On June 26, the movie My Sister’s Keeper, based on the 2004 novel of the same title by Jodi Picoult ’87, is scheduled to open in theaters across the country.
So PAW asks the question: What other movies have been based on books or short stories by Princeton alumni?
Here’s our list, complete with as many campus-era photos that we could find.
Use the “Post comments” form below to discuss your favorites or to add a name that we missed!
Sources: International Movie Database, Wikipedia, Yahoo! Movies, various Web sites
Compiled by Marianne Nelson
On June 26, the movie My Sister’s Keeper, based on the 2004 novel of the same title by Jodi Picoult ’87, is scheduled to open in theaters across the country.
So PAW asks the question: What other movies have been based on books or short stories by Princeton alumni?
Here’s our list, complete with as many campus-era photos that we could find.
Use the “Post comments” form below to discuss your favorites or to add a name that we missed!
Sources: International Movie Database, Wikipedia, Yahoo! Movies, various Web sites
Compiled by Marianne Nelson
THE BOOK: My Sister’s Keeper (2004)
THE MOVIE (2009)
Directed by Nick Cassavetes
Starring Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Alec Baldwin, Jason Patrick, and Sofia Vassilieva
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
A couple conceive a child (a daughter) who can provide a donor match for their older daughter who has leukemia. But after years of medical procedures, the healthy younger sibling seeks medical emancipation from her parents — a decision that tears the family apart and may prove fatal to her older sister.
THE BOOK: Everything Is Illuminated (2003)
THE MOVIE (2005)
Directed by Liev Schreiber
Starring Eugene Hutz and Elijah Wood
THE MOVIE PLOT (Comedy/Drama)
A young American man sets out to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II in a small Ukrainian town that ultimately was destroyed by the Nazis. His journey, which starts out under the most absurd circumstances, turns into a surprisingly meaningful experience.
THE BOOK: Everything Is Illuminated (2003)
THE MOVIE (2005)
Directed by Liev Schreiber
Starring Eugene Hutz and Elijah Wood
THE MOVIE PLOT (Comedy/Drama)
A young American man sets out to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II in a small Ukrainian town that ultimately was destroyed by the Nazis. His journey, which starts out under the most absurd circumstances, turns into a surprisingly meaningful experience.
THE BOOK The Rule of Four (2004) co-written with Dustin Thomason
THE MOVIE (Announced — 2011)
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
Two college friends are forced into a fiery drama spun from a mysterious book whose power and meaning have long been misunderstood.
THE BOOK: In Her Shoes (2004)
THE MOVIE (2005)
Directed by Curtis Hanson
Starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, and Shirley MacLaine
THE MOVIE PLOT (Comedy/Drama)
Two sisters, one a party girl and the other straight-laced, have a calamitous falling-out. After a long bumpy road — and the help of a grandmother neither sister knew existed — they reach a true appreciation of each other.
THE BOOK Senseless (2001)
THE MOVIE (2008)
Directed by Simon Hynd
Starring Jason Behr, Emma Catherwood, and Joe Ferrara
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama/Suspense)
The brutal kidnapping and torture of a wealthy U.S. businessman is streamed online as part of an ultra-violent reality TV show.
THE BOOK: Up in the Air (2001)
THE MOVIE (filming — TBA 2009)
Directed by Jason Reitman
Starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, and Jason Bateman
THE MOVIE PLOT (Comedy)
A business professional specializing in corporate downsizing (i.e., firing people) is on a mission to collect one million frequent-flyer miles.
THE BOOK: Thumbsucker (1999)
THE MOVIE (2005)
Directed by Mike Mills
Starring Lou Pucci, Tilda Swinton, Vincent D’Onofrio, Keanu Reeves, Benjamin Bratt, Kelli Garner, and Vince Vaughn
THE MOVIE PLOT (Comedy/Drama)
A desperate teenage boy tries hypnosis to break the embarrassing thumb-sucking habit he has had since infancy. It seems to work, but then his problem takes on other forms.
