Poets & Writers Theater

Vita & Virginia is a film adaptation of Eileen Atkins’s 1992 play of the same name, based on love letters Virginia Woolf exchanged over the course of a decade-long affair with Vita Sackville-West, the inspiration behind Woolf’s 1928 novel, Orlando: A Biography. Directed by Chanya Button, the biopic stars Gemma Arterton as West, Elizabeth Debicki as Woolf, and Isabella Rossellini as Baroness Sackville.

The Goldfinch, adapted from the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel by Donna Tartt, follows a young man who turns to the world of art forgery after the loss of his mother. Directed by John Crowley, with a screenplay by Peter Straughan, the film stars Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Sarah Paulson, and Jeffrey Wright.

JT LeRoy is a biopic based on the book Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT LeRoy (Seven Stories Press, 2008), Savannah Knoop’s memoir about her experience spending six years impersonating the celebrated author and literary persona of her sister-in-law Laura Albert. Directed by Justin Kelly, the film stars Laura Dern, Diane Kruger, Courtney Love, Kristen Stewart, and Jim Sturgess.

Shirley Jackson’s final novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Viking Press, 1962), has been adapted into a feature film for the first time. Directed by Stacie Passon and starring Alexandra Daddario, Taissa Farmiga, Crispin Glover, and Sebastian Stan, the mystery thriller follows a family whose dark past resurfaces upon the arrival of an estranged cousin.

Native Son, Richard Wright’s 1940 novel about a young African American man living in poverty in Chicago, has been adapted into a feature film for the third time. The movie is directed by visual artist Rashid Johnson, with a screenplay by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, and stars Sanaa Lathan, KiKi Layne, Elizabeth Marvel, Margaret Qualley, Nick Robinson, and Ashton Sanders.
 

James Baldwin’s 1974 novel If Beale Street Could Talk has been adapted into a feature film directed by Barry Jenkins. Starring Stephan James, Regina King, and KiKi Layne, the film follows a young woman in 1970s Harlem attempting to prove her fiancé’s innocence when he is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit.

Bird Box (Ecco, 2014), the debut novel by Josh Malerman has been adapted into a feature film. Directed by Susanne Bier, the psychological thriller film stars Sandra Bullock, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, and Trevante Rhodes and follows a woman and her two children as they traverse a post-apocalyptic landscape while blindfolded to escape an unseen, supernatural adversary.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette (Little, Brown, 2012), Maria Semple’s comedic novel narrated by a teenage girl searching for her agoraphobic architect mother who has gone missing, has been adapted into a feature film. Directed by Richard Linklater, the movie stars Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Laurence Fishburne, Judy Greer, and Kristen Wiig.

The Girl in the Spider’s Web is a film adaptation of David Lagercrantz’s crime novel, translated from the Swedish by George Goulding, which continues the Millennium series originated by the late Stieg Larsson. Directed by Fede Alvarez, the film sees the return of the two primary characters in the series: computer hacker Lisbeth Salander, played by Claire Foy, and journalist Mikael Blomkvist, played by Sverrir Gudnason.

William Shakespeare’s tragic play King Lear has been adapted into a made-for-television film set in a highly militarized version of present-day London. Directed by Richard Eyre, the film stars Anthony Hopkins as the titular character, and Florence Pugh, Emma Thompson, and Emily Watson as his three daughters.

Burning is a mystery thriller about a lonely aspiring writer whose life changes suddenly when he bumps into a childhood acquaintance and she introduces a suave stranger into their lives. Adapted from the short story “Barn Burning” by Haruki Murakami, the film is directed by South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong and stars Yoo Ah-in, Jeon Jong-seo, and Steven Yeun.

The Hate U Give (Balzer + Bray, 2017), the best-selling debut novel by Angie Thomas about a Black high school student who witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood friend by a police officer and is subsequently drawn into activism, has been adapted into a feature film. Directed by George Tillman Jr., the film stars Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Issa Rae, and Amandla Stenberg.

In this film adaptation of Lee Israel’s memoir of the same name, Melissa McCarthy plays Israel who has made a living as a celebrity biographer but turns to forgery when her career takes a downturn. Directed by Marielle Heller, the film also stars Jane Curtin, Richard E. Grant, and Dolly Wells.

Beautiful Boy is adapted from the memoirs Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction (Houghton Mifflin, 2008) by David Sheff and Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines (Antheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008) by Nic Sheff, and chronicles a family coping with addiction over many years. Starring Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, Amy Ryan, and Maura Tierney, the film is directed by Felix Van Groeningen.

William Giraldi’s 2014 novel, Hold the Dark, has been adapted into a film for Netflix. Directed by Jeremy Saulnier, the film stars Riley Keough, Alexander Skarsgård, and Jeffrey Wright. Giraldi is a frequent contributor to Poets & Writers Magazine, most recently with “The Art of Reading James Baldwin” in the November/December 2017 issue.

Bel Canto, the award-winning novel by Ann Patchett, has been adapted into a feature film directed by Paul Weitz. Julianne Moore stars as Roxanne Coss, an opera singer who is held hostage after she performs a private concert at a birthday party for a wealthy Japanese businessman, played by Ken Watanabe.

The Wife (Scribner, 2003), Meg Wolitzer’s novel about a devoted wife looking back on life choices and sacrifices as her husband is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, has been adapted into a feature film. Directed by Björn Runge, the film stars Glenn Close, Max Irons, Elizabeth McGovern, Jonathan Pryce, and Christian Slater.

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness (Free Press, 2012), Susannah Cahalan’s memoir about her experience as a young journalist struggling with the diagnosis of a rare and mysterious neurological disease, has been adapted into a feature film. Directed by Gerard Barrett, the film stars Richard Armitage, Thomas Mann, Chloë Grace Moretz, Carrie-Anne Moss, Tyler Perry, and Jenny Slate.

Nick Hornby’s Juliet, Naked (Riverhead Books, 2009), a novel about a couple whose relationship is altered by a reclusive singer-songwriter’s album, has been adapted into a film. Directed by Jesse Peretz, the film stars Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke, and Chris O’Dowd.

Boy Erased is a film based on Garrard Conley’s 2016 coming-of-age memoir of the same name. Lucas Hedges stars as a young man who is forced by his fundamental Baptist parents, played by Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman, to attend a gay conversion therapy program. The film is written and directed by Joel Edgerton, who also costars as the program’s head therapist.