Emma Donoghue's 5 favourite page-to-screen adaptations
When Irish-Canadian novelist Emma Donoghue adapted her novel Room for the screen, many critics questioned whether a movie version of the bestselling book could do the story justice. The film went on to win the prestigious People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the screenplay garnered wins and nominations from the Oscars, Golden Globes, Canadian Screen Awards and the Irish Film & Television Academy, to name just a few.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Donoghue is currently adapting her novel Frog Music for the big screen. In this The Next Chapter web exclusive, Emma Donoghue shares her five favourite book-to-movie adaptations.
1. The Princess Bride
The book: The Princess Bride (1973) by William Goldman.
The adaptation: William Goldman adapted his own novel for the film. Goldman is an accomplished screenwriter — other credits include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men, which won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay, respectively.
The film: Rob Reiner directed the beloved 1987 film adaptation starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon and Christopher Guest.
2. Sense and Sensibility
The book: Sense and Sensibility (1811) by Jane Austen.
The adaptation: Emma Thompson was already a successful actress when she wrote the screenplay for Sense and Sensibility, a project that took her five years.
The film: An all-star cast including Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant brings Austen's book to life in Ang Lee's 1995 adaptation, which picked up seven Academy Award nominations. Emma Thompson was nominated for both Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay for the film, and won the latter category.
3. Brokeback Mountain
The book: "Brokeback Mountain," a short story by Annie Proulx. The story was published in the New Yorker in 1997, and later included in Proulx's collection Close Range: Wyoming Stories, which was a finalist for the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
The adaptation: Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Larry McMurtry and his writing partner Diana Ossana picked up Best Adapted Screenplay wins at the Academy Awards, the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes for their work on the film.
The film: Ang Lee directed the 2005 film, which stars Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams.
4. The Remains of the Day
The book: The Remains of the Day (1989) by Kazuo Ishiguro. The novel won the Man Booker Prize for fiction.
The adaptation: Another Booker Prize winner, German novelist Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, adapted the book for the screen. She had previously won Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for the films Howards End (1992) and A Room with a View (1987). Jhabvala remains the only person to have won both a Booker Prize and an Oscar.
The film: The 1993 film, directed by James Ivory and featuring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay.
5. The Claim
The book: The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) by Thomas Hardy.
The adaptation: Donoghue describes the film as a "free adaptation" of the book. Frank Cottrell-Boyce, the writer behind the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, wrote the screenplay.
The film: Michael Winterbottom directed the British/Canadian co-production, which was released in 2000. The film stars Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Sarah Polley and Milla Jovovich.