When we talk about the best movies ever filmed, people don’t think about the books that inspired them. It is no secret that many books are adapted into movies. Which is why we will be looking at the 25 greatest film books of all time.
An extensive survey done by The Hollywood Reporter asked hundreds of distinguished member of the film community about their picks of the greatest books related to films. A total of 322 people got back to them with their favorite books.
Some of the people that The Hollywood Reporter reached out to include names such as Steven Spielberg, Ava DuVernay, Alec Baldwin, and John Mulaney. The list was made by determining which books got the most votes. You can see the full list below!
The 20 Greatest Film Books Of All Time
- Hitchcock [aka Hitchcock/Truffaut] by By François Truffaut, translated by Helen G. Scott
- Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock ’n’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood by Peter Biskind
- Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting by William Goldman
- The Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evans
- I Lost It at the Movies by Pauline Kael
- An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood by Neal Gabler
- You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again by Julia Phillips
- Elia Kazan: A Life by Elia Kazan
- Making Movies by Sidney Lumet
- Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris
- What Makes Sammy Run? By Budd Schulberg
- The Parade’s Gone By… by Kevin Brownlow
- The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West
- From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies by Molly Haskell
- Mike Nichols: A Life by Mark Harris
- The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, 1929-1968 by Andrew Sarris
- The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era by Thomas Schatz
- Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger
- Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide by Leonard Maltin
- Final Cut: Dreams and Disaster in the Making of Heaven’s Gate by Steven Bach
Conclusion
That is all for this list of the 20 greatest film books of all time. These are the books about films that were chosen by people who work in Hollywood. How many of these books have you read? Let us know in the comments below!