2012 is shaping up to be a very literate year in motion pictures. Over 30 films on the release schedule are based on books, short stories or comic books. Below are 10 of the most notable.

1. BEING FLYNN

Based on: Another Bullsh*t Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn

Basic plot: A guy who works at a homeless shelter finds his estranged, alcoholic, deadbeat dad wandering in one night.

Starring: Robert DeNiro, Paul Dano, Julianne Moore

Director: Paul Weitz

Why it’ll make you thankful: I’m guessing your father isn’t in a homeless shelter…

Release date: Opened March 2 (limited)

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A heavily disguised Robert De Niro spent a day at a homeless shelter in Boston, Massachusetts as he researched his new role in Being Flynn.

His make-under was so successful, the movie star had a full conversation with a regular at the shelter - about himself.

Director Paul Weitz explains, "We did spend time at Pine Street Inn homeless shelter, where Nick Flynn, who wrote the memoir, had worked. It was interesting to see him kind of blend into the woodwork, which he did very well.

"He had a cap pulled over his eyes and he pretended to have a cold so he could cover up his face.

"There was...

In the week leading up to last night’s Academy Awards, I managed to watch the remaining Best Picture nominees that I had not seen: “The Artist,” “Hugo,” “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” “The Help,” and “Midnight in Paris.”

My favorite of the bunch was “The Artist,” which I thought definitely deserved its Best Picture win. For me personally, Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” was a close second, followed by Woody Allen’s quirky, yet romantic “Midnight in Paris.” “Hugo” and “The Help” were incredibly overrated and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” was too long and morose for my...

In the new drama Being Flynn, Olivia Thirlby plays a volunteer in a homeless shelter in the story of an author’s struggle with his homeless father. For the film, the cast volunteered at the Bowery Mission soup kitchen in New York, but the New York actress has already had much experience in the volunteer sector.

“I was pretty accustomed to homeless people and interacting with them, seeing them on the streets and had had experience volunteering before,” Thirlby said. “For this film, they hooked us up with the Bowery Mission in New York. I spent some days volunteering there. [It was] enli...

Actor Paul Dano didn't know where to look while shooting new movie Being Flynn with Robert De Niro because the Hollywood icon had stripped completely nude for a bath scene.

De Niro plays a con man who encounters his drug addict son Nick Flynn, portrayed by Dano, working in a homeless shelter in Boston, Massachusetts.

The opening scene sees De Niro answer the door to the actor after climbing out of a bathtub - and his lack of clothing left Dano red-faced.

The 27 year old tells WENN, "I think he was (naked) but he was covered in suds (soap bubbles)! I tried to avert my eyes. Bob went for i...