The Ghost Writer (released as The Ghost in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is a 2010 French-German-British political thriller film directed by Roman Polanski. The film is an adaptation of the Robert Harris novel, The Ghost, with the screenplay written by Polanski and Harris. It stars Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall and Olivia Williams.

An unnamed English ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) is recruited to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). His predecessor on the project, Mike McAra, Lang's long-term aide, died in an apparent accident. The writer's agent, Rick Ricardelli (Jon Bernthal), is very much in favour, and the writer will make $250,000, but the project is on a very tight schedule. The writer travels to the fictional American village of Old Haven (an allusion to Vineyard Haven) on Martha's Vineyard where Lang is staying with his wife, Ruth (Olivia Williams) and a staff of servants and security personnel. The writer is checked into a small hotel. Lang's personal assistant (and mistress) Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall) forbids him to take McAra's manuscript outside, emphasizing that it is a security risk.

The Ghost Writer (1979) is the first novel by Philip Roth to be narrated by Nathan Zuckerman, one of Roth's alter egos, and constitutes the first book in his Zuckerman Bound trilogy. The novel touches on themes common to many Roth works, including identity, the responsibilities of authors to their subjects, and the condition of Jews in America. Parts of the novel are a reprise of Anne Frank's Diary.

Nathan Zuckerman is a promising young writer who spends a night in the home of E.I. Lonoff, an established author whom Zuckerman idolizes (and who, it has been argued, is a portrait of Bernard Malamud or Henry Roth or a composite of both). Also staying in the Lonoff home is Amy Bellette, a young woman with a vague past whom the narrator apparently comes to suspect as being Anne Frank, living in the United States anonymously, having survived the Holocaust. It only becomes apparent at the end of this section that this conjecture is part of a fiction composed by Zuckerman.

In 1984 a television adaptation was made of the book in the UK. It was directed by Tristram Powell and starred Rose Arrick, Claire Bloom, Sam Wanamaker, Cecile Mann, MacIntyre Dixon, Mark Linn-Baker, Ralph Morse, Joseph Wiseman, and Patricia Fellows.

Ewan Gordon McGregor (born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor who has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. He is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting (1996), Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005), poet Christian in the musical film Moulin Rouge! (2001), and storyteller Edward Bloom in Tim Burton's Big Fish (2003). He has also received critical acclaim for his starring roles in theatre productions of Guys and Dolls (2005–07) and Othello (2007–08). McGregor was ranked No. 36 on Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list in 1997.

Born in the Royal Infirmary in Perth, Scotland, McGregor was brought up in the nearby small town of Crieff, where he attended the independent Morrison's Academy. His mother, Carole Diane (née Lawson), is a teacher and school administrator, and his father, James Charles Stewart "Jim" McGregor, is a physical education teacher. He has an older brother, Colin, who is a former Tornado GR4 pilot in the Royal Air Force. He is the nephew of actor Denis Lawson and the late actress Sheila Gish, and the step-cousin of the late actress Lou Gish. McGregor studied drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years. Following a stage acting career he rose to popularity in the television series Remington Steele (1982–87).

After Remington Steele, Brosnan took the lead in many films such as Dante's Peak and The Thomas Crown Affair. In 1995, he became the fifth actor to portray secret agent James Bond in the official film series, starring in four films between 1995 and 2002. He also provided his voice and likeness to Bond in the 2004 video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing. Since playing Bond, he has starred in such successes as The Matador (nominated for a Golden Globe, 2005), Mamma Mia! (National Movie Award, 2008), and The Ghost Writer (2010).

In 1996, along with Beau St. Clair, Brosnan formed Irish DreamTime, a Los Angeles-based production company. In later years, he has become known for his charitable work and environmental activism.

Kenneth Turan ( /təˈræn/; born October 27, 1946) is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.

Turan was born in Brooklyn, New York. He received his B.S. in history from Swarthmore College in 1967 and M.S. from Columbia University in 1968. From 1969-1978 he was a sports writer and feature writer for the Washington Post. He also served as film critic for a number of publications including The Progressive, New West/California Magazine, Gentlemen's Quarterly, and E!Entertainment.

He has been a film critic for the Los Angeles Times since 1991 and the Director for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, Los Angeles Times since 1993. He is the founding film critic for Arts Alive on KUSC-FM and www.kusc.org. He also provides regular reviews for Morning Edition on National Public Radio

Kenneth Turan is featured in the documentary For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism discussing his famous public quarrel with James Cameron, and recalling how Cameron e-mailed the LA Times’s editors calling for Turan’s firing after Turan wrote a negative review of Titanic.