Brain on Fire is a 2016 biographical drama film directed and written by Irish filmmaker Gerard Barrett.

The film is based on Susannah Cahalan's memoir Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness and stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Jenny Slate, Thomas Mann, Tyler Perry, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Richard Armitage.

She would have been committed to the psychiatric ward in a hospital and probably died of encephalitis, if it were not for the efforts and skills of Syrian-American neurologist Souhel Najjar.

Susannah becomes ill suddenly, initially showing symptoms of a common flu like a cough and fatigue, but later begins presenting strange behaviour while in a trance state, such as hearing people say things they have not said and hypersensitivity to loud noises.

During dinner one night, she becomes violent towards them while having another outburst, and her parents demand she is hospitalized despite the MRI, EEG, and all other tests showing normal results.

On May 1, 2014, Deadline reported that Charlize Theron had acquired the film rights to Susannah Cahalan's 2012 memoir Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness.

[6] Dakota Fanning was set to play Cahalan, a young woman who one day wakes up in a hospital with no memory of the events of the previous month.

[6] On January 22, 2015, Irish filmmaker Gerard Barrett was set to write and direct the adaptation, while Rob Merilees of Foundation Features would produce and finance the film.

[3] On June 26, 2015, it was announced that Dakota Fanning had left the project due to scheduling issues, and Chloë Grace Moretz replaced her for the lead role.

[5] On July 20, 2015, Tyler Perry joined the film to play Richard, Cahalan's boss at the New York Post.