How Have International Features Fared in Oscar Screenplay Categories?

By: Christopher James

In a banner year for International cinema, can "The Worst Person in the World" or "Drive My Car" win a Screenplay Oscar?As was discussed in the recent Screenplay Oscar Volley, there is the potential for there to be two international feature winners in Adapted and Original Screenplay this year. Best Picture nominee Drive My Car had an incredibly strong showing on nomination morning, and Adapted Screenplay could be the place where the Oscars chooses to honor writer/director Ryusuke Hamaguchi. If it wins, it will be the first international feature to win Best Adapted Screenplay.

On the Original Screenplay front, Joaquim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World hopes to be a surprise upset. The comedy-drama from Norway may not be in Best Picture, but it has amassed a strong art house following and grown steadily since its opening last month.

Do these movies actually have a shot though? Let’s take a look at the track record for International Feature in the Screenplay categories.

Pedro Almodovar won his first and only writing Oscar for "Talk to Her." In 1999, his film "All About My Mother" won Best Foreign Language Feature.

I tried to limit the examples below to films that were eligible in International Feature (nee Foreign Language Feature), which is why movies heavily in other languages that are American productions like Minari are not included. With that caveat, there have been a total of 83 international features nominated for a Screenplay Oscar over the 94 years of the Academy Awards. Only six have won the prize, giving international features a win rate of 7% (out of 81 - as Drive My Car and The Worst Person in the World are nominated this year). This means that on average, 0.88 (so nearly one) international feature receives a nomination in one of the screenplay categories. Already, this year has surpassed that quota with two nominees.

WINNERS

• 1945 - Marie-Louise - nominated against no Best Picture nominees

• 1956 - The Red Balloon - nominated against no Best Picture nominees

• 1962 - Divorce: Italian Style - nominated against no Best Picture nominees

• 1966 - A Man and a Woman - nominated against no Best Picture nominees

• 2002 - Talk to Her - nominated against one Best Picture nominee (Gangs of New York)

• 2019 - Parasite - BEST PICTURE WINNER (one of four Best Picture nominees - Marriage Story, 1917, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood)

Looking at the list of winners, an interesting trend emerges. Only Parasite was also a Best Picture nominee. The first four winners all came from a different time in Oscar history and were not up against any Best Picture nominees. This forced the Academy to be a little bolder with their screenplay prize, awarding an international feature.

Talk to Her is the film that gives The Worst Person in the World hope for Oscar victory. However, there are a few other elements that Talk to Her had going for it that The Worst Person in the World does not have. The first is that Talk to Her director Pedro Almodovar was nominated for Best Director. The second is that Almodovar’s script was up against only one other Best Picture nominee, Gangs of New York. Scorsese’s film has some virtues, but they are mostly in Daniel Day-Lewis’ performances and the directing. Its script was never thought of as the crowning achievement of that film. Thirdly, the year 2002 only had five Best Picture nominees, while this year had ten. Had there been ten nominees for Best Picture in 2002, Talk to Her likely would have made it into the lineup.

Number of Screenplay Nominations by Country of Production

It’s no secret that Oscar has their favorite countries when it comes to International Features. It turns out the Writers branch is no different. They heavily favor French and Italian films, when it comes to giving out nominations in the screenplay categories. However, that doesn’t actually translate into wins. Switzerland, Spain and South Korea all saw their films win a Screenplay Oscar the first time they found themselves in that category. This gives hope to both Drive My Car and The Worst Person in the World, as neither Norway or Japan have seen a film of theirs compete in the screenplay category.

Number of Screenplay Nominations for International Features by Decade

Yes, Parasite’s dominance in 2019 was a breakthrough. However, recent years have not been as kind to International Films in the screenplay categories. In addition to Parasite, only three other international features were nominated in the screenplay categories in the 2010s - A Separation, Amour and Roma. This is more than 50% down from the 2000s, when nine international features cracked the screenplay lineups. 

Their heyday for international films in the screenplay categories were the 50s, 60s and 70s, mostly because the writers branch had certain filmmakers they just adored. Federico Fellini was nominated for eight writing Oscars (in addition to four directing Oscars and four wins for Best Foreign Language Film). Close behind him was Ingmar Bergman with five writing nominations (plus three directing nominations and three wins for Best Foreign Language Film). It just goes to show, when the Oscars fall for you, they fall hard.

So can Drive My Car or The Worst Person in the World win in screenplay this year? The odds are against them, but it is not impossible. Stats would suggest that Drive My Car has the advantage, but Adapted Screenplay has stronger competition. Meanwhile, Original Screenplay has two soft frontrunners (Licorice Pizza and Belfast) that could help a passion vote surprise win. If either win, it will mark the third decade in a row with an International Feature claiming victory in a Screenplay race. Hopefully the trend will continue where International cinema is considered in other categories outside of Best International Feature.

Do you think Drive My Car or The Worst Person in the World have a shot in the Screenplay races? Let us know in the comments below.

Comments

[Finbar McBride]

I feel we should note that eight of these 83 screenplay nominations were awarded to Federico Fellini. The prolific Italian was recognized for Rome, Open City (1947); Paisan (1950); La Strada (1957); I Vitelloni (1958); La Dolce Vita (1962); 8 1/2 (1964); Amarcord (1976); and Fellini’s Casanova (1977). Fellini never won an Oscar, though he was presented an honorary Oscar in 1993.

Only three men equaled or exceeded Fellini’s achievement in screenwriting. John Huston won for one of his eight nominations. Billy Wilder won for three of his 12 nominations. Woody Allen won for three of his unparalleled 16 screenplay nominations.