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Curated category

Films based on American novels

  • Tales from Earthsea (film)In 1985, Ursula K. Le Guin received a call from Hayao Miyazaki through the bookseller Iwanami Shoten. She turned him down because she had not seen his films…
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)Kirk Douglas announced his company Joel Productions had acquired the rights to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1962. He intended to star as McMurphy and…
  • Fight ClubFox 2000 Pictures producer Laura Ziskin purchased the rights to Chuck Palahniuk's novel Fight Club for ten thousand dollars in 1996.
  • Gone with the Wind (film)Selznick International Pictures spent two years delaying the start of filming until January 1939. The production was troubled from its inception, with…
  • The Beguiled (1971 film)In 1863, a young student named Amy finds a seriously wounded Union soldier lying in the forest near her school. She carries him to the gates of the Miss…
  • Mazes and MonstersIn 1979, James Dallas Egbert III vanished from Michigan State University. Newspaper stories claimed his disappearance linked to Dungeons and Dragons.
  • Cold Mountain (film)In 1997, United Artists purchased the rights to Charles Frazier's bestselling novel for Anthony Minghella to write and direct.
  • Gods and Generals (film)Ted Turner personally financed the 2003 film Gods and Generals after Warner Bros. Pictures rejected his initial pitch in 2000.
  • Paths of GloryStanley Kubrick purchased the film rights to Humphrey Cobb's 1935 novel Paths of Glory for ten thousand dollars. The book itself drew from a real historical…
  • The Birth of a NationD. W. Griffith began filming on the 4th of July 1914 and finished by October 1914. The production used approximately 150,000 feet of footage to create a…
  • Ordinary PeopleRobert Redford stepped behind the camera for the first time in 1980 with Ordinary People. The project began as a novel by Judith Guest published in 1976.
  • The Red Badge of Courage (1951 film)Stephen Crane published his novel The Red Badge of Courage in 1895. John Huston and Albert Band turned that text into a screenplay for the 1951 film.