Quentin Tarantino took a few liberties with Elmore Leonard's book Rum Punch, changing the race and last name of its leading character to accommodate Pam Grier and the title to reflect her importance. But Leonard was still thrilled with Tarantino's film, which he says is his favorite dramatization of one of his books. "I've had some good ones," he said of his film adaptations. "Get Shorty and Out of Sight, and the one Tarantino did, Jackie Brown, those are good movies. And Tarantino's especially stayed close to the book. I was surprised that he stayed closer than anyone. And there have been other adaptations that have varied widely for the worse. That's the way it is with making movies. Most of them are not that good, so you kind of expect that. Hopefully it won't happen with yours."

James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential

"I think that if a writer options a novel to a studio or to filmmakers in general," novelist James Ellroy said in 1997, "then he has an obligation to keep his mouth shut if the movie gets made and it's all fucked up." But Ellroy helped promote Curtis Hanson's Oscar-winning adaptation of L.A. Confidential, telling reporters, "I am in the wonderful position of actually wanting to open my mouth and extol L.A. Confidential the film." Of the script, Ellroy said, "I saw that they had done a good job of compressing my story while maintaining the overall dramatic thrust of it, and I saw that they had contained the narrative structure of the three men. Of course when I saw the film it was very, very taken with it." Asked to compare his work and the movie, he shrugged, "The book is black type on white paper and the film is visual. That's it. It's a brilliantly compatible visual form of the novel."

Dennis Lehane, Mystic River

"I didn't want to sell Mystic River," Lehane told The Atlantic in 2004. "I didn't think anyone could film it, since the vast majority of it happens inside the characters' minds. It was only because I talked to Clint [Eastwood] and knew he got it that I said all right, I'll let him do this. And then of course they did it so beautifully."

John Grisham, The Rainmaker

The frequently adapted lawyer-turned-author gave a memorable interview to Entertainment Weekly in 2004, in which he candidly accessed all of his works to date, and films made from them—from good (A Time to Kill) to bad (The Chamber). He had the highest praise for Francis Ford Coppola's 1997 film, starring a still up-and-coming Matt Damon: "To me it's the best adaptation of any of 'em. Coppola really wanted my involvement, for whatever it's worth. And I love the movie. It's so well done."

P.D. James, Children of Men

Director Alfronso Cuarón took plenty of liberties with The Children of Men, the novel by P.D. James that he loosely adapted in 2006. But she gave her blessing to the film—according to the filmmaker, anyway. "She's a big endorser of the movie," he said after its release. "She made a statement in which she says, 'It's obvious that this film departed from the book, but I'm so proud to be associated with this film.' She really understood that in a way we took an elaboration of her own premise. So the core of everything is her book."

J.G. Ballard, Empire of the Sun