THE BOOK: Six Figures (2001)
THE MOVIE (2005)
Directed by David Christensen
Starring J.R. Bourne, Caroline Cave, Marianne Denicourt, and Stéphane Audran
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
A married man in his mid-30s with two children is in a dead-end career. He lands a new job that relocates him and his family to a boomtown where everyone else seems to have more than he does — and more is what he wants. When things don’t turn out as planned, his disappointments appear to trigger murderous anger.
THE BOOK The Blind Side: Evolution of the Game (2006)
THE MOVIE The Blind Side (Filming – release date 11/20/09)
Directed by John Lee Hancock
Starring Sandra Bullock, Kathy Bates, and Quinton Aaron
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
The true story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American boy who was taken in by a well-to-do white family and, with the help of his coaches and his adopted family, becomes an All-American football lineman.
THE BOOK Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (2003)
THE MOVIE Moneyball (Pre-production — 2011)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Starring Brad Pitt and Demetri Martin
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
The story of Oakland As general manager Billy Beane’s unconventional but successful approach of putting together a baseball team on a budget — with the aid of computer-generated analysis to draft his players.
THE BOOK Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (2001)
THE MOVIE Fast Food Nation (2006)
Directed by Richard Linklater
Starring Wilmer Valderrama, Cataline Sandin Moreno, Ana Claudio Talancón, Greg Kinnear, Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, Luis Guzmán, Robert Cannavale, and Ashley Johnson
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama/Thriller)
In this fictionalized drama inspired by Schlosser’s nonfiction expose of junk-food companies, a marketing executive for a large burger chain discovers a terrible secret ingredient in their burger recipe. His ensuing investigation unearths the health risks associated with the fast-food industry, as well as its environmental and social consequences.
THE SHORT STORY “A Fever in the Blood,” from Gates of Eden (1999)
THE MOVIE (2002)
Directed by Andrew Pulver
Starring Martin McDougall, Kerry Shale, and Olegar Fedoro
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
The story of a hearing-impaired detective whose ear was bitten off in a fight.
THE BOOK Everybody’s All American (1981)
THE MOVIE (1988)
Directed by Taylor Hackford
Starring Jessica Lange, Dennis Quaid, and Timothy Hutton
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama/Romance)
Twenty-five years in the life of a Louisiana football legend.
THE BOOK Alex, The Life of a Child (1997)
THE MOVIE for TV (1986)
Directed by Robert Markowitz
Starring Craig T. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
The touching true story of Frank and Carole Deford and their daughter Alex, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
THE BOOK Two of a Kind: The Hillside Stranglers (1985)
THE MOVIE — TV miniseries: The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989)
Directed by Steve Gethers
Starring: Richard Crenna, Dennis Farina, and Billy Zane
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
The true story of the Hillside Stranglers – cousins Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi – who both were convicted of brutally killing young girls and women in the hills above Los Angeles during the late ’70s.
THE MOVIE (1981)
Directed by Ulu Grosbard
Starring Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama/Crime)
In the 1940s, two estranged brothers — one a detective, the other a Catholic priest — come together in heated conflict after the murder of a young prostitute.
THE BOOK Ellis Island (1983)
THE MOVIE — TV mini series (1984)
Directed by Jerry London
Starring Peter Riegert, Gregory Paul Martin, Ann Jillian, Richard Burton, Melba Moore, Ben Vereen, and Faye Dunaway
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
The story chronicles several European immigrants in search of the American Dream who come to New York City after the turn of the century.
THE BOOK Six Weeks (1976)
THE MOVIE (1982)
Directed by Tony Bill
Starring Dudley Moore and Mary Tyler Moore
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
A wealthy tycoon and her 12-year-old daughter, who is dying from leukemia, meet a California politician, and together they learn about love and the gift of life.
THE BOOK The Mephisto Waltz (1969)
THE MOVIE (1971)
Directed by Paul Wendkos
Starring Alan Alda and Jacqueline Bisset
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama/Horror/Science Fiction)
A famous classical pianist, who is terminally ill and also a Satanist, seeks a new body to inhabit after his death. Through magic, he begins to transfer his soul into the body of a music journalist.
