Jack’s Award Focus: WGA Nominees include Her & Wolf of Wall Street
Two big guilds have released their nominees, so first things first: the Writer’s Guild of America announced their nominees, and ten fiction films (including major contenders like Her and American Hustle) are nominated between original and adapted categories, and five more nominees for documentaries. Captain Phillips and Wolf of Wall Street picked up steam with nominees in respective fields, and August: Osage County got a nomination for the play’s original writer, Tracy Letts.
Some of the nominees are back again – Woody Allen it’s now in the dozens – and a nomination for Lone Survivor, the Peter Berg Afghanistan-set war movie that opens wide in the states on Friday, marks the first time it’s received some recognition in this award’s season (though it was also a late-entry just being released limited at the end of December to qualify for the awards season).
Stories We Tell
Among the snubs were Inside Llewyn Davis for the Coen brothers (missing a nomination following a snub with the PGA) and, somewhat surprisingly, John Ridley for his adaptation of Solomon Northrup’s memoir for 12 Years a Slave. That film, as well as Philomena among others, were seemingly left out (according to this article) not exactly due to lack of votes or support, but because of technical qualifications that have knocked out other strong contenders in the past due to who is a member or not and what the productions were made in the guild’s Minimum Basic Agreement.
This doesn’t necessarily mean those scripts (or others like the indie sleeper Short Term 12) are out of reach for the Academy Awards, which will be nominated very soon – indeed The King’s Speech and Django Unchained were snubbed by the WGA and then later went on to *win* at the Oscars in writing categories. But there is also something to be seen that seven of the WGA nominees were also PGA nominees, friendly with the Guild’s across the board (see the upcoming director’s guild post for more on that). It should also be noted 16 out of the past 22 WGA winners took home Oscars, so keep an eye on the winners for later Oscar hopefuls.
Meanwhile in documentaries, Stories We Tell, actress/filmmaker Sarah Polley’s account of the mystery of her paternal lineage, got a nomination, as did Alex Gibney for his Julian Assange pic We Steal Secrets: The Stories of Wikileaks. Apparently the restrictions with guild rules are even firmer here than with fiction films, and according to the same article, Polley’s film and Dirty Wars are the only docs on the Academy Awards’ 15-film short-list.
See the full list below:
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
American Hustle, Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell; Columbia Pictures
Blue Jasmine, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Pictures Classics
Dallas Buyers Club, Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack; Focus Features
Her, Written by Spike Jonze; Warner Bros.
Nebraska, Written by Bob Nelson; Paramount Pictures
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
August: Osage County, Screenplay by Tracy Letts; Based on his play; The Weinstein Company
Before Midnight, Written by Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke; Based on characters created by Richard Linklater & Kim Krizan; Sony Classics
Captain Phillips, Screenplay by Billy Ray; Based on the book A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty; Columbia Pictures
Lone Survivor, Written by Peter Berg; Based on the book by Marcus Lutrell with Patrick Robinson; Universal Pictures
The Wolf of Wall Street, Screenplay by Terence Winter; Based on the book by Jordan Belfort; Paramount Pictures
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Dirty Wars, Written by Jeremy Scahill & David Riker; Sundance Selects
Herblock – The Black & The White, Written by Sara Lukinson & Michael Stevens; The Stevens Company
No Place on Earth, Written by Janet Tobias & Paul Laikin; Magnolia Pictures
Stories We Tell, Written by Sarah Polley; Roadside Attractions
We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks; Written by Alex Gibney; Focus Features
