Writers Guild Award Nominations Include ‘Perks’ and ‘Looper’
They are who we thought they were. Coach Green’s famous rant about the Chicago Bears football team can be applied to the Writers Guild Award nominees, as there were just about zero surprises. With scripts from films like Django Unchained, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Les Mis, and Amour being ruled ineligible, it cut the group of deserving nominees down considerably. So while The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Looper seem like surprise nominees, they were, in fact, not. Have a look at the full list of noms after the jump.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Flight
Written by John Gatins
Looper
Written by Rian Johnson
The Master
Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
Moonrise Kingdom
Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty
Written by Mark Boal
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Argo
Screenplay by Chris Terrio; Based on a selection from The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez and the Wired Magazine article “The Great Escape” by Joshuah Bearman
Life of Pi
Screenplay by David Magee; Based on the novel by Yann Martel
Lincoln
Screenplay by Tony Kushner; Based in part on the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Screenplay by Stephen Chbosky; Based on his own novel
Silver Linings Playbook
Screenplay by David O. Russell; Based on the novel by Matthew Quick
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
The Central Park Five
Written by Sarah Burns and David McMahon and Ken Burns
The Invisible War
Written by Kirby Dick
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God
Written by Alex Gibney
Searching for Sugar Man
Written by Malik Bendejelloul
We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists
Written by Brian Knappenberger
West of Memphis
Written by Amy Berg & Billy McMillin
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JamDenTel
January 4, 2013 at 2:18 pm
Flight? Are you kidding me? That uneven, heavy-handed mess was worth a nomination?
JamDenTel(Quote) (Reply)
JamDenTel
January 4, 2013 at 2:19 pm
And don’t even get me started on Life of Pi.
JamDenTel(Quote) (Reply)
Joey Magidson
January 4, 2013 at 2:24 pm
Give or take Flight and one of Life of Pi/Perks, this could very well be the Oscar lineup…
Joey Magidson(Quote) (Reply)
JamDenTel
January 4, 2013 at 2:46 pm
I’m holding out hope for Seven Psychopaths and//or Wreck-It Ralph, or really any of this year’s great animated films…
JamDenTel(Quote) (Reply)
steve
January 4, 2013 at 3:09 pm
maybe the master isn’t on life support…? one can hope.
steve(Quote) (Reply)
Roberto Hevia
January 4, 2013 at 6:16 pm
Great to see Looper’s script on the list
Roberto Hevia(Quote) (Reply)
UBourgeois
January 4, 2013 at 8:23 pm
Life of Pi over Beasts or The Sessions? Not that Pi is badly-written, but still.
Flight, on the other hand…
UBourgeois(Quote) (Reply)
Divya
January 4, 2013 at 11:22 pm
Am I being insulting if I say that I hadn’t even heard of ‘Flight’ till now? Also, I get the feeling that this might not exactly be what the Academy will have in mind on Thursday. Some of those ineligible scripts could be very much get nominated, so it’s not exactly the end of the road for them. The screenplay of ‘The King’s Speech’ was also deemed ineligible by the WGA but it went on to win the Oscar.
Also, a WGA nod does NOT always mean an Oscar nod. Remember, last year, the screenplay for ‘The Help’ was considered to be a strong contender for Adapted Screenplay, but it did not even get nominated for the Oscar, whereas ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’, which was largely ignored elsewhere, actually received a nomination for Adapted Screenplay.
And finally, some much needed guild attention for ‘The Master’ (I was beginning to worry it was going to fizzle out). Here’s something else I realized – since the order of the announcement of the Oscar nominees is known (supp actress, supp actor, lead actress, lead actor), I get the feeling that if Amy Adams gets nominated, Joaquin Phoenix’s nomination is completely assured (in which case Hugh Jackman will definitely miss out). I get the feeling that SAG missed out on a trick or two by leaving out Phoenix.
Divya(Quote) (Reply)
r0ckmypants
January 4, 2013 at 11:28 pm
How have you not heard of Flight? Denzel has been nominated for every major award for his performance.
r0ckmypants(Quote) (Reply)
r0ckmypants
January 4, 2013 at 11:24 pm
I don’t get what you think is so surprising about these nominees, Mark… even with the ineligibilities you listed. Each category is only one nominee off from Clayton’s Oscar predictions, which include both “surprises” you mentioned.
r0ckmypants(Quote) (Reply)
Mark Johnson
January 5, 2013 at 7:05 am
What part of “there were just about zero surprises” and “while The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Looper seem like surprise nominees, they were, in fact, not” made you think I was surprised by these choices? Just sayin’.
Mark Johnson(Quote) (Reply)
r0ckmypants
January 5, 2013 at 12:39 pm
The fact that you felt the need to mention that Looper and Perks seemed like surprise nominees. If they were not surprises, why mention it at all?
r0ckmypants(Quote) (Reply)