2018 Awards Season: Oscar Highlight: Best Adapted Screenplay
February 19, 2019
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at the two Screenwriting Categories, starting with Best Adapted Screenplay, which is not among the most competitive categories, but it isn’t inconceivable that there will be an upset.
(Note: All previous awards listed are only for writing and not other categories. However, they are for both original, adapted, and combined writing categories, depending on the award in question. Previous awards and nominations are for theatrical and not TV programs, on the other hand. )
Best Adapted Screenplay
Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters, and Eric Roth for A Star is Born
Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty for Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Barry Jenkins for If Beale Street Could Talk
Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel, and Kevin Willmott for BlacKkKlansman
Conclusion: Spike Lee should finally win the Oscar he deserves for BlacKkKlansman, but if Can You Ever Forgive Me? or If Beale Street Could Talk win instead, it likely won’t be the biggest upset of the night.
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Tomatometer Score: 91% Positive
Movie's Previous Major Nominations: None
Movie's Previous Major Wins: None
Writer's Previous Major Nominations: Six Oscars, Three Golden Globes, Eight BAFTAs, Seven WGAs, and Two Independent Spirit Awards
Writer's Previous Major Wins: Two Oscars, One Golden Globe, Two WGAs, and One Independent Spirit Award
Notes: This is a Netflix movie. This shouldn’t matter, but it does, as many Oscar voters think Netflix is somehow ruining movies. Don’t feel bad for the Coen Brothers, as they’ve won four Oscars, including two for writing, so they’ve already been the big winners on Oscar night.
Tomatometer Score: 91% Positive
Movie's Previous Major Nominations: BAFTA and WGA
Movie's Previous Major Wins: None
Writer's Previous Major Nominations: Four Oscars, Four Golden Globes, Two BAFTAs, Seven WGAs, and Four Independent Spirit Awards
Writer's Previous Major Wins: One Oscars and Two WGAs
Notes: This film peaked too soon. When it was released, it was widely considered a contender to be the biggest winner on Oscar night. Then slowly but surely, more and more films were released that overtook it in that regard. It could still have a come back and earn several Oscars. That’s unlikely, but it shouldn’t go home empty handed either.
Tomatometer Score: 98% Positive
Movie's Previous Major Nominations: BAFTA, WGA, and Independent Spirit Award
Movie's Previous Major Wins: WGA (One Pending)
Writer's Previous Major Nominations: One WGAs and Three Independent Spirit Awards
Writer's Previous Major Wins: None
Notes: This film earned the upset winning the WGA award, which certainly raised its chances to win the Oscar. However, it is still a long shot with two films above in when it comes to odds of winning. Oddly, it’s the two films below that are above it.
Tomatometer Score: 94% Positive
Movie's Previous Major Nominations: Golden Globe, BAFTA, and WGA
Movie's Previous Major Wins: None
Writer's Previous Major Nominations: One Oscar, One Golden Globe, On BAFTA, One WGA and One Independent Spirit Award
Writer's Previous Major Wins: One Oscar, One WGA, and One Independent Spirit Award
Notes: This film hasn’t lived up to its Awards Season potential. Additionally, Barry Jenkins earned an Oscar just two years ago and Oscar voters don’t like giving multiple awards this close together. It does happen, but not too often.
Tomatometer Score: 95% Positive
Movie's Previous Major Nominations: BAFTA and WGA
Movie's Previous Major Wins: None
Writer's Previous Major Nominations: One Oscar and One Golden Globe
Writer's Previous Major Wins: None
Notes: Spike Lee’s performance during Awards Season seems very lackluster considering the number of amazing films he’s made. In fact, many people think Awards Season voters just dislike Spike Lee and have been ignoring his films for the vast majority of his career. I think this has gotten embarrassing and they are looking to give him a make-up award. Fortunately, BlacKkKlansman is one of the best movies of the year and even if he had won for Do the Right Thing, he would still be a favorite to win the Oscar here.
Filed under: Awards Season, A Star is Born, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, If Beale Street Could Talk, BlacKkKlansman, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Bradley Cooper, Spike Lee, Eric Roth, Will Fetters, Nicole Holofcener, Kevin Willmott, Barry Jenkins, Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Jeff Whitty