Saturday 6 February 2010

Best Writing Inspiration Movies - Finding Forrester

Summary: Because of scoring exceptionally high on a state wide standardized exam and being an exceptionally good basketball player Jamal Wallace is sent to a prestigious prep school in Manhattan. He soon befriends the reclusive writer, William Forrester. The friendship leads to William to overcome his reclusivness and for Jamal to overcome the racial prejudices and pursue his true dream - writing.

You can't watch this movie and not want to finish your book. So if you have writer's block  - and I don't think it exists in the sense you may believe it exist and that's another blog worth of information - watch this movie.

What movies inspire you to write?

Interesting Info:

1) Star Rob Brown got the role after initially auditioning as an extra. Brown had no aspirations of being an actor and was only hoping to make some money to pay his $300 cell phone bill. But Gus Van Sant invited him to audition for the role of Jamal and liked his natural ability.

2) The character of Robert Crawford is based on a real life Robert Crawford, who teaches history at Phillips Academy Andover, a private school outside of Boston. (Wow, I hope he liked the portrayal of himself.)

3) In addition to being based on J.D. Salinger, William Forrester is also heavily inspired by John Kennedy Toole. Toole wrote the book "A Confederacy of Dunces", a mysteriously autobiographical book, but when no one would publish it, he gassed himself to death in his car. Years later, the book was published and won the Pulitzer Prize.

4) During filming, it was discovered that Sean Connery could not type. When you see Forrester's hands on the keys, they are the hands of someone else.


Source: Wikipedia 
IMDB

8 comments:

ali cross said...

I'm trying to think what movies have inspired me. Hmm . . . Nim's Island, lol. Avatar. Star Wars :)

Good post!

Ann Elle Altman said...

Ali, those are really good movies. I remember Nim's island but I haven't seen Avitar.

ann

Unknown said...

For my first novel I have actually just started to think of movies that would inspire me, or a good series that would do the trick as well!!!

Fun post!!

Jemi Fraser said...

I haven't seen that movie yet - but it's going on the list!

I love scifi movies (LotR, Star Trek(s), Star Wars, Firefly/Serenity...) and musicals (Wizard of Oz, Sound of Music, Oklahoma...) & a lot in between. I think their creativity inspires me to use my own!

Ann Elle Altman said...

Jen, yeah, when in a slump, it's nice to watch movies that inspire. Always works for me.

Jemi, this isn't a scifi but it's a nice feel good movie about writing.

ann

Anonymous said...

Once again, love the behind-the-scenes scoops.

This is one I want to see. My inspirational movie, though, is 'Gone With the Wind.' It inspires me because it's a masterpiece written by a master. I see everything literary when I watch it.

Best,
Corra

from the desk of a writer

Tristi Pinkston said...

I loved this movie. Very thought provoking.

Ann Elle Altman said...

Corra, i think a lot about this movie because I relate to the recluse but I think it's a good one.

Tristi, I thought it thought-provoking also.

ann