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There's a pretty informative story about how, after getting the gig to adapt his own novel The Cider House Rules, John Irving sat down feeling fairly confident, thinking something to the effect that "Hey, all I have to do is re-type who people are, what they do and what they say -- this'll be a breeze ..." and, after doing that with his novel, found he had enough screenplay pages ... for a nine-hour film. Adaptations are tough: What do you leave in, what do you leave out? Is fidelity the only true measure of worth, or can carefully-made changes actually improve the film version of a book? Below are some of my picks for the best adapted screenplays of the past ten years; as ever, this list is wildly subjective, and our ever-hungry comments section awaits your picks. ...

1) Jackie Brown (1997)

A great example of how tweaking a good book can make it even better -- Quentin Tarantino's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch moved the setting from one coast to another, changed the race of one of the leads -- and, by ignoring such petty details, wound with a film that completely nails the talky, criminal, human spirit of Elmore Leonard's amazing body of work. Leonard's work also gave Tarantino the first grown-up story he's ever worked with, and Tarantino stepped up to the plate and delivered -- as fond as I am of Pulp Fiction's incendiary inventions, I still think Jackie Brown is the better actual film.

2) Children of Men (2006)

Another case where the screenwriters modified much of the book to the improvement of the story -- P.D. James's novel takes place over a period of months, while Curaron's film speeds by over a few days like a fever-dream nightmare. There are other changes, too (Clive Owen's lead is no longer related to England's all-powerful Big Brother, but, instead, Danny Huston's minor functionary), but the decision to strip Children of Men down to a few nightmare days was incredibly insightful -- and made for an adaptation that works as an amazing film.

When I first saw the headline, I thought Marc Forster was remaking the 1995 Pauly Shore classic. But no, fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your position), he is sticking to more serious fare. According to Variety, the director of such melodramatic films as Monster's Ball and Finding Neverland is now attached to an adaptation/remake of the British miniseries The Jury, which first aired in 2002. The original, written by The Queen's Peter Morgan and directed by Pete Travis, is about a murder trial involving a Sikh student charged with killing a classmate. Like a modern, more expansive version of 12 Angry Men, the miniseries focuses primarily on the members of the jury and the process through which they reach their verdict -- though apparently (I haven't seen the miniseries), The Jury bears no resemblance at all to Reginald Rose's play nor either of the films it spawned.

Rather than hiring Morgan to rewrite his own script -- the Oscar-nominee is pretty busy these days -- Fox 2000 has gone with Beau Willimon, who Forster himself recruited based on the playwright's well-received political drama Farragut North. While it seems that Willimon is inexperienced in writing for film, he presumably has a lot of time to work on The Jury, since Forster will next be directing the latest installment of the 007 franchise, tentatively known as "Bond 22". Whenever The Jury gets made, we should expect that it will follow in the tradition of other UK minis-turned-features like Traffic and the currently-in-production State of Play. It will probably have a cast of heavies and a lot of Oscar promise.

Topher Grace has come a long way since playing Eric Forman -- the skinny dork on That 70's Show. Really, I never believed the super-cute Donna (played by Laura Prepon) would have ever given him the time of day -- let alone date him or sleep with him. It's just the magic of television I guess. Even dorks get the girl. Fortunately, Grace has been able to leave Forman behind and transition into much different and more adult roles -- and he's managed to do a very good job of it too.

From his first feature film role in Steven Soderberg's Traffic to playing Spidey-nemesis Eddie Brock in Spider-Man 3, Grace has steadily added to his resume and put together an impressive body of work in a relatively short amount of time. And now, according to Production Weekly, the actor has been set to star in Michael Dowse's Kids in America -- which, at first glance, might seem like a step back towards Forman territory.

The film, written by Dowse and That 70s Show vets Jackie and Jeff Filgo, centers around recent college grad Matt Franklin (Grace) obsessed with the dream girl that got away. But a wild Labor Day party gives him one last chance to get the girl and, along with his twin sister and their best friend, learn a little something while struggling with the future and their impeding adulthood.

Even though the plot of the film sounds a little like That 70s Show: The Later Years, I don't think it will really end up that way once it finished. Plus, Grace has really matured a an actor and I think he's smart enough to pick good roles for himself and improve even more. So, despite the films' description, I'm going to give it, and Grace, the benefit of the doubt. So far, he hasn't let me down and I don't think he will here either. Production on Kids in America is expected to start in February in Phoenix.