10 Best Films About Writer's Block

4. The Ghost Writer

Johnny Depp just can't bring himself to write in Secret Window
Summit Entertainment

Putting Roman Polanski's personal crimes aside, there's a reason he can still draw casts like The Ghost Writer's, including Ewan MacGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Tom Wilkinson and Eli Wallach in one of his final roles. MacGregor plays a nameless ghostwriter tasked with reworking former Prime Minister Brosnan's (and Tony Blair stand-in) memoir, after the previous writer died mysteriously.

While writing Brosnan's boring, overwritten mess (with sentences that open with the genealogy of names), news breaks of accusations of torture under the PM's tenure and he's soon embroiled in political intrigue. Rather than some being stymied by some artful nuerosis, he's stuck between fixing up a hatchet job and a cover-up.

It's a crackerjack airport thriller, elevated by its performances, timeliness and some artful set-pieces including a great chase aboard a ferry. Bonus points for a bald Jim Belushi, undercut only by a terrible British accent from Kim Catrall.

Contributor
Contributor

Kenny Hedges is carbon-based. So I suppose a simple top 5 in no order will do: Halloween, Crimes and Misdemeanors, L.A. Confidential, Billy Liar, Blow Out He has his own website - thefilmreal.com - and is always looking for new writers with differing views to broaden the discussion.