THE SHORT STORY “Ruidoso,” from Pieces of the Frame (1975)
THE MOVIE Casey’s Shadow (1978)
Directed by Martin Ritt
Starring Walter Matthau, Alexis Smith, Robert Webber, Murray Hamilton, and Andrew Rubin
THE MOVIE PLOT (Action/Adventure/Sports)
A fictionalized drama based on John McPhee’s nonfiction short story. A poor young farm boy and his father, who is a small-time quarter horse trainer, raise a colt from birth with the hope — against all odds — that the horse will take home a blue ribbon in an upcoming race.
THE BOOK (Novella): Naturaleza muerta con cachimba (Still Life with Pipe) (1990)
THE MOVIE Cachimba (2004)
Directed by Silvio Caiozzi
Starring Pablo Schwarz, Mariana Loyola, and Julio Jung
THE MOVIE PLOT (Comedy/Romance)
As part of his plan to achieve a more open sex life, a bank employee takes his girlfriend to the Chilean town of Cartagena – a charming refuge for artists. While there, the couple discovers a dilapidated museum commemorating the unknown painter Larco, whom the man decides to promote as a national treasure.
THE BOOK Coronación (1986)
THE MOVIE (2000)
Directed by Silvio Caiozzi
Starring Maria Canepa, Julio Jung, Adela Secall, Gabriella Medina, and Myriam Palacios
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
An aging bachelor becomes obsessed with the 17-year-old girl he hired to take care of his senile grandmother. When the girl begins a passionate affair with a destitute young man, her employer becomes jealous.
THE BOOK El lugar sin límites (Place Without Limits) (1966)
THE MOVIE (1978)
Directed by Arturo Ripstein
Starring Roberto Cobo, Lucha Villa, and Don Fernando Soler
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
A regular customer of a Mexican-village whorehouse, which is run by an elderly transvestite and his daughter, loses control.
THE BOOK A Night to Remember (1955)
THE MOVIE (1958)
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
Starring Kenneth More, Ronald Allen, Robert Ayres, Honor Blackman, and Anthony Bushell
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
The true story of the R.M.S. Titanic, the luxury British passenger liner that struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York in 1912.
THE BOOK The Philadelphian (1957)
THE MOVIE The Young Philadelphians (1959)
Directed by Vincent Sherman
Starring Paul Newman, Barbara Rush, Alexis Smith, Brian Keith, and Robert Vaughn
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
A young lawyer from humble means climbs the Philadelphia social ladder.
THE BOOK Pioneer, Go Home! (1959)
THE MOVIE Follow That Dream (1962)
Directed by Gordon Douglas
Starring Elvis Presley, Arthur O’Connell, Anne Helm, and Joanna Moore
THE MOVIE PLOT (Comedy/Musical)
Elvis stars as a humble Georgia country boy who moves to the Florida coast with his vagabond family and sets up a homestead.
THE BOOK Windom’s Way (1952)
THE MOVIE (1957)
Directed by Ronald Neame
Starring Peter Finch, Mary Ure, and Natasha Parry
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
A British doctor working in the Far East island-village of Selim champions the cause of the local plantation workers against the colonial government and the plantation owners. The doctor’s estranged wife comes to the island to save their marriage, while a native nurse harbors an unrequited love for the doctor.
THE BOOK The White Tower (1945)
THE MOVIE (1950)
Directed by Ted Tetzlaff
Starring Glenn Ford, Alida Valli, Claude Rains, Cedric Hardwicke, and Oscar Homolka
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
Five men and a woman struggle to reach the peak of a mountain that has never been climbed successfully before. Along the way, each climber reveals his true colors.
THE MOVIE (Pre-production — 2010)
Directed by Stephen Sommers
THE MOVIE (1951)
Directed by Rudolphe Maté
Starring Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, and Larry Keating
THE MOVIE PLOT (Science Fiction)
A rogue red star is on a collision course with Earth. With no way to stop it, a pilot and an astronomer race to build a space ship to transport a handful of people to another planet in order to save the human race from extinction.
