The Man Who Laughs is a novel by Victor Hugo, originally published in April 1869 under the French title L'Homme qui rit. There have been several dramatic adaptations of The Man Who Laughs. These include a popular film, directed by Paul Leni and starring Conrad Veidt, Mary Philbin and Olga Baclanova. Hugo wrote The Man Who Laughs, or the Laughing Man, over a period of fifteen months while he was living in the Channel Islands, having been exiled from his native France due to the controversial political content of his previous novels. Hugo's working title for this book was On the King's Command, but a friend suggested The Man Who Laughs.