Manuel here to talk Oscar nominated screenplays. We first greeted them by looking at their first lines of dialogue, we crunched the numbers about how 2015 was a good year for female scribes, ranked them by quotability, and this week we’re taking a more playful approach. Think of it as a way to find some levity as we near the Big Day.
Now, we know there are frontrunners (and some dark horses) but I put all of that aside and imagined a world where every screenplay nominee has a shot and offered some records that could be broken Sunday night.
IF Bridge of Spies wins
Joel & Ethan Coen would join the ranks of most awarded screenwriters of all time, tying Woody Allen, Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, Francis Ford Coppola, and Paddy Chayefsky, all of whom have three wins, though Allen holds the distinction of winning all three for Original screenplays.
IF Ex Machina wins
It would be the first film with a Latin title to win (previous failed bids include Equus and Europa Europa)
IF Inside Out wins
It would be the first animated film to win a screenplay award (previous failed bids include Toy Story, Shrek, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, WALL-E and Up in the Original Screenplay category and Toy Story 3 in Adapted)
IF Spotlight wins
It’d be the second Michael Keaton film in a row to win a writing Oscar. Last time an actor led back-to-back screenplay wins? Silence of the Lambs/Howards End both led by Anthony Hopkins. Apologies to Guy Pearce (The Hurt Locker/The King’s Speech) and Benedict Cumberbatch (12 Years a Slave/Imitation Game) who don’t quite fit the bill.
IF Straight Outta Compton wins
It would match Pillow Talk as film with most screenwriters ever awarded in this category (4).
IF Brooklyn wins
It’d be the first film named after a city to win since Fargo (other failed bids include Manhattan, Peyton Place and Philadelphia)
IF Carol wins
She’d joined an eclectic roster of female named-films to win screenplay awards: Julia, Gigi, Juno, Annie Hall and Marie-Louise. (What a dinner party that would be, no?)
IF The Big Short wins
Adam McKay would become the first Oscar winner to have also penned a Marvel film (Ant Man).
IF The Martian wins
It’d be the first film set in outer space to win a screenplay award (failed bids include: Star Wars, Apollo 13 and 2001: A Space Odyssey)
IF Room wins
Donoghue would become the first female novelist to win for adapting her own work, a distinction male novelists Mario Puzo (The Godfather), Peter Blatty (The Exorcist), Michael Blake (Dances with Wolves) and John Irving (The Cider House Rules) have all accomplished before.
Some are, of course, more plausible (and serious-minded) than others, but which records might I have missed that you hope get broken on Oscar night?