Directors who pen their own screenplays are a dime a dozen. The Coen brothers write their own films as do Paul Thomas Anderson, Jia Zhangke, and Jim Jarmusch. And while there are a number of novelists who have tried their hand at directing, from Michael Crichton to Norman Mailer, few filmmakers have done the reverse and written a novel. Today we highlight a few that have.
John Sayles, director of Eight Men Out and Brother from Another Planet, has written a number of books, most recently the tome A Moment in the Sun. The expansive work chronicles American life at the dawn of the 20th century and clocks in at nearly 1000 pages.
Samuel Fuller began working as a journalist before transitioning into a screenwriter and director on classic films like Pickup on South Street and The Steel Helmet. He also found time to write pulp novels. The Hard Case Crime imprint has recently published a “lost” novel of Fuller’s
titled 
Brainquake, written near the end of his life.
Tobe Hooper terrified audiences in 1974 with the release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He went on to receive credits for the film Poltergeist and the television show Tales from the Crypt. For a director of such creepy fare it should be no surprise that his debut novel is called Midnight Movie. In this story of a director whose debut film comes back to haunt him, Hooper made himself–and cinema–the star.
~posted by Mike
Shelf Talk 