Listicle: 10 screenplays that sprung from unusual sources

Not every screenplay comes from a book. These 10 adaptations draw from songs, viral tweets, even a National Park guide. Inspiration is truly everywhere

Listicle: 10 screenplays that sprung from unusual sources

• 
  Pirates of the Caribbean series (2003-). Inspiration: Theme-park ride.

  In the OG 1967 attraction, visitors floated past chess-playing, rum-drinking pirate skeletons and sailed into a 17th-century sea battle — cannon fire, colonial chaos and all. Jack Sparrow debuted later. The scoundrel’s tale did so well on screen, Disney tried to adapt other rides. Sadly, The Country Bears (2002), The Haunted Mansion (2003), Tomorrowland (2015), and Jungle Cruise (2021) sank faster than a leaky galleon.
• 
  Zola (2021). Inspiration: Viral Twitter thread.

  “Y’all wanna hear a story about why me and this b*tch fell out?” Thus starts stripper Aziah “Zola” Wells King’s 148-tweet play-by-play of a wild weekend in Florida in 2015. There was a dancer, her boyfriend, and a roommate. There was crime, sex work, and trafficking. Zola’s darkly comic voice narrated “the greatest stripper saga ever tweeted”. Janicza Bravo’s film captures all the absurdity, horror, and humour in one hypnotic rollercoaster ride.
• 
  Cocaine Bear (2023). Inspiration: News article.

  In 1985, a smuggler dropped a giant stash of cocaine over Georgia’s Chattahoochee-Oconee forest to lighten his parachute load. A black bear found it, devoured it, and promptly overdosed. The legend of Pablo Eskobear (Yes, really) was born. His taxidermied body now “officiates” weddings at the Kentucky Fun Mall. Elizabeth Banks’s alternate history, in which the bear goes on a bloody, coke-fuelled rampage? It’s art.
• 
  Flamin’ Hot (2023). Inspiration: Cheetos.

  Haters: You can’t possibly base a movie around chips. Eva Longoria: Hold my snack. Her directorial debut follows Richard Montañez, the ex-gangster-turned-Frito-Lay janitor, who allegedly invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, thereby (allegedly) saving the company. The feel-good, underdog tale even scored an Oscar nod for Best Original Song (The track was called, The Fire Inside. Nice).
• 
  Mars Attacks (1996). Inspiration: Trading cards.

  Watching Sarah Jessica Parker’s head end up on a chihuahua’s body was not on any viewer’s 1996 Bingo card. Tim Burton’s cult classic was based on a 1962 sci-fi trading-card series so gory and suggestive that parents forced it off shelves. Burton rounded up an A-list battalion — Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan, Michael J Fox, Danny DeVito, Natalie Portman. But more importantly, he stayed true to the cards’ bonkers spirit.
• 
  Slender Man (2018). Inspiration: Creepypasta.

  In 2009, the forum Something Awful asked users to invent a myth scary enough to haunt the web. Eric Knudsen posted a black-and-white photo of two kids with a tall, faceless figure lurking behind. He claimed that everyone in the photo had since vanished. Thus was born Slender Man, the a monster birthed by the internet and nurtured through art, fiction and games. The movie, starring Joey King, had, alas, bad acting and shoddy effects.
• 
  The Black Bear (2015). Inspiration: National Park Guide.

  Only the French could turn Quebec’s Forillon National Park visitor guide into dark comedy. Xavier Seron and Méryl Fortunat-Rossi’s film took the “really strict rules” and ran wild with them. It’s shot like a cheerful instructional video, and follows five hikers in a bear park who skip the fine print — and pay for it in spectacularly gory fashion. There’s a comment on homophobia too. So deep!
• 
  Safety Not Guaranteed (2012). Inspiration: A classified ad.

  In 1997, a California magazine editor posted a fake classified ad that read: “Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke… Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed.” Thousands wrote in. Derek Connolly’s movie is about three Seattle Magazine employees chasing the man behind the ad. Strangely, it’s a warm, slightly sci-fi hug about love, loss, and second chances.
• 
  The Indian Runner (1991). Inspiration: A Bruce Springsteen song.

  Before cinematic universes, there was the Springsteen-verse. Sean Penn’s directorial debut takes off from The Boss’s 1982 track, Highway Patrolman. Penn stretched that four-minute ballad into a film about of two brothers who end up on opposite sides of the law. But it’s a watchable slow-burn drama about family, loyalty, and bad decisions. Plus a Boss soundtrack.
• 
  Tommy (1975). Inspiration: The Who’s rock opera album.

  The concept was bonkers to begin with. A hearing, visually and verbally-impaired kid becomes a pinball messiah and cult leader. But Ken Russell took The Who’s trippy 1969 album, Tommy, and cranked it up to 11 with psychedelic visuals and more sequins than sense. Roger Daltrey stars as Tommy. Tina Turner, and Elton John join the wild ride. Pinball Wizard is a bonkers song too.