Categories One-By-One: Original Screenplay

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FilmFan720
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Re: Categories One-By-One: Original Screenplay

Post by FilmFan720 »

Midnight in Paris, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine and Shakespeare in Love are all about as "broad" as The Grand Budapest Hotel, and their humor and jokes were a huge part of each winning. It's not like The Grand Budapest Hotel is a Judd Apatow film...
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nightwingnova
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Re: Categories One-By-One: Original Screenplay

Post by nightwingnova »

This is a tough one. Budapest has dominated the precursors. But I can't find any example from the past quarter century of the Academy honoring a comedy as broad as Budapest in this category.

This is one of the most difficult contests to predict because there have been no clear trends. Sometimes they choose the one with the most original idea such as The Crying Game and Her over hits with critical acclaim Unforgiven and American Hustle. Sometimes outstanding innovative films such as Memento and The Sixth Sense lose out to more serious fare such as Gosford Park and American Beauty. Or middle-brow social message movies such as Philadelphia lose out to art house fare such as The Piano. And then a critics' favorite such as Boogie Nights lose out to the middle-brow Good Will Hunting. And then there was the year where one of two Spanish-language screenplays won.

I'm going with the more serious Birdman. ;)
Mister Tee
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Re: Categories One-By-One: Original Screenplay

Post by Mister Tee »

Many thanks to you, and the others who've made these category threads go this season. I've had an unusually tight schedule this year, and haven't been able to keep up my end.

Agreed that Boyhood has the "it feels improvised" handicap, though it may not be the case. This is a clear toss-up, which could go, with best picture centrifugal force, to Birdman, or to the "let's honor the auteur" candidate, Grand Budapest. Is it The Hurt Locker over Inglourious Basterds, or Sideways over Million Dollar Baby?

Like you, I'm pleased not to know.
dws1982
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Categories One-By-One: Original Screenplay

Post by dws1982 »

Quickly...because there's not much time:
Movies don't win this category when they don't get any other nominations, so that would rule out Nightcrawler. It's the classic type of movie the writer's branch often embraces but the rest of the membership ignores. Foxcatcher has a fairly impressive nomination tally, but it's too divisive to win here, plus it's not really high on the kind of memorable dialogue or story beats you'd expect. (I also think it's attempt at being an American Tragedy is a little broad and overdone, myself.) Boyhood kind of has the vibe that tends to accompany a lot of Linklater's films--that it's not very plot-driven, that it's more improvised than "written"--and that'll probably hurt it here. Between Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel, it's hard to choose. Birdman won the Globe for Screenplay but then got upset by Grand Budapest a few minutes later for the Comedy/Musical Award. Since then it's been Grand Budapest beating Birdman at the BAFTA's, and winning at the WGA Awards, where Birdman was ineligible.

So what wins? Tough category, one of the closest of several close races tonight. Birdman and Grand Budapest are both within the range of what they tend to honor here and they both have some of the "right" awards going into tonight. I'm leaning towards Grand Budapest, but I'm not at all confident. And I think that's a GOOD thing.
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