Book to movie adaptations have been popular for decades, bringing interest and intrigue, and below we delve into some of the most successful book to film adaptations of all time.

The best book to film adaptations span multiple genres; from standalone works, to fantasy series. Some of the books that have been made into films in the list below may surprise you. We take a closer look at some of the most famous, including the awards they won, and the actors who starred in them, below.

In honour of both World Book Day and the Oscars, read on to discover Blackpool Grand’s favourites.

Here’s our list of the best films based on books.

PLEASE NOTE: Some trailers-clips of our best book-to-film adaptations may contain violent/upsetting scenes for some. If you think you may be upset we recommend you do not watch.

Top 20 Book-to-Film Adaptations

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) drama directed by Robert Mulligan. The screenplay by Horton Foote is based on Harper Lee’s 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. Truly one of the greatest book-to-film adaptations in the war genre.

It stars Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and Mary Badham as Scout. To Kill a Mockingbird marked the film debuts of Robert Duvall, William Windom, and Alice Ghostley.

The film won three Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Peck, and was nominated for eight, including Best Picture.

In 1995, the film was listed in the National Film Registry. In 2003, the American Film Institute named Atticus Finch the greatest movie hero of the 20th century. In 2007, the film ranked twenty-fifth on the AFI’s 10th-anniversary list of the greatest American movies of all time. In 2005, the British Film Institute included it in their list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.

The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo’s best-selling 1969 novel of the same name. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, and Diane Keaton.

Paramount Pictures obtained the rights to the novel for the price of $80,000 before it gained popularity. Studio executives had trouble finding a director; their first few candidates turned down the position before Coppola signed on to direct the film. They and Coppola disagreed over the casting for several characters, in particular, Vito and Michael. Filming took place primarily in the location around New York City and in Sicily and was completed ahead of schedule. The musical score was composed principally by Nino Rota, with additional pieces by Carmine Coppola.

At the 45th Academy Awards, the film won the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay (for Puzo and Coppola). In addition, the seven other Oscar nominations included Pacino, Caan, and Duvall for Best Supporting Actor and Coppola for Best Director. Since its release, The Godfather has been widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made and one of the best book-to-film adaptations, especially in the gangster genre.

It was followed by sequels The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Godfather Part III (1990).

The Color Purple (1985)

The Color Purple is a 1985 American coming-of-age period drama film directed by Steven Spielberg with a screenplay by Menno Meyjes, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel of the same name by Alice Walker. It was Spielberg’s eighth film as a director and marked a turning point in his career as it was a departure from the summer blockbusters for which he had become known. It was also the first feature film directed by Spielberg for which John Williams did not compose the music. The film stars Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Desreta Jackson, Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey, Rae Dawn Chong, Willard Pugh, and Adolph Caesar in one of his final film roles.

The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Goldberg, Best Supporting Actress for both Avery and Winfrey, and Best Adapted Screenplay, without winning any; it also received four Golden Globe Award nominations, with Whoopi Goldberg winning Best Actress in a Drama. Steven Spielberg did not receive an Academy Award nomination for his directing but did receive a Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, and a Golden Globe nomination. The film was later included in Roger Ebert’s book series The Great Movies.

The phenomenal performances from the cast put this film on the incredible book-to-film adaptations, and on the ‘a must-see’ list.

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (2008)

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a historical tragedy film written and directed by Mark Herman. It is based on the 2006 novel of the same name by John Boyne. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is considered one of the greatest book-to-film adaptations and has introduced the incredible story of the Holocaust to so many young children.

Set in World War II, the Holocaust drama relates the horror of a Nazi extermination camp through the eyes of two 8-year-old boys: Bruno (Asa Butterfield), the son of the camp’s Nazi commandant, and Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a Jewish inmate. It was released in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2008.

The film has drawn criticism from some Holocaust educators for its factual inaccuracy, and emphasis on greater sympathy for the Nazi German family centred in the story than for the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Winner of British Independent Film Award (Best Actress), nominated for Best Director, and Best Promising Newcomer.

