14 Good Movies About Writers Every Writer Should See

Have you seen any good movies about writers recently?

I just happened to get a chance to watch one a few weeks ago (listed first below). I had seen it before, but it was a long time ago and I didn’t remember a lot of it. It impressed me again, particularly in terms of how it captured a writer’s point of view.

If you haven’t seen a movie about writers recently, I suggest you schedule a time when you can. There’s something about watching a character say the things we all often think that can be really satisfying. It lets us know that we’re not alone.

It can also be eye-opening to see another writer’s process, and how they overcome their struggles, even if they are fictional.

Below, I’ve listed 14 of the best movies about writers I’ve seen over the years. I’m sure there are some I haven’t seen. If you know of a good one that’s not on this list, please do add it to the comments!

14 Good Movies About Writers

1. The Words

This is the one I saw recently. It’s well-acted and holds your interest, plus I love the ending. It leaves you asking, “Which would I choose?”

Starring

Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, Zoe Saldana

Synopsis

When wannabe-writer Rory (Bradley Cooper) finds an old manuscript tucked away in a bag, he decides to pass the work off as his own. The book, called “The Window Tears,” brings Rory great acclaim, until the real author (Jeremy Irons) shows up and threatens to destroy Rory’s reputation. Cut to Clayton Hammond (Dennis Quaid), a writer whose popular novel “The Words” seems to mirror Rory’s story, leading to speculation that the tome is Hammond’s thinly veiled autobiography.

Good Movies About Writers 2: Midnight in Paris

I remember this as a purely delightful movie. I mean, how fun to travel back in time and meet the writers you’ve long admired?

Starring

Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody

Synopsis

Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is a screenwriter and aspiring novelist. Vacationing in Paris with his fiancee (Rachel McAdams), he has taken to touring the city alone. On one such late-night excursion, Gil encounters a group of strange — yet familiar — revelers, who sweep him along, apparently back in time, for a night with some of the Jazz Age’s icons of art and literature. The more time Gil spends with these cultural heroes of the past, the more dissatisfied he becomes with the present.

3. Adaptation

There are certain scenes in this movie I could watch over and over again and still laugh out loud. Only a writer is likely to get the funny references!

Starring

Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper

Synopsis

Nicolas Cage is Charlie Kaufman, a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald (Nicolas Cage). While struggling to adapt “The Orchid Thief,” by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep), Kaufman’s life spins from pathetic to bizarre. The lives of Kaufman, Orlean’s book, become strangely intertwined as each one’s search for passion collides with the others’.

Good Movies About Writers 4: Dead Poets Society

This movie has a special place in my heart for a couple of reasons. First, it’s starring Robin Williams, and I’m a big fan. Second, the first boss that ever hired me as a writer gave it to me as a parting gift before he left the company. It was a sign of his faith in me as a writer, which I treasured at the time as I was just starting out.

Starring

Robin Williams, Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard

Synopsis

A new English teacher, John Keating (Robin Williams), is introduced to an all-boys preparatory school that is known for its ancient traditions and high standards. He uses unorthodox methods to reach out to his students, who face enormous pressures from their parents and the school. With Keating’s help, students Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard), Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke), and others learn to break out of their shells, pursue their dreams and seize the day.

5. Finding Neverland

This is the movie that made me fall in love with actor Freddie Highmore. There was one scene where his mother expresses her confidence in him as a budding creator that is extremely touching and speaks right to a writer’s heart.

Starring

Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Freddie Highmore

Synopsis

This charming account of a period in the life of author J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) reveals the real relationships and events that served as the basis for the author’s most iconic work, “Peter Pan.” After Barrie develops a platonic relationship with the widowed Sylvia (Kate Winslet) and her four sons, he is inspired to write a play about a group of children who don’t want to grow up. The work proves a hit and winds up bringing Barrie and the children together in a way he had never expected.

Good Movies About Writers 6: Limitless

I wrote a blog after seeing this movie because it sparked so much reflection. How much more could we accomplish if we stopped believing in our limits?

Starring

Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert DeNiro

Synopsis

Facing unemployment and his girlfriend’s rejection, writer Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is sure that he has no future. That all changes when an old friend gives him a drug that produces enhanced mental acuity. Stoked on the untested chemical, Eddie rises to the top of the financial world and attracts the attention of a tycoon (Robert De Niro) who intends to use him to make a fortune. But terrible side-effects and a dwindling supply threaten to collapse Eddie’s house of cards.

7. Miss Potter

There aren’t many movies about female writers, and this one is as delightful as Miss Potter seemed to be herself. The creator of Peter Rabbit managed to keep her inner child awake and alive throughout her entire life. Plus her advocacy for her work can be inspiring for us all.

