The Longform Guide to Adaptations
The Perfect Storm, Argo and Dog Day Afternoon — a collection of great articles that became (mostly) great movies, presented by MUBI. Think life is too short for bad films? Try MUBI, a different kind of streaming service, free for 30 days.
The Suspects Wore Louboutins
The motley gang of L.A. teens that cat-burgled celebrities, sometimes repeatedly, in search of designer clothes, jewelry, and something to do.
Film: The Bling Ring
Nancy Jo Sales Vanity Fair Mar 2010 20min
Orchid Fever
An orchid-enthusiast goes to battle in Florida.
Film: Adaptation
Susan Orlean The New Yorker Jan 1995 25min
Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night
Nearly 20 years after its publication, the author revealed that this story, on the disco scene in Brooklyn, was a fake.
Film: Saturday Night Fever
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The man who blew the whistle on big tobacco.
Film: The Insider
Marie Brenner Vanity Fair May 1996 1h15min
The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon
Adventures in bartending.
Film: Coyote Ugly
Elizabeth Gilbert GQ Mar 1997 20min
The Storm
Six young men, a boat, and the worst gale in a century.
Sebastian Junger Outside Oct 1994 20min
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
At age 22, the author went undercover at his old high school. Here’s what he found.
Cameron Crowe Playboy Sep 1981 15min
The Boys in the Bank
A young Brooklyn man attempts a bank robbery to finance his lover’s sex change surgery.
Film: Dog Day Afternoon
P.F. Kluge, Thomas Moore LIFE Sep 1972
Life's Swell
Hanging with surfer girls in Maui.
Film: Blue Crush
Susan Orlean Outside Sep 1998 20min
Racer X
Drag racing in New York.
Film: The Fast and the Furious
Kenneth Li Vibe May 1998 10min
Shattered Glass
At 25, Stephen Glass was a reporter wunderkind, regularly filing incredible pieces for the largest magazines. When suspicion fell on his sources, things started to really get strange. It wasn’t just sources and organizations he was inventing, but whole stories.
Buzz Bissinger Vanity Fair Sep 1998 30min
The Great Escape
How the CIA used a fake science fiction film to sneak six Americans out of revolutionary Iran.
Film: Argo
Joshuah Bearman Wired Apr 2007 20min
Sep 1972 – Mar 2010 Permalink
