Looking to educate your patrons or students on the lives of famous authors and the books they wrote? See our list of films about authors for your literature classes or library programming.
Becoming Jane (2007)
Becoming Jane is a film that imagines the life of the famous novelist, Jane Austen (played by Anne Hathaway), focusing on her romance with a young Irish man (played by James McAvoy).
Young Minds Inspired put together an educational guide for this film.
Goosebumps (2015)
In this film, inspired by R.L. Stine’s famous book series, Stine is played by Jack Black and must help neighborhood teenagers when the monsters from his fantastical tales are unleashed and enter the real world.
Into Film created an educational guide for this film and for interviews with the filmmaking team
I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
Inspired by an unfinished James Baldwin book centering on the assassinations of Medgar Evans, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X, this film imagines the book and offers the viewer a closer look at James Baldwin.
Argument Centered Education created an educational guide designed to accompany Civil Rights, African-American History, and American History coursework.
Julie and Julia (2009)
This film tells the story of, you guessed it, Julie and Julia. Julie Powell (Amy Adams), being a bureaucratic employee who is an aspiring writer with a love of food. Julia being Julia Child (Meryl Streep). Julie decides to blog her way through Julia Child’s cookbook. Meanwhile, the film takes us into the past as we learn of Julia’s discovery of French cooking and her unlikely rise as a culinary force.
There are various resources for the film on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Little Women (2019)
Directed by Greta Gerwig, this 2019 is the latest in cinematic retellings of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel of the same name. The character of Jo March in the film, played by Sairose Ronan, is often associated with Louisa May Alcott herself and the book is considered a reflection of Alcott’s life.
Into Film created a short Powerpoint with activities inspired by or connected to the film.
Mary Shelley (2018)
Directed by Haifa al-Mansour, Mary Shelley is a romantic period piece about Shelley, a young woman who created science fiction writing as we know it when she penned Frankenstein. The film centers on Shelley’s relationship with Percy Bysshe Shelley, the relationship often credited with inspiring Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein. The film also reflects the challenges Shelley faced in publishing the work because she was a woman.
Miss Potter (2006)
This biographical drama about Beatrix Potter (in which Potter is played by Renee Zellweger) combines events and facts from Potter’s life with beloved characters from her books.
Film Education created a curriculum guide for the film featuring lessons in the following subjects: English, Geography, Media Literacy, Citizenship, and History.
Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney and Emma Thompson plays P.L. Travers in this biographical drama that chronicles Disney’s life and the creation of Mary Poppins. Walt Disney seeks to secure the film rights to Travers’s story, Saving Mr. Banks, which would eventually become the film Mary Poppins.
Wild (2014)
Another biographical drama, this film tells the true-life story of Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail. With her life in shambles, Strayed decides to hike the Pacific Coast Trail and finds herself along the way.
Film English has a film viewing guide for Wild.