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Odds on Oscar: Best Adapted Screenplay
by Charles Jay
There are two writing awards that are given out by the Academy. One of them is for an ORIGINAL screenplay, which is one that is, well, original, which means it started out as a screenplay and a screenplay only.
The other one, the one we will discuss here, is the ADAPTED screenplay, which had its origination in another medium. Generally this means it comes from a book, but it can also be from a short story, a TV script, or something else.
It's not the easiest thing to do; it can be safely said that a good adaptation is appreciated, but a poor adaptation, especially of something that was extremely notable (remember "Bonfire of the Vanities'?) really sticks out like a sore thumb.
That having been said, these are the current odds for the Best Adapted Screenplay:
- An Education +1000
- District 9 +1200
- In The Loop +2000
- Precious +400
- Up in the Air -400
AN EDUCATION, Nick Hornby (+1000) -- Hornby is the author of a number of book,s including "Fever Pitch," about the Arsenal football club, which won him a sports book of the year award on Britain, inviting an American interpretation (albeit loose) starring Jimmy Fallon and the Boston red Sox. "High Fidelity: was another book of his that was adapted into a movie.
The most popular may have been "About a Boy" which eventually starred High Grant. For "An Education," Hornby was nominated in a number of different places, including the Broadcast Film Critics and BAFTA, but he didn't pick up any hardware at all along the way, which doesn't necessarily bode well for his chances in this category.
DISTRICT 9, Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell (+1200) -- This science-fiction film got a lot more attention from the Oscars than many people expected. Blomkamp and Tatchell rode that wave, but did not capture the Golden Globe award for which they were nominated. Blomkamp also directed "District 9," and Tatchell is a virtual newcomer to screenwriting.
IN THE LOOP, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche (+2000) -- You may not have seen this movie, or even heard about it, but it was a political-military satire starring James Gandolfini and Peter Capaldi, among others, and got overwhelmingly favorable reviews.
Jesse Armstrong explained that the script was written along the same format as the popular British TV series "The Thick of It," which is also co-written by Iannucci, Roche, and Blackwell.
Capaldi is the star of that TV series. It won the Best Screenplay from the British Independent Film Awards, as well as the New York Film Critics, and picked up a few other nominations. But there was no Golden Globe nomination.
PRECIOUS, Geoffrey Fletcher (+400) -- Fletcher has written screenplays, but only one for a feature film, and so he's batting 1.000 right now. I'm sure this will get him more work. He has been nominated by the Broadcast Film Critics, as well as the Writers Guild, and the Independent Spirit Awards, which haven't been given out yet.
Still, I'm not sure that creates any kind of momentum that would overcome one entry that is considered a very solid favorite.
UP IN THE AIR, Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (-400) -- This is the favorite, and here now comes the weird story. As far as we know it, "Up in the Air" was adapted from a novel of the same name by Walter Kim, not once but I guess twice. Jason Reitman liked the book and targeted it for development and write his own screenplay for it, apparently without the knowledge that one had already been written by Sheldon Turner and sold off to Dreamworks.
When Ivan Reitman purchased the film rights to the book, he got an adaptation from two other writers who "borrowed" from Turner's script.
Jason Reitman then wrote his own screenplay using some of THAT screenplay, which may have used some of Turner's stuff, though I guess he didn't know it.
They were important parts too, like Ryan Bingham's standard speech to fired employees. So in other words, there was a little stealing, though Reitman was not altogether guilty.
An arbitration with the WGA (Writers Guild of America) ensued, because Reitman was trying to get sole credit, even though the adaptation didn't even come close to originating with him. The WGA has ruled that Reitman and Turner have to share credit, and apparently the two have reconciled any differences, although they never met until filming had long since ended.
CONCLUSION: It should be interesting as to what happens when Reitman and Turner step to the podium to accept their Oscars, since everyone in Hollywood pretty much knows the story by now. They would vote for it just to SEE what would happen.
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