Most Adapted Authors

07 October 2008

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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.

Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice is the most recent adaptation of her work starring Keira Knightley as heroine Elizabeth Bennett, a role which earnt her an Oscar nomination and a film that launched the career of Wright.

There was also Oscar recognition for Ang Lee's version of Sense and Sensibility in 1995 which brought Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nominations for both Emma Thompson, who went on to win for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Kate Winslet.

And 1996's Emma brought Gwyneth Paltrow critical acclaim backing up her breakthrough role in Se7en a year earlier.

But of more modern day writers it's Stephen King and Philip K Dick that really led the way in the number of works making it onto film.

Despite major success as an author Stephen King movies have proved a little hit and miss over recent years. Early film versions of his novels, such as Carrie, The Shining and Stand By Me, found major success, with the first two being leading pictures in the horror genre.

However lately works like Secret Window, Dreamcatcher and The Mist have struggled critically and commercially. Despite this there's a string of his work in the pipeline including Cell, Bag of Bones and The Dark Tower.

Philip K Dick, known best for his science fiction work, has also found many of his novels receiving the big screen treatment over the last few years.

The most famous of these came in 1982 when Ridley Scott directed the futuristic Blade Runner, which has gone on to become one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time.

Minority Report, which starred Tom Cruise, was a critical and commercial success and is considered one of Spielberg's best movies.

Other author's who are currently enjoying big box office success include JK Rowling, John Grisham and Ian McEwan.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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