The Best Movies About Writers
List of movies about writers, as ranked by film critics and fans. Movies about writers are always interesting and filled with depth because the screenwriters truly understand what goes on in the mind of the scribe. These films follow writer characters through some real life issues like writer’s block, intense jealousy between writers, and being driven mad by genius. Other films take a more fantastical take on the plight of the writer with serial killers, stalkers, and characters that come to life. No matter the genre, these films follow the same overarching themes that real life writer’s actual experience.
Many of the movies on this list think of storytelling as therapy, where the writer is spinning a yarn in order to battle their own struggles. A few of the films follow real life novelists and screenwriters during the experiences that caused them to write their greatest works.
If you’ve been wondering, “What are the best movies about writers?” this list has every film you need, from thrillers where writer’s go crazy, like Secret Window, to horror movies where fans go too far, like Misery,to simple contemplative movies like American Splendor. The movies on this list feature the most memorable fictional writer’s in film history.
- Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke
- Released: 1989
- Directed by: Peter Weir
A new English teacher, John Keating (Robin Williams), is introduced to an all-boys preparatory school that is known for its ancient traditions and high standards. He uses unorthodox methods to reach ...more - Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd
- Released: 1980
- Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) becomes winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado, hoping to cure his writer's block. He settles in along with his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and ...more - William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim
- Released: 1950
- Directed by: Billy Wilder
An aging silent film queen refuses to accept that her stardom has ended. She hires a young screenwriter to help set up her movie comeback. The screenwriter believes he can manipulate her, but he soon ...more - Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins
- Released: 2005
- Directed by: Bennett Miller
Reading of the murder of a Kansas family, New York City novelist Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) decides to cover the story himself, and travels to the small town with his childhood friend, ...more - Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: Philip Kaufman
A fictional work that reconstructs the unknown fate of the Marquis de Sade, the writer and sexual deviant who was imprisoned in an insane asylum for the last 10 years of his life. The Marquis de Sade ...more - Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard
- Released: 2011
- Directed by: Woody Allen
Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is a screenwriter and aspiring novelist. Vacationing in Paris with his fiancee (Rachel McAdams), he has taken to touring the city alone. On one such late-night excursion, Gil ...more - James Caan, Kathy Bates, Frances Sternhagen
- Released: 1990
- Directed by: Rob Reiner
After a serious car crash, novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is rescued by former nurse Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), who claims to be his biggest fan. Annie brings him to her remote cabin to recover, ...more - Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: David Koepp
While in the process of an ugly divorce from his wife (Maria Bello), writer Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) relocates to his remote cabin in upstate New York for solitude. Attempting to recover his mental ...more - Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Craig Bierko
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Terry Gilliam
Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) and his attorney Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) drive a red convertible across the Mojave desert to Las Vegas with a suitcase full of drugs to cover a motorcycle race. As their ...more - Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: Curtis Hanson
Grady (Michael Douglas) is a 50-ish English professor who hasn't had a thing published in years -- not since he wrote his award winning "Great American Novel" 7 years ago. This weekend proves even ...more - Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Vernon Dobtcheff
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Richard Linklater
A sequel to "Before Sunrise," this film starts nine years later as Jesse (Ethan Hawke) travels across Europe giving readings from a book he wrote about the night he spent in Vienna with Celine (Julie ...more - John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis
- Released: 1991
- Directed by: Joel Coen
Set in 1941, an intellectual New York playwright Barton Fink (John Turturro) accepts an offer to write movie scripts in L.A. He finds himself with writer's block when required to do a B-movie script. ...more - Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor, Kim Cattrall
- Released: 2010
- Directed by: Roman Polanski
When a successful ghostwriter, the Ghost (Ewan McGregor), agrees to finish the memoirs of Adam Long (Pierce Brosnan), England's former prime minister, his publisher assures him it's the chance of a ...more - Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear
- Released: 1997
- Directed by: James L. Brooks
Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) is an obsessive-compulsive writer of romantic fiction who's rude to everyone he meets, including his gay neighbor Simon (Greg Kinnear), but when he has to look after ...more - Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman
- Released: 2006
- Directed by: Marc Forster
A mentally unstable IRS auditor (Will Ferrell) hears an author's (Emma Thompson) voice in his head and discovers that he is the ill-fated protagonist of her latest work. While a book-company employee ...more - Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger, Edward Hardwicke
- Released: 1993
- Directed by: Richard Attenborough
C. S. Lewis (Anthony Hopkins), the renowned author of "The Chronicles of Narnia" series, is a bachelor and Oxford University professor who spends his free time debating with fellow academics at a ...more - Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper
- Released: 2002
- Directed by: Spike Jonze
Nicolas Cage is Charlie Kaufman, a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin ...more - Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: Cameron Crowe
Set in 1973, it chronicles the funny and often poignant coming of age of 15-year-old William, an unabashed music fan who is inspired by the seminal bands of the time. When his love of music lands him ...more - Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman
- Released: 2016
- Directed by: Michael Grandage
Genius is a 2016 British-American biographical drama film directed by Michael Grandage, based on the book by A. Scott Berg. A chronicle of Max Perkins's (Colin Firth) time as the book editor at ...more - Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Dolly Wells
- Released: 2018
- Directed by: Marielle Heller
Lee Israel is a frustrated, hard-drinking author who can barely afford to pay her rent or bills in 1990s New York. Desperate for money, Israel soon hatches a scheme to forge letters by famous writers ...more - Sean Connery, Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: Gus Van Sant
A unique relationship develops between an eccentric, reclusive novelist and a young, amazingly gifted scholar-athlete. After the novelist discovers that the young athlete is also an excellent writer ...more - John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack
- Released: 2007
- Directed by: Mikael Håfström
Mike Enslin (John Cusack) is a successful author who enjoys worldwide acclaim debunking supernatural phenomena -- before he checks into the Dolphin Hotel, that is. Ignoring the warnings of the hotel ...more - Daniel Radcliffe, David Cross, Dane DeHaan
- Released: 2013
- Directed by: John Krokidas
In 1944, young Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe) has a rival for the affections of his charismatic classmate Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan). When the rival is found dead, Carr, William Burroughs and Jack ...more - Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Marc Forster
This charming account of a period in the life of author J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) reveals the real relationships and events that served as the basis for the author's most iconic work, "Peter Pan."Â ...more - James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Romola Garai
- Released: 2007
- Directed by: Joe Wright
This sweeping English drama, based on the book by Ian McEwan, follows the lives of young lovers Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightley) and Robbie Turner (James McAvoy). When the couple are torn apart by a ...more