Most Adapted Authors

07-10-2008 15:36

The novel adaptation is currently big business at the box office and, in reality, always has been, with The Duchess, No Country for Old Men, The Mist and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian already this year, to name but a few.

But while every now and again Hollywood decide to choose a new author to give the silver screen treatment, most recently it's the work of Cormac McCarthy that is enjoying success with No Country for Old Men and The Road, which is due out next year, there are a group of writers whose work has now become synonymous with cinema.

William Shakespeare is one of this country's most famous writers and ever since the beginning of movies filmmakers have been adapting his work.

More recently plays such as Romeo and Juliet, Othello and The Taming of the Shrew have undergone a modern day twist with big named stars to entice younger audiences to his work. O and 10 things I Hate About You are two such adaptations which brought Josh Hartnett and heath Ledger to these well known literary characters, even if they had experienced some minor changes.

The Tempest is due to get another big screen makeover and filming is expected to get underway next year starring Geoffrey Rush and Ben Whishaw.

The work of Jane Austen also seems to be being adapted left, right and centre for cinema as well as for television.

From her collection of novels it's Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Sense and Sensibility that have proved to be popular amongst Hollywood studios and the most recent releases that have done well with audiences and critics.