Movies Based on Short Stories
A few days ago I was trying to compile a list of short stories which were adapted into movies. The first one that came to mind was “Brokeback Mountain.” Then I came up with a couple of great Stephen King stories –”The Body” (into Stand By Me) and “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” (The Shawshank Redemption) from his collection, Different Seasons. And of course there’s “Secretary” by Mary Gaitskill, but the short story is so different from the movie that I’m not sure it counts.
I did a google search and found this book and this other list.
Some of the ones in the book are:
The Minority Report
American Splendor
Memento
All About Eve
Rear Window
Rashomon
2001: A Space Odyssey
Bringing Up Baby
Meet John Doe
All About Eve
Psycho
Does anyone know of any more recent ones?
Popularity: 56% [?]
The Illusionist is based on Steven Millhauser’s “Eisenheim the Illusionist.”
Comment by Amanda — July 17, 2008 @ 5:36 am
Field of Dreams is based on W.P. Kinsella’s short story. It’s not too recent but I noticed it wasn’t on the list. Thanks for the book mention, I’ve been looking a book like this.
Comment by Enid — July 17, 2008 @ 12:36 pm
We’ve compiled a pretty extensive list of movies based on short stories at our site www.nextstophollywood.org. In addition, our first volume of new short stories with real potential to become movies was recently published by St. Martins. it too is entitled “Next Stop Hollywood” and reflects never-before published stories from 14 authors from around the world.
Google excerpts at
http://books.google.com/books?id=WgjpMyl6eNsC
Comment by Steve Cohen — July 22, 2008 @ 1:01 pm
Alice Munro’s “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” was adapted into “Away from Her.”
Comment by Ben — July 22, 2008 @ 1:54 pm
Apocalypse Now - based on “Heart of Darkness”
Short Cuts - based on a bunch of Raymond Carver stories
In the Bedroom - based on “Killings” by Andre Dubus
Away from Her - based on “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” by Alice Munro
Comment by Brendan — July 22, 2008 @ 2:03 pm
3:10 to Yuma was based on an Elmore Leonard short story.
Comment by Hoosier Paul — August 1, 2008 @ 1:42 pm
There’s also a list over at BookFox, www.thejohnfox.com, including some not found here.
http://www.thejohnfox.com/bookfox/2008/07/three-cheers-for-short-stories-on-the-silver-screen.html
Comment by John Fox — August 2, 2008 @ 4:08 pm
Jindabyne is an Australian film based on Raymond Carver’s “So Much Water So Close To Home”.
Of course, this story is also in Short Cuts.
Comment by Garry — August 12, 2008 @ 7:18 am
Also, just to throw it out there, Zoetrope: All-Story is basically devoted to short films that have been/could be adapted into screenplays. From their website:
Comment by WScott — August 14, 2008 @ 8:11 am
Short story ‘Button, button’ by Richard Mathewson will have the movie ‘The Box’ coming out later this year
Comment by Marty M. — August 29, 2009 @ 8:13 pm
Rollerball = “Roller Ball Murder” by William Harrison, first published in Esquire (1973), republished in Harrison’s Roller Ball Murder and Other Stories (1975)
The Quiet Man = “The Quiet Man” by Maurice Walsh, first published in Saturday Evening Post (1933)
The Naked Jungle = “Leiningen vs. the Ants” by Carl Stephenson, first published in Senior Scholastic (1948), republished in 21 Great Stories
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence = story by Dorothy M. Johnson
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button = story by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Comment by Joe — January 3, 2010 @ 1:35 am