Starring

Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson

Synopsis

Based on the life of early 20th-century author Beatrix Potter, creator of Peter Rabbit. As a young woman, Potter rails against her parents’ wishes for her to marry and settle down. Instead, she continues to write about and draw the animals she has adored since childhood. Her early attempts to find a publisher for her children’s stories are unsuccessful, but an offer from a small firm will turn her into a literary phenomenon.

Good Movies About Writers 8: Trumbo

In my hometown, there is a wonderful bronze sculpture of Trumbo in his bathtub writing. I saw the sculpture before I saw the movie. The movie clarified the sculpture for me—now it makes sense!

Starring

Bryan Cranston, Helen Mirren, Diane Lane

Synopsis

Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) is a talented screenwriter. However, his active membership in the Communist Party draws the contempt of anti-Soviet entertainment industry figures, such as columnist Hedda Hopper (Dame Helen Mirren) and John Wayne (David James Elliott). Trumbo is one of ten screenwriters subpoenaed to testify before the United States Congress regarding Communist propaganda in Hollywood movies. In 1950, he served eleven months in prison where he met J. Parnell Thomas (James DuMont), who was convicted of tax evasion.

9. Capote

Philip Seymour Hoffman was brilliant in this role as Truman Capote. What a shame we lost him so young. Through his role, he showed how involved we writers can become with our subjects/characters.

Starring

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Mark Pellegrino

Synopsis

Reading of the murder of a Kansas family, New York City novelist Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) decides to cover the story himself, and travels to the small town with his childhood friend, aspiring novelist Harper Lee (Catherine Keener). When Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino) are arrested and charged, Capote forms an emotional bond with Smith during his jailhouse interviews despite the young criminal’s apparent guilt.

Good Movies About Writers 10: Misery

I have to admit—I always look away during the scene where Kathy Bates decides to “punish” the writer she’s captured in her cabin. No list of good movies about writers would be complete, though, without this gem from Steven King.

Starring

James Caan, Kathy Bates

Synopsis

After a serious car crash, novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is rescued by former nurse Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), who claims to be his biggest fan. Annie brings him to her remote cabin to recover, where her obsession takes a dark turn when she discovers Sheldon is killing off her favorite character from his novels. As Sheldon devises plans for escape, Annie grows increasingly controlling, even violent, as she forces the author to shape his writing to suit her twisted fantasies.

11. Finding Forrester

This one was a little saccharine for me in places, but hey—Sean Connery! And he has some great lines that writers will appreciate.

Starring

Sean Connery, Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham

Synopsis

A unique relationship develops between an eccentric, reclusive novelist and a young, amazingly gifted scholar-athlete. After the novelist discovers that the young athlete is also an excellent writer and secretly takes him on as his protégé, they develop an unlikely friendship. As they learn more about each other, they learn more about themselves, and ultimately, with the help of his new mentor, the basketball star must choose the right path.

Good Movies About Writers 12: Genius

I saw this one just a couple of years ago. It is newer than most of the rest of these, coming out in 2016. I’m a big Colin Firth fan, and to see him playing the role of Maxwell Perkins in a story about Thomas Wolfe was too much to pass up. If any of you are editors, you’ll love this tribute to what a good editor can do for a writer!

Starring

Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney

Synopsis

One day in 1929, a wildly developing book manuscript lands on the table of renowned editor Maxwell Perkins’ desk. He realizes that Thomas Wolfe, the author behind the script, is a dazzling talent and develops a close friendship with him.

13. The Ghost Writer

This one gets a little squirrely toward the end, as far as the plot goes, but it’s entertaining. Plus it was great to see a movie about a ghostwriter! The only one I’ve come across?

Starring

Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams

Synopsis

When a successful ghostwriter, the Ghost (Ewan McGregor), agrees to finish the memoirs of Adam Long (Pierce Brosnan), England’s former prime minister, his publisher assures him it’s the chance of a lifetime. Instead, he begins to uncover evidence that suggests his late predecessor knew a dark secret about Lang and may have been murdered to prevent it from coming to light.

Good Movies About Writers 14: The Secret Window

It’s amazing looking at this list how many A-list actors show up in movies about writers, and how many show up more than once, like Johnny Depp. Here, he plays a writer who escapes to a cabin to write—something we all long to do at one point or another! Unfortunately, as so often happens in cabins in the woods, things don’t go well!

Starring

Johnny Depp, Maria Bello, John Turturro

Synopsis

While in the process of an ugly divorce from his wife (Maria Bello), writer Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) relocates to his remote cabin in upstate New York for solitude. Attempting to recover his mental health, Rainey has the misfortune of being found by John Shooter (John Turturro), a farmer who claims Rainey plagiarized his work. At first, Rainey ignores the accusations, but Shooter has no intention of quietly disappearing. Soon, Shooter becomes increasingly vicious in his quest for retribution.