USC Scripter Nominations Add a TV Category. (But Where's "Carol" in Film?)
Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 7:25PM
The USC Scripter announced their nominations today. They honor authors of original printed works alongside the screenwriters who have adapted them. They are a group of Academics and writers who somehow have been in lock and step with Oscar in choosing the same winning adapted screenplay for the last 5 years. The Social Network (2011), The Descendants (2011), Argo (2012), 12 Years A Slave (2013) and The Imitation Game (2014).
This year they have expanded their awards - which will be presented February 20 - to include TV adaptations. Their nominees are after the jump...
TV
Game Of Thrones - Screenwriters David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, for the episode Hardhome, adapted from the fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin
The Leftovers - Damon Lindelof and Jacqueline Hoyt for the episode Axis Mundi, (Season 2 premiere episode) based on the novel by Tom Perrotta
The Man In The High Castle - Frank Spotnitz for the episode “The New World,” based on the novel by Philip K. Dick
Masters Of Sex - Michelle Ashford, for the episode Full Ten Count, based on the biography by Thomas Maier, Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love
Show Me A Hero - Screenwriters William F. Zorzi and David Simon, based on the nonfiction book by Lisa Belkin
Film
The Big Short - Screenwriters Adam McKay and Charles Randolph, adapted from Michael Lewis’s nonfiction work The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Brooklyn - Novelist Colm Tóibín and screenwriter Nick Hornby
The End Of The Tour - Screenwriter Donald Margulies, adapted from David Lipsky’s memoir “Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace”
The Martian - Novelist Andy Weir and screenwriter Drew Goddard
Room - Emma Donoghue for the novel and screenplay
When you compare this list to the WGA's adapted screenplay list, it looks like The Big Short and The Martian are sitting pretty and will likely be called out next Thursday morning for Oscar nominations. Brooklyn and Room, which were not eligible for WGA, are competing with Carol, Steve Jobs and Trumbo for the other three spots. Trumbo? Really?
And it’s unfathomable that Phyllis Nagy’s brilliant adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's "The Price of Salt" (the novel that was later rereleased as "Carol") is not a mortal lock. She opened up Carol's narrative by creating the titular character almost from scratch, as Carol was mostly a specter in Therese’s head in the book.
Do you think Oscar will throw a curvball or is the eventual winner right here within these five?
Reader Comments (10)
I'm X my fingers tt Nagy will still get in, but likely she wont win?
@Claran - I agree, Nagy getting nominated seems more likely than her winning. Hopefully Emma Donoghue will make it too. I'd hate for this to end up an all-male screenwriter lineup again. If the winner is somewhere here, I really do hope it's Nick Hornby.
They're idiots for ignoring CAROL although that END OF THE TOUR nod is richly deserved.
Oh gawd, if CAROL *and* ROOM somehow miss with Oscar it'll be a shit show. And rightfully so. Only one of three writers on INSIDE OUT over in original could keep it from being a total female wash-out (yet again).
I like the END OF THE TOUR nomination though, and BROOKLYN obviously which I felt did a great job of getting inside the characters heads in a similar way to prose.
I have a funny feeling Carol is not going to be lavished with as many Oscar noms that we all previously thought.
Same goes for The Danish Girl.
Be prepared for the anti-LGBT headlines on Oscar morning.
I haven't listened yet, but Nagy and Donoghue both feature on this recent podcast, although it appears to be separate, consecutive interviews rather than a joint one like I thought at first: http://blacklist.wolfpop.com/audio/40284/screenwriters-phyllis-nagy-carol-and-emma-donoghue-room
At this point, "What about Carol?" is automatically added to to the end of all TFE posts like an email signature, right? (Only teasing...)
I haven't seen "The End of the Tour" but I will be hoping "Carol" makes the Oscar and Bafta list, I don't understand the reluctance. Very happy to see "Brooklyn", 'Room", and "The Big Short" make the list.
I think "The Big Short" will be winning best picture on the Oscars, it's really picking up steam.
I don't know if The Big Short will win best picture Oscar, but I bet it wins screenplay.
You know,
As Jane Fonda so greatly put it in "Youth", and to paraphrase here... "a spade should be called a spade." I hear the "Where's Carol" a bit. But, I'm gonna have to be one of the folks who has the balls to confess that I think despite "Carol" being a pretty good films, I do find a lot of flaws in it. Primarily with Todd Hayne's direction. I think he keeps the film at an icy distance when the material demands a certain intimacy that Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara bring so effectively to their characters. I feel that Hayne's borderline pretentiousness with his excellent craftsmanship of the film calls a little too much attention to itself and it sadly detracts from the meat of the story. I had this same opinion with "Far from Heaven" and I liked that film, too. That said, I digress.
I think the script is pretty good and this here is a writing award. But, as I keep watching the breadth of great adapted screenplays out there, I'm really having to wonder if "Carol" is really one of the best... the fact is maybe some people just don't think so... WGA thought so, and I suspect Oscar will too. "Where's Carol?" She sat this one out, but she'll be back... oh yes, she will.
I hope voters wake up and realize that THE BIG SHORT is a shitty movie. They'll be embarrassed by this choice this time next year.