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Sunday, January 28, 2024

My Ten Favorite Movies About Writers

My being a writer probably explains my fondness for movies about writers.  Today, I'm sharing the list of my ten favorite movies about or involving writers -- some authors of fiction, some screenwriters, some columnists or newspaper reporters, but all writers!


1. Laura (1944)  While solving the murder of beautiful Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) falls in love with her memory, mainly thanks to the worshipful reminiscences of Laura's mentor, venomous columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb).

2. Saving Mr. Banks (2013)  Author P. L. Travers (Emma Thompson) struggles to let go of her specific vision for her book Mary Poppins as Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) works to make it into a movie.  My favorite description of what writers do ("We restore order.  We instill hope, again and again.") comes from this movie.

3. The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) needs money. And he needs his career to stop fizzling. And he needs these grumpy characters in his head (especially Scrooge, played by Christopher Plummer) to cooperate. And he needs people to stop pestering him so he can just write his next book. A completely charming, relatable look at the writing process!

4. The Gazebo (1959) A playwright (Glenn Ford) gets blackmailed over some scandalous old photos of his actress wife (Debbie Reynolds) and decides to kill the blackmailer rather than keep paying him. Which leads to very dark comedy that has me in absolute stitches, though my husband didn't find it nearly so funny because he said that Glenn Ford was too good at portraying fear and worry, and so my husband just kept feeling afraid and worried for him. YMMV.

5. Romancing the Stone (1984) Bestselling romance novelist Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) sets out to rescue her kidnapped sister from the South American drug lords who kidnapped her.  A disillusioned mercenary (Michael Douglas) reluctantly helps her out in exchange for a treasure map Joan's sister sent to her before she was kidnapped.  Romance and adventure and some pretty funny dialog ensue.

6. Moulin Rouge! (2001) An aspiring novelist (Ewan MacGregor) falls in love with a consumptive courtesan (Nicole Kidman) and courts her with the help of Toulouse-Latrec (John Leguizamo) in 1890s Paris, while singing and dancing to modern 20th-century music because director Baz Luhrmann can make that work.

7. Paris When it Sizzles (1964) A screenwriter (William Holden) tries to cure his writer's block and write his next smash hit with the help of a typist (Audrey Hepburn) with quirky and funny results. I feel like Alex and Emma (2003) is basically a remake of this movie, though I suppose they might both just be inspired by the true story of Fyodor Dostoyevsky writing a book under a tight deadline with the help of a stenographer that he fell in love with and subsequently married.

8. Miss Potter (2006) Beatrix Potter (Renee Zellweger) falls in love, writes stories, paints cute pictures, publishes books, and refuses to let anyone stop her from doing any of those things. It's a sweet, fun mix of cuteness and determination.

9. Roman Holiday (1953) Bored and lonely Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) runs off alone in Rome to have a taste of what life is like for ordinary people.  American newspaperman Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) takes her under his wing before anything bad can happen to her, and he thinks he's got the scoop of a lifetime once he realizes who he's rescued. 

10. Knives Out (2019) A wealthy mystery author (Christopher Plummer) dies, and everyone in his large and weird family (Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, et. al.) suspects everyone else of having killed him. Only an enigmatic private detective (Daniel Craig) has any inkling of the truth for a long time. 


Are there any movies about your particular profession?  Or, are there any jobs you really love to watch movies about?


This has been my second entry for the On the Job Blogathon hosted by myself and Quiggy at the Midnight Drive-In this weekend!

16 comments:

  1. You know, I still have not watched "Miss Potter" or "Saving Mr. Banks." That definitely seems like an issue I should work on without delay.

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  2. Knives Outis one of the best movies!

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    1. Ivy Miranda, it really is so clever and re-watchable!

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  3. The only one of those I've seen is The Man who Invented Christmas (which is one of only four movies I have reviewed that were then currently in theaters.) Been meaning to watch Laura but haven't gotten around to it yet.

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    1. Quiggy, I am bummed I didn't go see The Man Who Invented Christmas in the theater. It is really such a delight.

      You haven't seen Laura yet? Oh, you have SUCH a treat ahead of you!

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  4. I love Roman Holiday!! Such a classic! I think we started watching Paris When It Sizzles, it sounds familiar, does it have Tony Curtis in it? Have you ever seen Nim's Island or Christmas in Connecticut? They also feature writers in a really fun way; the one in Nim's Island is hilarious!!

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    1. Grace, yup, Tony Curtis is also in Parish When It Sizzles -- in the storytelling parts. And he has a great time, you can tell :-D

      I am not really a fan of Christmas in Connecticut, but I do want to see Nim's Island one of these days!

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  5. Excellent list of Writer movies! I haven't seen Moulin Rouge, and you've encouraged me to suss it out.

    Also, thanks for co-hosting/organizing this blogathon. The entries are terrific!

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    1. Thanks, Silver Screenings! I will say that Moulin Rouge! is kind of an oddball movie. It gets a bit heady and overwhelming here and there, at least the first time through -- but in a good way, overall.

      I am really looking forward to reading all these entries thoroughly! They all look so interesting.

      Thanks for joining in :-)

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  6. I've been tentative about Moulin Rouge, but now that I know it's about a writer, sign me up!

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    1. Chloe, well, Moulin Rouge made me cry so hard I got a migraine the first time I saw it, so um... watch cautiously? Lol! It is a wild ride. Gets fairly suggestive here and there, but never actually smutty. And if you like Ewan McGregor at all, it is a must-see.

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  7. I love this list! Glad to see "Moulin Rouge" isn't so bad.

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    1. Thanks, Rebecca! Moulin Rouge is a very unique, very stylized movie, but I find it really beautiful. And tragic, as it's a retelling of Camille, but hauntingly beautiful.

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  8. Love this list, and if you loved Roman Holiday try Seven Nights in Japan, it's kind of a (very) loose remake!

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    1. Thanks, Gill! I've not heard of Seven Nights in Japan before, so I will have to check that out :-)

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