Movies About Writing and Writers

Annamaria on Monday

In the face of my current challenges with pain, today I am trying to write something coherent by dictating. Some of you, and many other friends, have suggested this as a way to write while minimizing my computer time. I’m skeptical. But I am willing to try a new way of "putting words on paper.” I hope this first attempt isn’t going to look too foolish. To avoid such an outcome, I’ve taken up a subject that should be easy to handle with the spoken word—talking about movies.  Specifically in this case, films where the plot hinges on writing.  

 

Almost all my evenings for more than a year now have involved watching a movie. I have found few new releases interesting or engaging. The film industry’s prevailing wisdom seems to aim their work at 15 year old boys. It’s been a long time since I was 15, and I’ve never been or wanted to be a boy.  And I need cheering up.  Or intellectual stimulation at the very least.  So, I have gone back to movies that I know I would find amusing and engaging.  Here are three, all of which portray writers writing a book, or in one case a chapter.  That act of writing precipitates an event or is at the very core of the story.

 

American Dreamer (1984)

 

I’ve seen this movie quite a few times over the years. I just love it. It is hilarious, and it is also telling something about the hearts and minds of people who write fiction, that writing is a compulsion.  In this delightful romantic comedy, the heroine is a huge fan of a spy thriller series set in Paris. She enters a contest in which the person who writes the most authentic – sounding chapter for a Rebecca Ryan novel will win an all-expenses-paid one week trip to Paris, where she will meet the author at a special lunch in her honor. Our protagonist wins! And thereby hangs the tale.  The screenplay employs every trope of the spy thriller, both to create suspense and hilarity.

 

Hopscotch

 

This is one of my all-time favorite movies.  It stars Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson. As a screen couple the chemistry between them is electric. I know; Walter Matthau is not most people’s image of an irresistible leading man, but he is mine. He has to have been one of the most charming human beings ever to walk on this planet, and it shows in spades in this film.

 

Matthau plays Kendrick, a Cold War spy who is “over the hill“ according to his new boss in the CIA. They clash, and the upshot is that Kendrick decides to write his memoirs, a goal that strikes terror in the hearts of the higher ups of the CIA. The screenplay and the performances are absolutely first rate. You won’t believe the twists and turns. Pay particular attention to the names of the characters. Their surnames will be familiar to all who, like me, are dyed-in-the-wool fans of spy fiction.

Stranger Than Fiction

 

This film centers, in the most interesting way, on the relationship between the character and the author. This story is so unusual and surprising that I want to avoid any spoilers, so I can’t say much.  But I can tell you that it will always amuse and always intrigue you, whether you’re a writer or a reader. Emma Thompson heads a splendid cast. I know I’m not telling you very much at all about the film, but I really think it is best to just press play and sing into the story. It will never cease to stimulate and entertain you.