New Year and Christmas holidays are all different. Someone is lucky to be in the mountains, someone goes to their parents, but sometimes you want to be alone. Well, almost alone – just you and your favorite movie or book. We have compiled a selection of the most iconic adaptations of well-known works that have been pleasing to people of different countries and generations for years

«Green Mile»
Book Author: Stephen King
Director: Frank Darabont

As is often the case, director Darabont needed a choice: either to modify the book to make the film more entertaining and popular, or to make the screenplay as accurate as possible, following the details prescribed by the author, as if flipping through a book page by page. The director chose the second option, making the film as close as possible to the original, without deviating from the text of the book, even in the smallest detail. He was as careful as possible: the characters almost literally conveyed the dialogues. Most importantly, with the means of cinematography, Darabont conveyed the horrific atmosphere of prison, the finale of the path of the criminal and the painful moral choices that lay before him – the fine line between man. From the writer to the real world and mysticism, from the director – the talent to bring to the screen shades of the feelings and thoughts of the author and heroes.

«Fight Club»
Book author: Chuck Palanik
Director: David Fincher

The narrator is never called by name during the story – the story can be considered collective: the author, the screenwriter and the director worked. The director’s vision of the work was embodied in the absence of extra screen. Consistently leading the viewer through the pages of the book, Fincher brings us to the forefront. Although he revised the final of the film at his discretion, changing the author’s version, it creates an even greater impact on the viewers. Even Palanik himself agreed with this interpretation and did not try to influence the director. Of course, script writer Jim Uls, an adherent of old traditions, who was still working on the script on an old typewriter at the dawn of the digital era, also reached out. Work on the Fight Club made him famous and became the most vocal of Ulsa’s film career. In one, the authors of the book and the film agreed one hundred percent: the work is capable not only to turn the world out, but also to help to come to terms with their alter ego.

«Shawshank Escape»
Book Writer: Stephen King
Director: Frank Darabont

A brilliant filmmaker’s tandem gave us another wonderful film about moral choice and dignity. This film is not so much about life behind bars as it is about genuine human relationships. The story is based on the story in the best traditions of the advent of Count Monte Cristo. However, it is not just salvation and redemption. The masterful acting work of Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman is a model of embodiment of the author’s plan. The impression is completed by the music of Thomas Newman, which helps to convey the drama of the work. The screen adaptation of the work exceeded the wildest expectations and is not losing popularity with the young generation, despite the fact that the film came on the screens more than a quarter of a century ago.

«The English Patient»
Book Author: Michael Ondaatje
Director: Anthony Mingella

Unlike the others, director Mingell risked putting his own interpretation of the book on the screen. Psychological drama with a military inclination turned into a full-fledged melodrama. The director changed not only some of the story lines, but also the main focus of the work. However, the film has a whole spectrum of human feelings, from love to betrayal. All this against the backdrop of fateful historical events. The scale of the tragedy on screen was brilliantly successful thanks to the acting duo of Juliette Binoche and Rafe Fiennes who played the main characters. Writer Michael Ondaatje, who received the Booker Prize for his novel, also participated in the filming process. And despite the difference in the director’s views on the original work, the author of the book was pleased with the end result, and the film received numerous awards.

«Gone With The Wind»
Book Writer: Margaret Mitchell
Directed by: Victor Fleming, George Kukor, Sam Wood

The first color film in the history of world cinema to this day does not cease to amaze with its landscape scenes. The panoramic landscape, the fascinating storyline, the romantic love story – all combine the historical saga of Margaret Mitchell in the directorial vision of the star trio – Fleming, Cucor, Wood. Like 80 years ago, when the movie first hit the screens, the incomparable Vivien Lee and Clark Gabel continue to inspire viewers to love life and to believe in happiness despite changing eras and the loss of ideals. The film garnered ten Oscars, including not only the award for Best Picture and Best Actress, but also for Best Director. And speaking of watching good old films, it’s not worth mentioning Scarlett 0’Hara’s catchphrase: «I’ll think about it tomorrow.» Do not delay your meeting with iconic works.