a peace-time Oxford-educated Commanding Officer, leading to a dramatic conflict between the two.
Director: Ronald Neame | Stars: Alec Guinness, John Mills, Susannah York, Dennis Price
Votes: 4,553
written and adapted from the novel by James Kennaway
4. Lolita (1962)
Not Rated | 153 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A middle-aged college professor becomes infatuated with a 14-year-old girl.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: James Mason, Shelley Winters, Sue Lyon, Gary Cockrell
Votes: 108,713 | Gross: $9.25M
written and adapted from the novel by Vladimir Nabokov
5. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
GP | 127 min | Crime, Drama
A laid-back Southern man is sentenced to two years in a rural prison, but refuses to conform.
Director: Stuart Rosenberg | Stars: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D. Cannon
Votes: 188,374 | Gross: $16.22M
written and adapted from the novel by Donn Pearce (adapted with Frank R. Pierson)
6. The Last Picture Show (1971)
R | 118 min | Drama, Romance
In 1951, a group of high schoolers come of age in a bleak, isolated, atrophied North Texas town that is slowly dying, both culturally and economically.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson
Votes: 52,320 | Gross: $29.13M
written and adapted from the novel by Larry McMurtry (adapted with Peter Bogdanovich)
7. The Godfather (1972)
R | 175 min | Crime, Drama
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton
Votes: 2,009,479 | Gross: $134.97M
written and adapted from the novel by Mario Puzo (adapted with Francis Ford Coppola)
8. The Exorcist (1973)
R | 122 min | Horror
When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 454,423 | Gross: $232.91M
written and adapted from the novel by William Peter Blatty
9. The Godfather Part II (1974)
R | 202 min | Crime, Drama
The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York City is portrayed, while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on the family crime syndicate.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
Votes: 1,362,636 | Gross: $57.30M
written and adapted from the novel by Mario Puzo (adapted with Francis Ford Coppola)
10. The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)
PG | 113 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
To treat his friend's cocaine induced delusions, Watson lures Sherlock Holmes to Sigmund Freud.
Director: Herbert Ross | Stars: Alan Arkin, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Duvall, Nicol Williamson
Votes: 5,093
written and adapted from the novel by Nicholas Meyer
11. Prizzi's Honor (1985)
R | 130 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Two professional assassins fall in love.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Robert Loggia, John Randolph
Votes: 26,367 | Gross: $26.70M
written and adapted from the novel by Richard Condon (adapted with Janet Roach)
12. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
R | 116 min | Drama, War
A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin
Votes: 789,663 | Gross: $46.36M
written and adapted from the novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford (adapted with Michael Herr and Stanley Kubrick)
13. My Life as a Dog (1985)
Unrated | 101 min | Drama, Comedy
In the late '50s, young Ingemar learns a lot about life and himself when he is sent away from his sick mother to live with his aunt and uncle in a town full of eccentrics.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Anton Glanzelius, Tomas von Brömssen, Anki Lidén, Melinda Kinnaman
Votes: 22,521 | Gross: $8.35M
written and adapted from the novel Mitt live some hund by Reidar Jönsson (adapted with Brasse Brännström, Per Berglund and Lasse Hallström)
14. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
R | 145 min | Biography, Drama, War
The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Tom Cruise, Bryan Larkin, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava
Votes: 115,811 | Gross: $70.00M
written and adapted from the novel by Ron Kovic (adapted with Oliver Stone)
15. Dances with Wolves (1990)
PG-13 | 181 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Lieutenant John Dunbar, assigned to a remote western Civil War outpost, finds himself engaging with a neighbouring Sioux settlement, causing him to question his own purpose.
Director: Kevin Costner | Stars: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant
Votes: 290,230 | Gross: $184.21M
written and adapted from the novel by Michael Blake
16. Goodfellas (1990)
R | 145 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco
Votes: 1,255,806 | Gross: $46.84M
written and adapted from the novel Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi (adapted with Martin Scorsese)
17. Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
PG-13 | 130 min | Drama
Evelyn, an ordinary housewife, visits a nursing home and befriends the old lady Ninny. Together, they bond over stories from the past about two intrepid women of Whistle Stop Cafe.
Director: Jon Avnet | Stars: Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker
Votes: 83,412 | Gross: $82.42M
written and adapted from the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg (adapted with Carol Sobieski)
18. The Prince of Tides (1991)
R | 132 min | Drama, Romance
A troubled man talks to his suicidal sister's psychiatrist about their family history and falls in love with her in the process.
Director: Barbra Streisand | Stars: Barbra Streisand, Nick Nolte, Blythe Danner, Kate Nelligan
Votes: 19,702 | Gross: $74.79M
written and adapted from the novel by Pat Conroy (adapted with Becky Johnston)
19. The Player (1992)
R | 124 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected, but which one?
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg
Votes: 65,712 | Gross: $21.71M
written and adapted from the novel by Michael Tolkin
20. A Simple Plan (1998)
R | 121 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Three blue-collar acquaintances come across millions of dollars in lost cash and make a plan to keep their find from the authorities, but it isn't long before complications and mistrust weave their way into the plan.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Bridget Fonda, Brent Briscoe
Votes: 76,067 | Gross: $16.31M
written and adapted from the novel by Scott Smith
21. The Cider House Rules (1999)
PG-13 | 126 min | Drama, Romance
A compassionate young man, raised in an orphanage and trained to be a doctor there, decides to leave to see the world.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron, Michael Caine, Delroy Lindo
Votes: 104,736 | Gross: $57.55M
written and adapted from the novel by John Irving
22. Ghost World (2001)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Drama
Two eccentric best friends graduate high school and respond to a man's romance-seeking newspaper ad as a gag, only to find their lives becoming increasingly complicated.
Director: Terry Zwigoff | Stars: Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Brad Renfro
Votes: 126,747 | Gross: $6.22M
written and adapted from the graphic novel by Daniel Clowes (adapted with Terry Zwigoff)
23. Little Children (2006)
R | 137 min | Drama, Romance
The lives of two lovelorn spouses from separate marriages, a registered sex offender, and a disgraced ex-police officer intersect as they struggle to resist their vulnerabilities and temptations in suburban Massachusetts.
Director: Todd Field | Stars: Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley
Votes: 116,671 | Gross: $5.46M
written and adapted from the novel by Tom Perrotta (adapted with Todd Field)
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