Even though many people argue that the movie is never as good as the book it is based on, many of the best movies are, in fact, based on books. Almost one-third of the films nominated for Academy Awards this year have literary source materials.
The Coen Brothers’ True Grit, the second-most nominated film after The King’s Speech, is based on a 1968 novel by Charles Portis. The Coen Brothers’ film hews more closely to the book than the 1969 adaptation starring John Wayne. Wayne did win an Academy Award for his role as Rooster Cogburn, though. Jeff Bridges is nominated this year for the same role.
Winter’s Bone is the film I’ll be rooting for in this year’s race. It is nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (John Hawkes), and Best Actress for Jennifer Lawrence, who gives a powerhouse performance as a 16-year-old girl whose family’s future rests entirely on her shoulders. The movie was bleak, but riveting. When I saw it, I didn’t even know it was based on a book. Daniel Woodrell published Winter’s Bone in 2006. The film is also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Even one of the nominated animated feature films this year is based on a series of books. How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell started in 2003. There are currently eight books in the series. And one of the biggest pictures of the year, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, received only one nomination, for visual effects. Harry Potter is, of course, based on the phenomenal best-selling series by JK Rowling. If you didn’t know that, you’re in the wrong place (and have some catching up to do!)
Other movies were adapted from books, but the movies have different titles. Best Picture-nominee 127 Hours–aka that movie were James Franco cuts his arm off–is based on the real-life memoir Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston. Franco is nominated for Best Actor and the adapted screenplay by director Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy is also nominated.
The Book Cellar 