F. Scott Fitzgerald was an American writer known for his novels and short stories which often celebrated the decadence and excess of the Jazz Age. Many of his literary works were adapted into cinematic films, television episodes, and theatrical productions. Although a number of his works were adapted during his lifetime, the number of adaptations greatly increased following his death, and several cinematic adaptations gained considerable critical acclaim.
The earliest adaptations of Fitzgerald's work were flapper film comedies such as The Husband Hunter (1920) and The Off-Shore Pirate (1921). Notable film adaptations of his novel The Great Gatsby include a 1974 film—which featured a script by Francis Ford Coppola and starred Robert Redford and Mia Farrow—and a 2013 adaptation which featured Leonardo DiCaprio in the titular role. His later novel The Last Tycoon was adapted by Elia Kazan into a 1976 film, with an ensemble cast featuring Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson among others.
Beyond adaptations of his novels and stories, Fitzgerald himself has been portrayed in a variety of media, including novels and theatrical productions. On film, he has been portrayed by actors such as Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, and Gregory Peck.
Fitzgerald's stories and novels have been adapted many times into a variety of media formats. His earliest short stories were cinematically adapted as flapper comedies such as The Husband Hunter (1920), The Chorus Girl's Romance (1920), and The Off-Shore Pirate (1921). The latter two both starred Viola Dana. His short story "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" was adapted in 1951 as a CBS Starlight Theatre episode starring Julie Harris and in 1976 as a PBS American Short Story episode starring Shelley Duvall. Additionally, his short story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was the basis for a 2008 film.
Nearly every novel by Fitzgerald has been adapted for the screen. His second novel The Beautiful and Damned was filmed in 1922 and 2010. His third novel The Great Gatsby has been adapted numerous times for both film and television over the past century, most notably in the 1926, 1949, 1958, 1974, 2000, and 2013 incarnations. His fourth novel Tender Is the Night was made into a 1955 CBS television episode, an eponymous 1962 film, and a BBC television miniseries in 1985. In 1976, his unfinished fifth novel The Last Tycoon was adapted into a film starring Robert de Niro, and in 2016 it was adapted as an Amazon Prime TV miniseries.
Beyond adaptations of his novels and stories, Fitzgerald himself has been portrayed in dozens of books, plays, and films. He inspired Budd Schulberg's novel The Disenchanted (1950), which follows an apprentice screenwriter in Hollywood collaborating with a drunk and flawed novelist. It was later adapted into a Broadway play starring Jason Robards. A musical about the lives of Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda Sayre was composed by Frank Wildhorn in 2005 and entitled Waiting for the Moon. Due to his continuing appeal and international reputation as an author, the Japanese Takarazuka Revue created a musical adaptation of Fitzgerald's life.
The last years of Fitzgerald's life and his relationship with Sheilah Graham served as the basis for Beloved Infidel (1959) based on Graham's 1958 memoir of the same name. The film depicts an alcoholic Fitzgerald (played by Gregory Peck) and his struggle with sobriety while romancing Graham (played by Deborah Kerr). Another film, Last Call (2002) chronicles the relations between Fitzgerald (Jeremy Irons) and his private secretary Frances Kroll Ring (Neve Campbell).
Other depictions include the TV movies Zelda (1993, with Timothy Hutton), F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood (1976, with Jason Miller), and The Last of the Belles (1974, with Richard Chamberlain). Tom Hiddleston and Alison Pill appear briefly as Fitzgerald and Zelda in Woody Allen's 2011 feature film Midnight in Paris. David Hoflin and Christina Ricci portray the Fitzgeralds in the 2015 television series . Guy Pearce and Vanessa Kirby portray the couple in Genius (2016).
| Year | Title | Director | Notes | Distributor | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 | William C. Dowlan | Based on the short story "Head and Shoulders". | Metro Pictures | ||||
| 1920 | Howard M. Mitchell | Based on the short story "Myra Meets His Family". | Fox Film Corporation | ||||
| 1921 | The Off-Shore Pirate | Dallas Fitzgerald | Based on the short story "The Offshore Pirate". | Metro Pictures | |||
| 1922 | William A. Seiter | Based on the novel of the same name. | Warner Brothers | 50% (6 reviews)[1] | |||
| 1924 | Grit | Frank Tuttle | Based on a short story of the same name. | Hodkinson Distribution | |||
| 1926 | Herbert Brenon | Based on the novel of the same name. | Paramount Pictures | 55% (22 reviews)[2] | |||
| 1949 | Elliott Nugent | Based on the novel of the same name. | Paramount Pictures | 33% (9 reviews)[3] | |||
| 1954 | Richard Brooks | Based on the short story "Babylon Revisited". | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 88% (8 reviews)[4] | |||
| 1962 | Tender Is the Night | Henry King | Based on the novel of the same name. | 20th Century Fox | |||
| 1974 | Jack Clayton | Based on the novel of the same name. | Paramount Pictures | 39% (36 reviews)[5] | 43 (5 reviews)[6] | ||
| 1976 | Elia Kazan | Based on the novel of the same name. | Paramount Pictures | 41% (22 reviews)[7] | 57 (11 reviews)[8] | ||