Research by Holocaust educator Michael Gray found that more than three-quarters of British schoolchildren (ages 13–14) in his sample had engaged with The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, significantly more than The Diary of Anne Frank.

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

Sense and Sensibility is a 1995 period drama film directed by Ang Lee and based on Jane Austen’s 1811 novel of the same name. Emma Thompson wrote the screenplay and stars as Elinor Dashwood, while Kate Winslet plays Elinor’s younger sister Marianne.

Producer Lindsay Doran, a longtime admirer of Austen’s novel, hired Thompson to write the screenplay. She spent five years drafting numerous revisions, continually working on the script between other films as well as into the production of the film itself. Studios were nervous that Thompson – a first-time screenwriter – was the credited writer, but Columbia Pictures agreed to distribute the film.

Though initially intending to have another actress portray Elinor, Thompson was persuaded to take the role.

The film earned three awards and eleven nominations at the 1995 British Academy Film Awards. It earned seven Academy Awards nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Actress. Thompson received the award for Best Adapted Screenplay, becoming the only person to have won Academy Awards for both acting and screenwriting.

Thompson recreated one of the greatest book-to-film adaptations we will see in a long time, Bridgerton you ask? Well, would it even be here without Thompson’s great work in the genre?

Forrest Gump (1994)

Based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom and stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson and Sally Field. The story depicts several decades in the life of Forrest Gump (Hanks), a slow-witted but kind-hearted man from Alabama who witnesses and unwittingly influences several defining historical events in 20th century America. The film differs substantially from the novel but will still remain one of the most brilliant book-to-film adaptations we remember in our lifetime.

Forrest Gump won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Hanks, Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published, Best Visual Effects, and Best Film Editing. It received many award nominations, including Golden Globes, British Academy Film Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Varying interpretations have been made of the protagonist and the film’s political symbolism. In 2011, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Schindler’s List (1993)

One of the most emotionally moving films ever made. Produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 non-fiction novel Schindler’s Ark by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film follows Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who together with his wife Emilie Schindler saved more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust by employing them in his factories during World War II. It stars Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ralph Fiennes as SS officer Amon Göth and Ben Kingsley as Schindler’s Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern.

Often listed among the greatest films ever made, the film received international acclaim from critics for its tone, Spielberg’s direction, performances and atmosphere. It was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, winning seven, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score, and won numerous other awards, including seven BAFTAs and three Golden Globe Awards.

The film was designated as “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”, and probably one of the most brilliant book-to-film adaptations we may ever see.

Harry Potter (2001-2011)

The Harry Potter film series – a total of eight films long had to edit one of the worlds richest children’s writers (J.K. Rowling) stories down quite a bit. The films stay true to both the plot and characters. The films like the books seem to take a darker feel as they progress, the films have also generated well over $7.7billion in sales.

The production designer for all eight films is Stuart Craig. Assisted by Stephenie McMillan, Craig has created iconic sets pieces including the Ministry of Magic, the Chamber of Secrets, Malfoy Manor, and the layout for the CGI Horcrux Cave. Because the novels were being published as the films were being made, Craig was required to rebuild some sets for future films and alter the design of Hogwarts.

Six of the eight films were nominated for a total of 12 Academy Awards.

At the 64th British Academy Film Awards in February 2011, J. K. Rowling, David Heyman, David Barron, David Yates, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson collected the https://youtu.be/uwysOfnX2QgMichael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema for the series.

The series has also gained a total of 24 nominations at the British Academy Film Awards presented at the annual BAFTAs, winning several, and 5 nominations at the Grammy Awards.

Great Expectations (1946)

Great Expectations is the 13th novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel, which depicts the education of orphan Pip.

Great Expectations is full of extreme imagery – poverty, prison ships and chains, and fights to the death – and has a colourful cast of characters who have entered popular culture. These include the eccentric Miss Havisham, the beautiful but cold Estella, and Joe, the unsophisticated and kind blacksmith.

Great Expectations is a 1946 British film directed by David Lean, based on the 1861 novel by Charles Dickens and starring John Mills, Bernard Miles, Finlay Currie, Jean Simmons, Martita Hunt, Alec Guinness and Valerie Hobson.