THE BOOK Night Unto Night (1944)
THE MOVIE (1949)
Directed by Don Siegel
Starring Ronald Reagan, Viveca Lindfors, and Broderick Crawford
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama/Romance)
A psychological tale set on the Florida coast: A young scientist suffering from epilepsy meets and falls in love with a woman who is recovering from the loss of her husband. Together they deal with their individual afflictions and demons.
THE BOOK The Gladiator (1930)
THE MOVIE (1938)
Directed by Edward Sedgwick
Starring Joe E. Brown, Man Mountain Dean, June Travis, Dickie Moore, Lucien Littlefield, and Robert Kent
THE MOVIE PLOT (Comedy/Science Fiction)
A mild-mannered man accidentally drinks a serum that turns him into a super-human football hero.
THE MOVIE I Want My Man (1925)
Directed by Lambert Hillyer
Starring Doris Kenyon, Milton Sills, Phyllis Haver, May Allison, and Kate Bruce
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
During World War I, a man is blinded. To win his sympathy, his nurse convinces him that she has been horribly disfigured, and they marry. He then learns that his sight can be restored, and now his new wife believes he will never forgive her for the deception.
THE SHORT STORY “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” from Tales of the Jazz Age (1922)
THE MOVIE (2008)
Directed by David Fincher
Starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, and Julia Ormond
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama/Comedy/Romance)
A dying woman tells her granddaughter the story of the unusual life of a man who is born in his 80s and ages backwards.
THE BOOK The Great Gatsby (1925)
THE MOVIE for TV (2000)
Directed by Robert Markowitz
Starring Mira Sorvino, Toby Stephens, Paul Rudd, Martin Donovan, and Francie Swift
THE MOVIE (1974)
Directed by Jack Clayton
Starring Mia Farrow, Robert Redford, Bruce Dern, Sam Waterston, and Lois Chiles
THE MOVIE (1949)
Directed by Elliott Nugent
Starring Betty Field, Alan Ladd, MacDonald Carey, Barry Sullivan, and Ruth Hussey
THE MOVIE (1926)
Directed by Herbert Brenon
Starring Lois Wilson, Warner Baxter, Neil Hamilton, Hale Hamilton, and Carmelita Geraghty
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
A young man from the Midwest now living on Long Island is drawn into the Jazz-Age society circle of his nouveau riche neighbor — an upwardly mobile gangster — and becomes witness to obsession and tragedy.
Editor’s note: Other movies based on novels written by F. Scott Fitzgerald ’17 are The Beautiful and the Damned (2008, 1922), Tender is the Night (1985 TV mini series, 1962), and The Last Tycoon (1976).
THE MOVIE (1949)
Directed by Henry King
Starring Tyrone Power, Orson Welles, and Wanda Hendrix
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
In the year 1500, a corrupt agent for Duke Borgia, ruler of Italy, is asked to betray a noble count and his beautiful young wife, but then has a change of heart.
THE BOOK Captain from Castile (1946)
THE MOVIE (1947)
Directed by Henry King
Starring Tyrone Power, Jean Peters, Cesar Romero, John Sutton, and Lee J. Cobb
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
A young Spanish officer flees the Inquisition during the invasion of Mexico by Corte
THE BOOK The Magnificent Ambersons (1918)
THE MOVIE for TV (2002)
Directed by Alfonso Arau
Starring Madeleine Stowe, Bruce Greenwood, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Gretchen Mol, and Jennifer Tilly
THE MOVIE (1942)
Directed by Orson Wells
Starring Joseph Cotton, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, and Agnes Moorehead; narrated by Orson Welles
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
The spoiled young heir of a wealthy family tries to sabotage the relationship of his recently widowed mother and a man she once loved, a widower with an attractive daughter. The son has feelings for the widower’s daughter, and his interference in his mother’s relationship affects his romance and causes the decay of his family’s fortunes.