| 2008 | David Fincher | Based on a short story of the same name. | Paramount Pictures | 71% (258 reviews)[9] | 70 (37 reviews)[10] | ||
| 2013 | Baz Luhrmann | Based on the novel of the same name. | Paramount Pictures | 48% (301 reviews)[11] | 55 (45 reviews)[12] |
| Year | Title | Director | Notes | Distributor | RT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1929 | Pusher-in-the-Face | Based on the short story of the same name. | Paramount Pictures | |||
| 2012 | Based on the short story of the same name. | Carosello Productions | ||||
| 2012 | Based on the short story of the same name. | IMS Film & Media Insurance | ||||
| 2013 | Based on the short story "The Offshore Pirate". | |||||
| 2014 | Head and Shoulders | Based on the short story "Head and Shoulders". | Running Wild Films | |||
| 2015 | Bernice Bobs Her Hair | Based on the short story of the same name. |
| Year | Title | Notes | Distributor | Network | RT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Episode of Philco Television Playhouse based on the novel. | Showcase Productions | NBC | |||
| 1950 | Episode of Nash Airlyfte Theater based on the short story. | CBS Television Network | CBS | |||
| 1950 | "Three Hours Between Planes" | Episode of Starlight Theatre based on the short story. | CBS Television Network | CBS | ||
| 1951 | "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" | Episode of Starlight Theatre based on the short story. | CBS Television Network | CBS | ||
| 1951 | Episode of Robert Montgomery Presents based on the novel. | Neptune Productions | NBC | |||
| 1952 | "Rich Boy" | Episode of Philco Television Playhouse based on the short story. | Showcase Productions | NBC | ||
| 1952 | Episode of Curtain Call based on the short story. | Worthington Miner | NBC | |||
| 1952 | "Three Hours Between Planes" | Episode of Lux Theatre based on the short story. | J. Walter Thompson Agency | CBS | ||
| 1953 | Episode of Schlitz Playhouse based on the short story. | CBS Television Network | CBS | |||
| 1953 | Episode of Suspense based on the short story. | CBS Television Network | CBS | |||
| 1954 | "Babylon Revisited" | Episode of Ponds Theater based on the short story. | J. Walter Thompson Agency | ABC | ||
| 1955 | Episode of Robert Montgomery Presents based on the novel. | Neptune Productions | NBC | |||
| 1955 | Episode of Climax! based on the short story. | CBS Television Network | CBS | |||
| 1955 | Tender Is the Night | Episode of Front Row Center based on the novel. | CBS Television Network | CBS | ||
| 1955 | Episode of Kraft Theatre based on the short story. | J. Walter Thompson Agency | NBC | |||
| 1956 | "Winter Dreams" | Episode of Front Row Center based on the short story. | CBS Television Network | CBS | ||
| 1956 | "Three Hours Between Planes" | Episode of Star Tonight based on the short story. | ABC Television Network | ABC | ||
| 1956 | Episode of Robert Montgomery Presents based on the short story. | Neptune Productions | NBC | |||
| 1957 | Episode of Playhouse 90 based on the novel. | CBS Productions | CBS | |||
| 1957 | "Winter Dreams" | Episode of Playhouse 90 based on the short story. | CBS Productions | CBS | ||
| 1958 | Episode of Playhouse 90 based on the novel. | CBS Productions | CBS | |||
| 1958 | Episode of Kraft Theatre based on the short story. | J. Walter Thompson Agency | NBC | |||
| 1959 | Episode of Armchair Theatre based on the novel. | ABC Weekend Television | ITV | |||
| 1962 | "Crazy Sunday" | Episode of The Dick Powell Theatre based on the short story. | Four Star Productions | NBC | ||
| 1963 | Episode of Teletale based on the short story. | British Broadcasting Corporation | BBC | |||
| 1958 | "Majesty" | Episode of The Jazz Age based on the short story. | British Broadcasting Corporation | BBC | ||
| 1974 | Television film based on the short story. | Titus Productions | ABC | |||
| 1976 | "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" | Television film based on the short story. | PBS Television Network | PBS | ||
| 1984 | "Under the Biltmore Clock" | Episode of American Playhouse based on "Myra Meets His Family". | PBS Television Network | PBS | ||
| 1985 | Tender Is the Night | Television mini-series based on the novel. | 20th Century Fox Television | BBC | ||
| 2000 | Television film based on the novel. | A&E Television Networks | A&E | |||
| 2016 | Television mini-series based on the novel. | Amazon Studios | Prime Video | 44%[13] |
| Year | Title | Portrayed By | Notes | Distributor | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Beloved Infidel | Gregory Peck | Based on the memoirs of Sheilah Graham. | 20th Century Fox | |||
| 1974 | Last of the Belles | Richard Chamberlain | A semi-fictional adaptation of Fitzgerald's story. | Titus Productions | |||
| 1976 | F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood | Jason Miller | Television film. | Titus Productions | |||
| 1993 | Zelda | Timothy Hutton | Television movie by TNT | TNT | |||
| 1994 | Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle | Malcolm Gets | Focusing on the Algonquin Round Table | Miramax Films | |||
| 2002 | Last Call | Jeremy Irons | Detailing Fitzgerald's last years in Hollywood. | Showtime Networks | |||
| 2011 | Midnight in Paris | Tom Hiddleston | Supporting role | Sony Pictures Classics | 93% (224 reviews)[14] | 81[15] | |
| 2016 | David Hoflin | Based on the short story of the same name. | Amazon Studios | 69% (39 reviews)[16] | 61[17] | ||
| 2016 | Genius | Guy Pearce | Based on Max Perkins: Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg. | Summit Entertainment | 52% (111 reviews)[18] | 56[19] |