2008 Oscar Preview- Screenplays

Adapted Screenplay
Who’s Nominated: Atonement, Away From Her, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood

Who’s Missing: Its tough for the Academy to acknowledge great films that are sequels but once again The Bourne Ultimatum gets the screw. Compiled from various Robert Ludlum works the movie gives Jason Bourne his most interesting script to date. It takes a great screenwriter to make a film so engrossing despite the fact that its biggest star and best actor plays most of the scenes with little or no dialogue.

Who Should Win: I have a hard time with this, as the Adapted Screenplay category often presents a conundrum. Should a script that follows its original material to such an exact measure be recognized or should a script that takes an existing idea and then creates a whole new world get the recognition? This year I’m going with the latter as There Will Be Blood is one of the finest examples of a screenwriting I’ve ever seen. Paul Thomas Anderson pulled in a few stray ideas from Oil! by Upton Sinclair, and then created the rest of his screenplay upon them. I think the character of Daniel Plainview is one of the greatest ever committed to paper and that alone makes this screenplay the best for me.

Who Will Win: I feel like this could be Atonement's major win but the praise that No Country for Old Men has received prior to the Oscars makes me think it’ll get the win. The original piece of fiction by Cormac McCarthy certainly gave the Coen brothers a good start but they deserve a ton of credit for knowing where and when to trim pieces from the original.

Original Screenplay
Who’s Nominated: Juno, Lars and the Real Girl, Michael Clayton, Ratatouille, The Savages

Who’s Missing: With the heavies in the screenplay categories bottled up in the Adapted category I actually had a hard time coming up with a missing nominee for Original and so it would seem did the Academy given the wide range of nominees. If forced to pick though, I’m going to go with Judd Apatow for Knocked Up. Sure its not a cinematic masterpiece and I certainly don’t think it should win an Oscar but given that his films dominated theaters this past year he should receive some kind of recognition. Knocked Up along with Superbad have made adult comedies worth while and relevant again in an age where special f/x movies dominate our cultural landscape.

Who Should Win: When I saw Michael Clayton, I was struck by how crafty the screenplay was in that it took the trappings of a legal drama such and quietly played with those conventions until we were left with a legitimate thriller. This is no small task and one I think deserves the win.

Who Will Win: Juno is the darling film of this year’s awards but like most darling films I believe it will rack up many nominations but walk away with few statues. This category though seems tailor made for the film as it would give Juno a major win and acknowledge one of this year’s greatest stories in Diablo Cody.