THE BOOK Alice Adams (1921)
THE MOVIE (1935)
Directed by George Stevens
Starring Katherine Hepburn and Fred MacMurray
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
The mishaps of a small-town girl who attempts to climb the social ladder in a Midwestern town.
Editor’s note: Other movies adapted from novels written by Booth Tarkington are: Based on the Penrod novels: By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953), On Moonlight Bay (1951); Penrod’s Double Trouble (1938), Penrod and His Twin Brother (1938), Penrod and Sam (1937, 1931, 1923), and Penrod (1922); Monsieur Beaucaire (1946, 1924); Presenting Lily Mars (1943); Little Orvie (1941); Seventeen (1940, 1916); Business and Pleasure (1932); The Bad Sister (1931) based on The Flirt; Father’s Son (1931) based on Old Fathers and Young Sons; Monte Carlo (1930) based on Monsieur Beaucaire; The Turmoil (1924, 1916); Gentle Julia (1923); The Conquest of Canaan (1921, 1916); The Gentleman from Indiana (1915); Beau Brummel (1913); A Gentleman of France (1905)
THE MOVIE Too Many Parents (1936)
Directed by Robert F. McGowan
Starring Buster Phelps, George Ernest, Frances Farmer, Lester Matthews, Henry Travers, and Billy Lee
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
A group of military cadets struggle to overcome their personal problems and get through a military academy.
THE STORY “The Wrong Door” (publication date unknown)
THE MOVIE Through the Wrong Door (1919)
Directed by Clarence G. Badger
Starring Madge Kennedy, John Bowers, and Herbert Standing
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama/Romance)
On a rainy night, a young woman goes to visit friends and mistakenly is dropped off at the wrong house. The handsome young man who answers the door invites her in. As it turns out, this is the young man who was swindled by her father and has sworn vengeance against him.
THE MOVIE Gor (1988)
Directed by Fritz Kiersch
Starring Urbano Barberini, Rebecca Ferratti, and Jack Palance
THE MOVIE PLOT (Science Fiction/Fantasy)
By means of a magical ring, a college professor is transported to the barbaric planet of Gor, a savage world where a man is judged by how brutally he can kill.
THE BOOK Outlaw of Gor (1967)
THE MOVIE (1989)
Directed by John “Bud” Cardos
Starring Urbano Barberini, Rebecca Ferratti, Donna Denton, and Jack Palance
THE MOVIE PLOT (Science Fiction/Fantasy)
In this sequel to Gor (1988), a college professor is transported once again to the savage planet of Gor, where he goes up against the king’s evil wife, who plans to take over the throne.
THE BOOKS Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman (1985) and What Do You Care What Other People Think (1988), co-written with Ralph Leighton
THE MOVIE Infinity (1996)
Directed by Matthew Broderick
Starring Matthew Broderick and Patricia Arquette
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama/Romance)
A biographical drama based on the early life of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman *42.
THE MOVIE (2004)
Directed by Mary McGuckian
Starring Robert De Niro, Kathy Bates, Gabriel Byrne, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abraham, and Geraldine Chaplin
THE MOVIE (1944)
Directed by Rowland V. Lee
Starring Lynn Bari, Louis Calhern, Francis Lederer, and Akim Tamiroff
THE MOVIE (1929)
Directed by Charles Brabin
Starring Ernest Torrence, Racquel Torres, and Henry B. Walthall
THE MOVIE PLOT (Drama)
The lives of five unrelated people, who are tragically killed when a rope bridge in 18th-century Peru collapses, are explored through flashbacks. Local residents believe that the bridge’s destruction was the result of divine intervention.
THE BOOK Theophilus North (1973)
THE MOVIE Mr. North (1988)
Directed by Danny Huston
Starring Anthony Edwards, Robert Mitchum, Lauren Bacall, Harry Dean Stanton, Angelica Huston, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Virginia Madsen
THE MOVIE PLOT (Comedy/Romance)
A young man moves to a small Rhode Island town and acquires an unusual power — the ability to create mild electric shocks with his hands — that he uses to help heal the people he befriends.
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