One Day: Book vs. Movie
Lone Scherfig’s 2011 film One Day adapts David Nicholls’s 2009 novel, with a screenplay by Nicholls. Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess play Emma and Dexter, whose friendship unfolds through visits to the same date across two decades.
From Books Adapted
How it was adapted
The movie keeps the annual visits and compresses what happens within them
David Nicholls wrote the screenplay for his own novel. The movie takes the story through its ending and aftermath, rather than adapting only the early years of Emma and Dexter’s friendship. The 2024 series returns to the same book in a separate adaptation.
The movie retains the book’s visits on July 15. Its shorter length means some years pass in brief scenes, while others receive more time. Director Lone Scherfig said the screenplay needed cutting even after Nicholls had adapted it.
Scherfig also kept the book’s habit of missing major events and showing what follows them. Her example was a new baby: the movie skips the birth and instead shows Dexter babysitting for the first time.
About the book and the movie
- Author
- David Nicholls
- Year
- 2009
- Pages
- 437Buy book
- Audiobook length
- 16 hr 25 minGet audiobook
- Narrator
- Anna Bentinck
Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew spend a night together after university, then set off with very different expectations of adult life. Returning to them on July 15 each year, the novel traces the friendship they keep renewing through unsatisfying jobs, public success, other relationships, and the difficulty of recognizing what they mean to each other.
- Director
- Lone Scherfig
- Writer
- David Nicholls
- Year
- 2011
- Runtime
- 1 hr 47 minWatch on Amazon
- Cast
- Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess, Patricia Clarkson, Romola Garai
- Genre
- Drama, Romance
- IMDb
- View on IMDb
Emma Morley wants to become a writer, while Dexter Mayhew finds television fame and a lifestyle that strains their friendship. After a night together following graduation, they remain close without knowing quite what to do about their attraction. Revisiting them on July 15 across two decades, the film follows their struggles to support each other through disappointing careers, other relationships, and choices that pull them apart.
Other adaptations of this book
One DaySeries · 2024 · NetflixDetails
- Creator
- Nicole Taylor
- Year
- 2024
- Episode
- 29 min
- Seasons
- 1
- Episodes
- 14
- Network
- Netflix
- Cast
- Ambika Mod, Leo Woodall, Essie Davis
Dexter moves easily toward travel and a television career, while Emma’s plans to become a writer run up against disappointing work and insecurity. A night together at the end of university becomes the beginning of a lasting friendship, but keeping a place in each other’s lives grows difficult as success, grief, and other partners change what they can offer.
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