Jan 28 2009
Oscars 2009: Best Adapted Screenplay
The screenplay awards are always my personal favorites. Many of my more favorite films tend to get nominated in these categories (though it tends to occur more in Original Screenplay). Sadly, though, this year’s crop of Adapted Screenplay nominees is fairly uninventive and I definitely think that at least two of these should have been left off the list in favor of others. What should and could have been a more interesting and competitive race has been reduced to a fairly transparent sure-thing of a category.
THE NOMINEES
Eric Roth and Robin Swicord, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – While it may be the leader in nomination, I think he general lukewarmness over this movie will leave Benjamin Button shut out of the major categories, though it will likely snap up a few of the technical awards. Besides, Eric Roth already won in this category for Forrest Gump last decade and the similarities between the two films are not lost on many, even if this is the better version of those themes
John Patrick Shanley, Doubt – In my estimation, this is probably the solid second place in this category. The script and the acting are what makes Doubt so good and Shanley did nice job of adapting his play for the screen. But in the end, I don’t think it will be enough to derail the Slumdog train.
Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon – Sigh. For me, the strong point of this film are the performances (and I think even those are being over-rewarded). In my mind, the presence of those ridiculous talking head interviews should immediately discount this script from even being nominated in this category. At least I can rest knowing that it won’t win.
David Hare, The Reader – And now I get to start really spewing some of my hatred regarding this Oscar nomination. Seriously. Did the Academy voters actually see The Reader, because I would love i the people that showered this film with nomination would please explain to me what the hell they were thinking. The script has absolutely no direction and no emotion. What it’s doing in this category, when several far better scripts (and films) were left unrecognized, boggles my mind. I hope Slumdog kicks its ass.
Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire – Several weeks ago I listened to Beaufoy interviewed on the Creative Screenwriting Magazine podcast and I was immediately endeared to the guy. To write this script, he spent a few months living in India and while the film is credited as being adapted from the book Q & A, Beaufoy revealed that several memorable moments in the film were actually taken from things he observed while in India. To hear him tell it, this screenplay is actually sort of a hybrid of adapted and original, which almost makes me wish there was an in between category. Still, Slumdog‘s on quite a roll and it seems unfathomable that in a category of pretty weak competition, it wouldn’t take this award.
THE FORGOTTEN
Jonathan Nolan, The Dark Knight – An action script that hinges and development of interesting and strong characters, who’d have thunk it? Nolan created an incredibly dense, action-packed script that didn’t sacrifice ideas and story on the alter of big explosions. That he was left in the cold in this category only proves that the Academy really is intent on letting their prejudices prevent them from rewarding truly deserving material. This script had ten times the emotion and character development of The Reader.
David Magee and Simon Beaufoy, Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day – I’m sure Beaufoy’s not shedding any tears over the fact that he’s not nominated twice in this category, but again, I feel the need to toot Miss Pettigrew‘s horn. I thought the script was incredibly tight, with nary a dull moment in the entire running time. It was remarkably well-paced, clever and a refreshing perspective on time period and event (World War II) that has really been done to death in Hollywood. I’m going to mention it at least once more in this series because I really think it’s worth checking out and I’m really sad that it’s been forgotten this awards season.
Justin Haythe, Revolutionary Road – Haythe is another writer I listened to on the Creative Screenwriting Magazine podcast (it’s a really fantastic podcast, I encourage you to check it out). He wasn’t nearly as entertaining to listen to as Beaufoy, but I definitely earned an appreciation for the work he did in adapting this book. In the interview, Haythe discussed many of the tweaks and adjustments he made from the original book and while I haven’t read the original work yet, many of the changes he made sounded like great improvements. Granted, I think the performances are what made this movie so watchable, but I found the flaws in this script much less painfully annoying than those in Frost/Nixon.
I like to watch Veronica Mars episodes as well Lost. I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.