Meet the Man Behind All Your Favorite Movies

If you haven't watched the newly released trailer for Reese Witherspoon's new film, Wild , stop reading this right now and go watch it immediately. It looks excellent. In what will likely be an Oscar-bait performance for Witherspoon, Wild tells the story of a woman who goes on a thousand-mile hike as a way of overcoming a bad break-up, grief, addiction, and a mental breakdown. It's the kind of story that requires a really great screenplay in order to be told to its fullest potential, which is why it's lucky for everyone involved that the film was penned by writer/mini-mogul Nick Hornby.

You might not have recognized the man in the picture above, but if you've seen a movie or read a book in the last twenty years, you are definitely familiar with Hornby's work. A Surrey-born Cambridge grad, Hornby is about as British as they come, so naturally most of his books take place in London. But the themes Hornby touches on — friendship, loneliness, love, heartbreak, humor, and loss— are universal, which means his novels are easy and popular for adaptation to film and TV.

Not only has Hornby written award-winning screenplays — and award-winning books upon which award-winning screenplays have been based — Hornby is also a lyricist for Ben Folds.

I'm telling you, this guy's writing will find you no matter what you do!

Here are five of your favorite movies, TV shows, and, weirdly enough, Broadway musicals that Nick Hornby is responsible for.

About A Boy

Hornby wrote the book the film was based on, which means he wrote the book that the About A Boy TV series is based on, too.

High Fidelity

Not only did Hornby's bestselling book of the same name inspire a movie (which starred John Cusack and Jack Black), it inspired a musical that premiered on Broadway in 2006.

An Education

Hornby was nominated for an Oscar for his An Education screenplay— even though it was only his first.

A Long Way Down

This is an instance where you are probably more familiar with the book than the movie, since the book was a bestseller, but despite an all-star cast, the film flopped.

Fever Pitch

Not only did Hornby's debut novel Fever Pitch get a British film adaptation starring Colin Firth, it got an American film adaptation starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore as well!

Clearly, Nick Hornby is Hollywood's biggest over-achiever, and you should be thankful he is!