The Books that Inspired Oscar Winning Movies: 1980-2020

And the Oscar goes to… books!

If the book is always better than the movie, then you know that the books that became Academy Award Winning Best Pictures must be some darn good reads!

The Academy Awards date back to the 1920s, and over that time, many of the Oscar winning films were books first. For our list below, we’ve focused books that were adapted into Oscar-winning movies over the last four decades.

But first, let’s take a look at the 2020 Best Picture nominees…

Oscar Movies Based on Books in 2020

We’ll soon learn which of the 2020 Best Picture nominees will take home the Oscar statue, but we already know that five of this year’s nominees are based on, or inspired by, books that are worthy of your consideration:

THE IRISHMAN is based on the 2016 book, I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran & Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa by Charles Brandt
FORD V. FERRARI is inspired by A.J. Baime’s nonfiction book, Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory and Le Mans
JOJO RABBIT is based on the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunenes
JOKER is not directly based on any comic book storyline, but the premise is based on the 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke
LITTLE WOMEN is based on the Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel of the same name

Academy Award Winning Films That Are Books: 1980-2019

Some of these are direct book to film adaptations, while others more loosely inspired their Academy Award winning counterparts.

2019 Best Picture: Green Book

Guidebook Title: The Negro Motorist Green-Book
Publisher Victor H. Green
Published 1940 Facsimile Edition

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The 2019 Academy Award Winning Green Book was based a on series of guidebooks published annually between the 1930s and mid-1960s, which African-Americans with the means to travel could use to avoid "sundown towns"- towns that didn't allow blacks to eat at their restaurants or rent hotel rooms.

2018 Best Picture: The Shape of Water

Book Title: The Shape of Water
Author: Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Published: March 2018

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This is not a standard book to film adaptation, but if you loved the movie, you'll enjoy reading this alternate version of The Shape of Water.

Daniel Kraus first had the idea for the story as a teenager. Years later - by then a successful author, Kraus had breakfast with film maker Guillermo del Toro to discuss a different book/film idea, but somehow the idea for The Shape of Water came up, and del Toro was immediately interested.

The two went their separate ways, with del Toro beginning work on a different film project, and Kraus beginning to develop his idea into a novel. What Kraus didn't know is that del Toro was simultaneously working on a screenplay based on the concept.

Eventually the pair decided to move forward with each telling the story in their own way. They would exchange phone calls and emails regularly to discuss the direction of their own versions of the story, but ultimately create two unique works.

2014 Best Picture: Birdman

Book Title: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (a short story collection)
Author: Raymond Carver
Published: 1981

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2013 Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave

Memoir: Twelve Years a Slave
Author: Solomon Northup
First Published: 1853

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2012 Best Picture: Argo

Book Title: Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History
Author: CIA Agent Antonio Mendez
First Published: 2012

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2008 Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire

Book Title: Q & A
Author: Vikas Swarup
First Published: 2005

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2007 Best Picture: No Country for Old Men

Book Title: No Country for Old Men
Author: Cormac McCarthy
First Published: 2005

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2004 Best Picture: Million Dollar Baby

Book Title: Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner
Author: F.X. Toole
First Published: 2000

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2003 Best Picture: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Book Title: Lord of the Rings #3: The Return of the King
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
First Published: 1955

Read from the beginning with the 4 book box set

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2001 Best Picture: A Beautiful Mind

Biography Title: A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash
Author: Sylvia Nasar
First Published: 1998

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1998 Best Picture: Shakespeare in Love

Book Title: Romeo & Juliet
Author: William Shakespeare
First Published: 1595

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Although this film is not based on Shakespear's writing, it does portray William Shakespeare writing his famous tragedy, Romeo & Juliet, making it literary enough to get a spot on our list.

1996 Best Picture: The English Patient

Book Title: The English Patient
Author: Michael Ondaatje
First Published: 1992

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1995 Best Picture: Braveheart

Poem Title: The Acts and Deeds of the Illustrious and Valiant Champion Sir William Wallace (also known as "The Wallace")
By: Henry the Minstrel ("Blind Harry")
Written: 15th Century

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1994 Best Picture: Forrest Gump

Book Title: Forrest Gump
Author: Winston Groom
First Published: 1986

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1993 Best Picture: Schindler's List

Book Title: Schindler's List (originally published as Schindler's Ark)
Author: Thomas Keneally
First Published: 1982

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1992 Best Picture: Unforgiven

Book Title: The Shootist
Author: Glendon Swarthout
First Published: 1975

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Although Unforgiven was credited as an original screenplay by David Webb Peoples, Peoples has admitted that his screenplay was inspired by the Book, The Shootist, which as been called "one of the best western novels ever written."

1991 Best Picture: The Silence of the Lambs

Book Title: The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter Series #2)
Author: Thomas Harris
First Published: 1988

Read the full, four book Hannibal Lecter Series

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1990 Best Picture: Dances with Wolves

Book Title: Dances with Wolves
Author: Michael Blake
First Published: 1988

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1989 Best Picture: Driving Miss Daisy

Play Title: Driving Miss Daisy
Playwright: Alfred Uhry
First Published: 1986

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1988 Best Picture: Rainman

Book Title: The Real Rain Man: Kim Peek
Author: Francis Peek
Originally Published: 1997

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The Book Girls Say... Fun fact, Angela knows the real Rain Man, Kim Peek!

Kim's father, Fran, was good friends with Angela's grandpa, and the Peeks often attend family parties. Kim, who was born and raised in Salt Lake City passed away in 2009, was a megasavant. Two of peeks favorite talents to display at parties was to ask your birthday, then to quickly calculate what day of the week you were born on and tell you what was on the front page of newspapers on the day you were born. He had also memorized the phone books, and if you told him your street address, he would immediately cite your zip code.

In 1984, screenwriter Barry Marrow met Peek, and the result of the meeting was the Academy Award winning film, Rain Man. Marrow thanked Kim Peek during his Academy Award acceptance speech, and gave Peek his Oscar statuette to carry with him when he made various speaking appearances.

The savant character in the movie was named Raymond Babbitt and was depicted as being autistic, which was the one of the diagnoses that Kim Peek received, although it is now thought that he had FG syndrome. Dustin Hoffman, who protrayed Raymond Babbitt in the film, met Peek and other savants to get an understanding of their nature in order to portray the character as realistically as possible.