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| "I heard you were an MTV girl" Alice in The Fighter |
Original Screenplay
Black Swan, Screenplay by Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin; Story by Andres Heinz; Fox Searchlight
The Fighter, Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Paramount Pictures
Inception, Written by Christopher Nolan; Warner Bros.
The Kids Are All Right, Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg; Focus Features
Please Give, Written by Nicole Holofcener; Sony Pictures Classics
- Last year and the year before this category had very little overlap between WGA and Oscar (2 and only 1 similarity respectively). You have to go back to 2007 to get a year with a lot of agreement (4 of 5).
- Oscar contenders that were not eligible for the WGA prize for various reasons are The King's Speech, Blue Valentine, Biutiful and Another Year. You'd be foolish to count the first and the last out especially, since Speech is a frontrunning film of sorts and Another Year comes from Mike Leigh whose process has long fascinated the writers branch within the Academy. I suspect the Black Swan and Please Give screenplays aren't safe, the former because it's viewed as a director's film and the latter because it's profile is low, though it's very clever in terms of dialogue. my current screenplay predictions.
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| "You don't look like you belong here Phillip." -Steven Russell to (I Love You) Phillip Morris |
Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours, Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy; Based on the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston; Fox Searchlight
I Love You Phillip Morris, Written by John Requa & Glenn Ficarra; Based on the book by Steven McVicker; Roadside Attractions
The Social Network, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin; Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich; Sony Pictures
The Town, Screenplay by Peter Craig and Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard; Based on the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan; Warner Bros.
True Grit, Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen; Based on the novel by Charles Portis; Paramount Pictures
- Major Oscar contenders that were not eligible include Winter's Bone, Toy Story 3 and The Ghost Writer as well as a few longshots that could theoretically appear if their fanbases buck current precursor trends and rank them #1 on their ballots en masse: The Way Back, Never Let Me Go, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. (This category has stronger overlap with Oscar nominations than their Original category. But I expect this to only line up 3/5 this year with Winter's Bone and Toy Story 3 being very strong Oscar contenders.
- Snubbed: Rabbit Hole. It's just having trouble catching on.
- How about that I Love You Phillip Morris citation? Surprise! It's a fun inclusion. Too bad the movie didn't get a wider release. It's comic enough that you'd think they would have risked a wide release. It's only at 68 theaters currently and will be Jim Carrey's lowest grossing major role since Earth Girls are Easy (1989) well before he broke out as a major star.
Documentary Screenplay
Enemies of the People, Written, Directed, Filmed and Produced by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath; International Film Circuit
Freedom Riders, Written, Produced and Directed by Stanley Nelson; International Film Circuit
Gasland, Written and Directed by Josh Fox; HBO Documentary Films and International WOW Company
Inside Job, Produced, Written and Directed by Charles Ferguson; Co-written by Chad Beck, Adam Bolt; Sony Pictures Classics
The Two Escobars, Written by Michael Zimbalist, Jeff Zimbalist; ESPN Films
Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?, Written and Directed by John Scheinfeld; Lorber Films
- No, I'm not sure why there are six nominees. Perhaps there is no tiebreaker system. Interesting that this list, like the PGA nominees earlier today, contain so few Oscar finalists...
