“The Soloist,” by author Steve Lopez, tells the true story of the friendship between two gifted men – one a homeless mentally ill musician and the other an award-winning journalist and columnist for the Los Angeles Times. The book was turned into a major motion picture from DreamWorks in April 2009, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx.

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Mark Marabate, who was raised in mid-Michigan and now makes his living as a screenwriter in Hollywood, will talk about how books translate to the big screen at 7 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Kellogg Center.

Marabate, a University of Michigan graduate, will talk about his experiences working for various film companies on the west coast and explore the ways that books become films, using examples from "The DaVinci Code," "Angels and Demons," "Twilight" and "No Country for Old Men."

"Books and films have always gone hand in hand,” Marabate said. "By returning to my home town I hope to share some of my behind-the-scenes knowledge as to why understanding how books are turned into movies is really a way to understand the thought process of Hollywood itself. 

"Hollywood is a bubble, but the decisions made there effect millions of people, and learning how and why they make those decisions may influence others.”

The discussion, an event in conjunction with this year’s "One Book, One Community” program, is free and open to the public.

In this year’s book selection, "The Soloist,” Los Angeles Times journalist Steve Lopez meets Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, a Juilliard-trained musician who is homeless and playing Beethoven on a two-stringed violin in a noisy traffic tunnel.

The book was turned into a major motion picture from DreamWorks in April 2009, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx.

For more information on the "One Book, One Community” program, visit http://www.onebook.msu.edu. 

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