Since the very first days of cinema, there was a kinship between the written words used to help lend motion to those moving pictures, and higher literature. Popular books were adapted as early as 1928, and as recently as 2022 (All Quiet on the Western Front). Many of Hollywood’s biggest highlights — such as Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, and Schindler’s List — were the offspring of books.
The 63rd Golden Globes presented a special example of page-to-screen triumphs.

Adapted from Annie Proulx’s 1997 short story of the same title, Brokeback MountainAng LeeMichelle Williams and the late Heath LedgerA History of Violence, David Cronenberg’s adaptation of the 1997 graphic novel of the same name by John Wagner and Vince Locke, garnered Maria BelloZiyi Zhangfor Rob Marshall’s Memoirs of a Geisha,Charlize TheronNorth Country, inspired by the 2002 book “Class Action” by Clara Bingham.

The Best Drama category included Woody Allen’s Match Point, which had quite a few creative similarities with Theodore Dreiser’s 1925 novel “An American Tragedy,” plus The Constant Gardener,The Best Musical or Comedy category also spotlighted film adaptations. James Mangold’s Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line won the Golden Globe, based on two autobiographies authored by the music legend himself.

The film also garnered first Golden Globes for its stars: Joaquin Phoenix topped fellow nominee Johnny DeppCharlie and the Chocolate Factory, based on Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel), and Reese Witherspoon bested competition which included Keira Knightley, who starred in Joe Wright’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1813 novel “Pride and Prejudice.”
Steven Spielberg’s screw-turning drama of government-sanctioned revenge, Munich, nominated for both Best Director and Best Screenplay, was co-written by Tony KushnerEric Roth, from George Jonas’s 1984 book “Vengeance.” HBO’s Empire Falls, which won Best Miniseries or Television Film, was based on Richard Russo’s 2001 novel of the same name.

To conclude, the late Philip Seymour HoffmanCapote. He portrayed the iconic novelist Truman Capote, who himself had quite a history with the Golden Globes.
His novels “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “In Cold Blood,” and “The Glass House” led all to Golden Globe nominations. And in 1977, Capote even received the New Star of the Year Award for his performance in Murder by Death, a broad parody of one of the all-time greatest writers of “whodunits,” Agatha Christie.