It won two Academy Awards (Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography) and was nominated for three others (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay). Great Expectations was named the 5th greatest British film of all time.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

The Devil Wears Prada directed by David Frankel and produced by Wendy Finerman. The screenplay, written by Aline Brosh McKenna, is based on Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 novel of the same name (which was optioned before it was even completed). The film adaptation stars Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, a powerful fashion magazine editor, and Anne Hathaway as Andrea “Andy” Sachs, a college graduate who goes to New York City and lands a job as Priestly’s co-assistant. Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci co-star as co-assistant Emily Charlton and art director Nigel Kipling, respectively. Adrian Grenier, Simon Baker, and Tracie Thoms play key supporting roles.

The film received positive reviews from critics, with Streep’s performance being singled out for acclaim. This earned her many award nominations, including an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, as well as a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical.

Although the film is set in the fashion world and mentions many real-life references to well-known establishments and people within the industry, most designers and other fashion notables avoided appearing as themselves for fear of displeasing US Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who is widely believed to have been the inspiration for Priestly. Still, many allowed their clothes and accessories to be used in the film, making it one of the most expensively costumed films in history and one of the best book-to-film adaptations loosely based on a person and fashion work environment.

The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)

The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel[a] by the English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the world at some distant time in the past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien’s 1937 children’s book The Hobbit, but eventually developed into a much larger work. Written in stages between 1937 and 1949, The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling books ever written, with over 150 million copies sold.

Award-winning adaptations of The Lord of the Rings have been made for the radio, theatre, and film. It has been named Britain’s best novel of all time in the BBC’s The Big Read. In a 1999 poll of Amazon.com customers, The Lord of the Rings was judged to be their favourite “book of the millennium”.

A far more successful adaptation was Peter Jackson’s live-action The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, produced by New Line Cinema and released in three instalments as The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). All three parts won multiple Academy Awards, including consecutive Best Picture nominations. The final instalment of this trilogy was the second film to break the one-billion-dollar barrier and won a total of 11 Oscars (something only two other films in history, Ben-Hur and Titanic, have accomplished), including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. One of the greatest book-to-film adaptations to date in the scale of film today.

The Lord of Rings budget (for the 3 films) was $281 million, with a recorded Box office of $2.98 billion. This sounds huge but in comparison, The highest-grossing film franchises ($billions) at the box office have been: Pirates of the Caribbean — $4.52, Transformers — $4.86, Batman — $4.90, X-Men — $6.03, James Bond — $6.89, Harry Potter — $9.18, Star Wars — $10.2, and of course the biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe — $22.59 billion.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont, based on the 1982 Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. It tells the story of banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), who is sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murders of his wife and her lover, despite his claims of innocence. Over the following two decades, he befriends a fellow prisoner, contraband smuggler Ellis “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman), and becomes instrumental in a money-laundering operation led by the prison warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton). William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, and James Whitmore appear in supporting roles.

Darabont purchased the film rights to King’s story in 1987, but development did not begin until five years later when he wrote the script over an eight-week period. Two weeks after submitting his script to Castle Rock Entertainment, Darabont secured a $25 million budget to produce The Shawshank Redemption, which started pre-production in January 1993.

The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1995, the most for a Stephen King film adaptation (Best Picture (Marvin), Best Actor (Freeman), Best Adapted Screenplay (Darabont), Best Cinematography (Deakins), Best Editing (Richard Francis-Bruce), Best Sound Mixing (Robert J. Litt, Elliot Tyson, Michael Herbick, and Willie D. Burton), and Best Original Score (Newman)). It did not win in any category. It received two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture for Freeman, and Best Screenplay for Darabont.

Robbins and Freeman were both nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the inaugural Screen Actors Guild Awards in 1995. Darabont was nominated for a Directors Guild of America award in 1994 for Best Director of a feature film, and a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Goodfellas (1990)

Goodfellas biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, who also wrote with Nicholas Pileggi, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book Wiseguy by Pileggi. Starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino, the film narrates the rise and fall of mob associate Henry Hill and his friends and family from 1955 to 1980.

