Although those they honor are considered below the line, make no mistake about it. The Oscars for both adapted and original screenplay are marquee trophies that can fast-track the career course of their recipients into Hollywood’s highest echelons, if they aren’t already there. Just think back to when an impossibly young Matt Damon and Ben Affleck won for ”Good Will Hunting.”
Let’s take a look first at the adapted screenplay nominees:
“Before Midnight” by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke
“Captain Phillips” by Billy Ray
“Philomena” by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
“12 Years a Slave” by John Ridley
“The Wolf of Wall Street” by Terence Winter
When the Writers Guild of America handed out its trophy in this category earlier this month, it went to Billy Ray for the real-life story of the captain of the Maersk Alabama hijacked by Somali pirates before being rescued by the US military on the high seas in a saga that captured the world’s attention in 2009.
“I owe quite a debt to Captain Richard Phillips, who survived something I know would’ve killed me,” Ray said in his WGA acceptance speech about the ordeal the hijacked captain endured. “It was Captain Phillips who wrote this movie. I just wrote it down.”
Program note: Tracy Letts’ “August: Osage County” and Peter Berg’s “Lone Survivor” were also WGA-nominees, but didn’t make the Oscar list.
TAR’s Take: “12 Years a Slave” will add another Oscar to its trophy case in this category
For original screenplay, Oscar voters considered the following scripts:
“American Hustle” by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
“Blue Jasmine” by Woody Allen
“Dallas Buyers Club” by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack
“Her” by Spike Jonze
“Nebraska” by Bob Nelson
Again, looking to the Writers Guild, we see that the exact same list was in contention and that Jonze took the trophy for his thought-provoking story set slightly into the future of a man who falls in love with his computer’s operating system.
“Her” was still considered an underdog, but the WGA win gave it added momentum– especially since the field is identical, which is a bit unusual.
TAR’s Take: “Blue Jasmine” and “Dallas Buyers Club” will almost certainly receive acting prizes, so this may be a place to reward “Hustle” for its artistry, although “Her” still holds a strong position.
–Hillary Atkin
