Thursday, January 13, 2005

Writers Guild Nominees

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
109 films were eligible here. They chose
THE AVIATOR, Written by John Logan, Miramax Films
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, Story by Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth
GARDEN STATE, Written by Zach Braff
HOTEL RWANDA, Written by Keir Pearson & Terry George
KINSEY, Written by Bill Condon

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
84 films were eligible here. They chose

BEFORE SUNSET, Screenplay by Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke, Story by Richard Linklater & Kim Krizan, Based on Characters Created by Richard Linklater & Kim Krizan
MEAN GIRLS, Screenplay by Tina Fey, Based on the Book "Queen Bees and Wannabes) by Rosalind Wiseman
MILLION DOLLAR BABY, Screenplay by Paul Haggis, Based upon Stories from "Rope Burns" by F.X. Toole
THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, Screenplay by Jose Rivera, Based on the Books "Notas de Viaje" by Ernesto Guevara and "Con el Che por America Latina" by Alberto Granado
SIDEWAYS, Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Based on the Novel by Rex Pickett

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I cannot tell you how excited I am for Tina Fey and "Mean Girls". I thought I was crazy to think that the film had been overlooked.

adam k. said...

Bet you're happy about the adapted nominees, Nathaniel... except what happened to Closer? Is it maybe not even getting a screenplay nod? Not a single guild has shown any interest whatsoever. And truth be told, I didn't love it myself. I didn't think the staginess worked all that well, but the performances were good. I personally hope Before Sunset makes it into the oscar race here, and I think it will... but what exactly is it supposed to be adapted from? Seriously. Is it "adapted" from Before Sunrise or something? Isn't it just based on ideas that the writers Emailed to each other and stuff? That's what they said on the "making of" featurette. I really don't understand this at all. Shame that Bad Education, Huckabee's, Vera, etc. keep being ignored in the original race, though.

Anonymous said...

It's also a shame that Kill Bill: Vol. 2 and Jeff Bridges have been ignored.

It's really wierd that the WGA nominations are more interesting than the SAG nods.

NATHANIEL R said...

yeah I like all of the adapted nominees (though Before Sunset is definitely not "adapted" sigh) SO glad that Neverland wasn't eligible but I still, sadly, expect it to knock something far more deserving out of the list

adam k. said...

Oh. I thought Finding Neverland was eligible, and just wasn't chosen. Ah well. But seriously, I understand how you can claim to be original when you're loosely adapted, but how can you claim to be adapted when there's no source you can claim to be adapted from? Do you know of a source that Before Sunset claims to spring from, other than its creators' heads?

adam k. said...

OK, I see now that it says "based on characters created by Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan". So... I can just write a screenplay and say it's "based on characters created by Adam Keller" and it will be considered adapted? Or is it just because it's a sequel? So are all sequels adapted? This is totally ludicrous. At least when the fraud claims originality, even though it's fraud, I see how it works... but this is just nuts. Although it raises the question of whether all writing is really adapted in some way, be it from real life, the imagination, Emails, a book, whatever... but even by that logic, The Aviator, Kinsey, and Hotel Rwanda are much more adapted than Sunset is. Ugh. Why even have two categories, if this is what happens? This is nuts.

Gustavo H.R. said...

http://imperiocinefilo.blogspot.com/

They ignored CLOSER, FINDING NEVERLAND and RAY - they'll all be nominated for the Oscars.

Anonymous said...

Well, the WGA list is actually pretty good. So glad that films like Mean Girls, Before Sunse and Garden State (i actually liked it, sue me). And, obviously, it's great that Eternal Sunshine's there but we KNEW that was gonna happen.

Why wasn't Finding Neverland eligable, pre tell?

And on the adapted/original thing, I suppose they thought it was adapted because it's quasi based on the lives of Julie and Ethan. But, then, every biopic should be adapted.

Although, Nathaniel, you have Shrek 2 in your list of adapted screenplay possibilities with the comment saying it's clearly in the wrong catagory but I would DEFINITELY disagree. There was not one single thing in that movie that was remotely original (except maybe The Counting Crow's awful song) considering it was all movie spoofs and references...

-Glenn

Nigel said...

I don't know about the WGA awards, but the Adapted Screenplay category at the Oscars is "Best screenplay based on material previously produced or published". Before Sunset is a sequel, therefore it's based on the first film, and therefore it's an adapted screenplay. I mean, it's not as if they made the whole story up themselves. If they did, then why are they referencing Before Sunrise so much which - yep! - forms the basis for Before Sunset?

NATHANIEL R said...

But if that's true than all sequels are "adaptations" which I don't buy at all. What are they adapted from exactly? They are all just continuations... Is Kill Bill Volume 2 and adapted screenplay, then?

I'm kind of a literalist with these things. If it's based on material previously published/exhibited in another medium (such as Nia Vardalos's "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" which was a one woman show in LA) than it automaticall is adapted, no matter what they want to pretend.

If it's just unoriginal (Like Shrek 2 as you claim) but not based on anything other than being a sequel it's still an original screenplay.

The only case (to me) where it gets really gray is things like Spider-Man. That's the only instance where I could probably by "adaptation" because it is based on a character (which I don't think makes something adapted) but it's also drawing from and fusing years of comic book history which is material previously published. So, that you could make a case for...even though there's not one specific thing.

But Before Sunset? Nah. That's like saying "The Barbarian Invasions" was in the wrong category last year since it was also a sequel using the same characters.

Anonymous said...

Very happy to see Garden State pop up in the nominations. It was a bit of a shock, but all in all, the nod is greatly deserving. EVEN the ending, Nathanial.

adam k. said...

I guess the reason this doesn't come up more often is that sequels rarely get nominated for their screenplays. But the Spiderman thing will NEVER come up, because no comic book movie will ever recieve a screenplay nod. Ha.