Goodfellas premiered at the 47th Venice International Film Festival on September 9, 1990, where Scorsese was awarded Silver Lion for Best Director and was released in the United States on September 19, 1990, by Warner Bros.

The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, with Pesci winning for Best Supporting Actor. The film won five awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, including Best Film and Best Director. Additionally, Goodfellas was named the year’s best film by various critics’ groups.

Goodfellas is widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, and one of the best book-to-film adaptations, particularly in the gangster genre. In 2000, it was deemed “culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant” and selected for preservation.

The Bridge Over the River Kwai (1957)

The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 epic war film directed by David Lean and based on the 1952 novel written by Pierre Boulle. The film uses the historical setting of the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943. The cast includes Alec Guinness, William Holden, Jack Hawkins, and Sessue Hayakawa.

It was initially scripted by screenwriter Carl Foreman, who was later replaced by Michael Wilson. Both writers had to work in secret, as they were on the Hollywood blacklist and had fled to the UK in order to continue working.

The film won seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture) at the 30th Academy Awards. In 1997, the film was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and selected for preservation. In 1999, the British Film Institute voted The Bridge on the River Kwai the 11th greatest British film of the 20th century. TIP: Make sure you watch the ‘uncropped version’.

The Social Network (2010)

You don’t get to 500-million Friends without making a few enemies.

Based on The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich – The Social Network biographical drama directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. Adapted from Ben Mezrich’s 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires, it portrays the founding of the social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits. It stars Jesse Eisenberg as founder Mark Zuckerberg, along with Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin, Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker, Armie Hammer as Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Max Minghella as Divya Narendra. Neither Zuckerberg nor any other Facebook staff was involved with the project, although Saverin was a consultant for Mezrich’s book.

It was named one of the best films of the year by 78 critics, and named the best by 22 critics, the most of any film that year. It was also chosen by the National Board of Review as the best film of 2010. At the 83rd Academy Awards, it received eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Eisenberg, and won three: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Film Editing.

One of the best book-to-film adaptations it also received awards for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score at the 68th Golden Globe Awards. In 2016, it was voted 27th among 100 films considered the best of the 21st century by 117 international film critics.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, one of the best films based on books directed by Miloš Forman, based on the 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. The film stars Jack Nicholson as Randle McMurphy, a new patient at a mental institution, and features a supporting cast of Louise Fletcher, Will Sampson, Sydney Lassick, William Redfield while being the film debut for Christopher Lloyd and Brad Dourif.

Considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is No. 33 on the American Film Institute’s 100 Years… 100 Movies list.

The film won five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor in Lead Role, Actress in Lead Role, Director, and Screenplay) following It Happened One Night in 1934, an accomplishment not repeated until 1991 with The Silence of the Lambs. It also won numerous Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards.

Psycho (1960)

Psycho a psychological horror-thriller film produced/directed by legend Alfred Hitchcock. Many people may not know that Psycho was based on a book. The screenplay, written by Joseph Stefano, was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch.

The film stars Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin and Martin Balsam. The plot centres on an encounter between on-the-run embezzler Marion Crane (Leigh) and shy motel proprietor Norman Bates (Perkins) and its aftermath, in which a private investigator (Balsam), Marion’s lover Sam Loomis (Gavin) and her sister Lila (Miles) investigate the cause of her disappearance.

Psycho was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Leigh and Best Director for Hitchcock.

Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock’s best book-to-film adaptations and is arguably his most famous work. It has been praised as a major work of cinematic art by international film critics and scholars due to its slick direction, tense atmosphere, impressive camerawork, memorable score and iconic performances. Often ranked among the greatest films of all time, it set a new level of acceptability for violence, deviant behaviour and sexuality in American films, and is widely considered to be the earliest example of the slasher film genre.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 American psychological horror[3] film directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Ted Tally, adapted from Thomas Harris’ 1988 novel. It stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee who is hunting a serial killer, “Buffalo Bill” (Ted Levine), who skins his female victims. To catch him, she seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. The film also features performances from Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald and Kasi Lemmons.

