Friday, January 6, 2012

Awards Watch: The Writers Guild of America Announce Nominees


Original Screenplay

50/50 - Written by Will Reisner

Bridesmaids - Written by Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig

Midnight in Paris - Written by Woody Allen

Win Win - Screenplay by Tom McCarthy; Story by Tom McCarthy and Joe Tiboni

Young Adult - Written by Diablo Cody

Adapted Screenplay

The Descendants - Screenplay by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemming

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Screenplay by Steve Zaillian, based on the novel by Stieg Larsson

The Help - Screenplay by Tate Taylor, based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett

Hugo - Screenplay by John Logan, based on the book 'The Invention of Hugo Cabret' by Brian Selznick

Moneyball - Screenplay by Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin, based on the book by Michael Lewis

The original screenplay awards, unsurprisingly, are dominated by comedies. A screenplay like Asghar Farhadi's for A Separation, which might actually be ineligible, is mysteriously overlooked, however. I am yet to see 50/50, but I expected it to make an appearance, but Young Adult was a surprise. In the adapted screenplay The Descendants, Hugo and Moneyball were all expected, but there are several other candidates that could all be players come the Oscars - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Ides of March - but the guild went with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Help, which in addition to the PGA nods, might actually feature heavily in the Oscar race. Thoughts? 

2 comments:

  1. Will Reisner is to be commended for his work in 50/50, such an emotional and touchy subject to be sure but he managed to inject humor as well as poignancy and made something quite entertaining to watch.

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  2. @ Ruth - I still haven't seen 50/50. It's release was delayed until March and now it looks like it won't be released at all (straight to DVD). It's very disappointing. I'll see it eventually, hopefully I have an opp. before the Oscars.

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