The Silence of the Lambs became the third film (the other two being 1934’s It Happened One Night and 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) to win Academy Awards in all the top five categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is also the only Best Picture winner widely considered a horror film, and one of only six horror films to have been nominated in the category with The Exorcist (1973), Jaws (1975), The Sixth Sense (1999), Black Swan (2010), and Get Out (2017).

The Silence of the Lambs is regularly cited by critics, film directors and audiences as one of the greatest and most influential films. In 2018, Empire ranked it 48th on their list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a 1961 American romantic comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, written by George Axelrod, adapted from Truman Capote’s 1958 novella of the same name, and starring Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly, a naïve, eccentric café society girl who falls in love with a struggling writer (George Peppard).

Hepburn’s portrayal of Holly Golightly is considered her most memorable and identifiable roles. She however regarded it as one of her most challenging roles, since she was truly an introvert. One of the great book-to-film adaptations but does seem to squirm over some modern-day topics.

The film gained five nominations at the 34th Academy Awards (Best Actress (for Hepburn), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Production Design, winning Best Original Score and Best Original Song for “Moon River”).

Trainspotting (1996)

Trainspotting one of the greatest book-to-film adaptations, a British black comedy-drama film directed by legend Danny Boyle, starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, and Kelly Macdonald in her debut. Based on the 1993 novel of the same title by Irvine Welsh, the film was released in the United Kingdom on 23 February 1996.

The Academy Award-nominated screenplay by John Hodge follows a group of heroin addicts in an economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life. Beyond drug addiction, other themes in the film include an exploration of urban poverty and squalor in Edinburgh.

The film was ranked tenth by the British Film Institute (BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films of the 20th century. In 2004, the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time in a general public poll. In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine ranked it the tenth best British film ever

Trainspotting was nominated for two British Academy Film Awards in 1996, Best British Film and John Hodge for Best Adapted Screenplay. Hodge won in his category. Hodge also won Best Screenplay from the Evening Standard British Film Awards. Ewan McGregor was named Best Actor from the London Film Critics Circle, BAFTA Scotland Awards, and Empire magazine.

The novel is set in the late 1980s and has been described by The Sunday Times as “the voice of punk, grown-up, grown wiser and grown eloquent”.

The novel has since achieved cult status, added to by the global success of the film based on it.

Little Women (2019) garnered six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Ronan), Best Supporting Actress (Pugh), and Best Adapted Screenplay, and won for Best Costume Design. It also earned five British Academy Film Award nominations, with a win for Best Costume Design, and two Golden Globe Award nominations.

It stars an ensemble cast consisting of Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, James Norton, Louis Garrel, and Chris Cooper.

The Irishman a 2019 American epic crime film directed and produced by Martin Scorsese and written by Steven Zaillian, based on the 2004 nonfiction book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt. It stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, with Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham, and Harvey Keitel in supporting roles.

It receives universal critical acclaim and at the 92nd Academy Awards, it received 10 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Pacino and Pesci, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Additionally, at the 77th Golden Globe Awards, it was nominated for five awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama, while it earned 10 nominations at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards, including Best Film.

Joker is a 2019 American psychological thriller film directed and produced by Todd Phillips, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Silver. The film, based on DC Comics characters, stars Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker and provides an alternative origin story for the character. Set in 1981, it follows Arthur Fleck, a failed clown and stand-up comedian whose descent into insanity and nihilism inspires a violent counter-cultural revolution against the wealthy in a decaying Gotham City. Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Bill Camp, Shea Whigham, and Marc Maron appear in supporting roles.

Joker received numerous accolades. At the 92nd Academy Awards, the film earned a leading 11 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning Best Actor for Phoenix (who became the second actor to win an Oscar for portraying the Joker following Heath Ledger in 2009) and Best Original Score for Hildur Guðnadóttir. Phoenix and Guðnadóttir also won at the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award ceremonies.

In honour of both World Book Day and the Oscars, we’ve collated some of our all-time favourite films based on books.