The Screengrab : writers' guild of america

Despised, Powerless Screenwriters Announce WGA Award Nominees!

Andrew Osborne — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Screenwriters aren't exactly the most glamorous bunch in the Hollywood pantheon, so forgive me for bribing you with this image of the muy atractivas Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson to announce the Writer's Guild nominees for best scripts of the 2008 movie season.

But this is not a completely gratuitious Johansson-ing: Woody Allen's script for Vicky Cristina Barcelona is one of five in contention for the WGA's Best Original Screenplay Award.

See you after the jump for the rest of the noddage!

(P.S. -- A nod for the underwritten father/daughter relationship of The Wrestler over all those wedding rehearsal dinner speeches in Rachel Getting Married? Discuss.)

2009 WRITERS GUILD AWARD NOMINATIONS

Original Screenplay
Burn After Reading, Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Focus Features
Milk, Written by Dustin Lance Black, Focus Features
Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Written by Woody Allen, The Weinstein Company
The Visitor, Written by Tom McCarthy, Overture Films
The Wrestler, Written by Robert Siegel, Fox Searchlight Pictures

Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Screenplay by Eric Roth; Screen Story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord; Based on the Short Story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures
The Dark Knight, Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan; Story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer; Based on Characters Appearing in Comic Books Published by DC Comics; Batman Created by Bob Kane, Warner Bros. Pictures
Doubt, Screenplay by John Patrick Shanley, Based on his Stage Play, Miramax Films
Frost/Nixon, Screenplay by Peter Morgan, Based on his Stage Play, Universal Pictures
Slumdog Millionaire, Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy, Based on the Novel Q and A by Vikas Swarup, Fox Searchlight Pictures

Documentary Screenplay
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story, Written by Stefan Forbes and Noland Walker, InterPositive Media
Chicago 10, Written by Brett Morgen, Roadside Attractions
Fuel, Written by Johnny O'Hara, Greenlight Theatrical / Intention Media
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Screenplay by Alex Gibney, From the Words of Hunter S. Thompson, Magnolia Pictures
Waltz with Bashir, Written by Ari Folman, Sony Pictures Classics

Afternoon Deal Report: Strike is Over! (If You Want It)

Peter Smith — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:15:00 GMT

The Writers' Guild strike is over at last, and we all breathe a sigh of relief.

Steven Spielberg has pulled out of his role as artistic advisor to the Beijing Olympics, in an attempt to pressure the Chinese government into pressuring the Sudanese government (which profits enormously in oil sales to China) into ending the genocide. Undoubtedly, he's also responding to pressure from his own humanitarian critics, including Mia Farrow, who apparently warned him he could be compared to Leni Reifenstahl if he went ahead. Pressure all around, but if it pushes China to act, it's all for the good.

I love that Ashton Kutcher produces stuff. Nothing signifies quality and refinement like the Kutcher imprimatur, right? In any case, he's currently producing and starring (with Jennifer Jason Leigh) in the sex comedy Spread.

The line between History Channel programming and action film grows ever thinner, as Fox announces a deal to adapt the History Channel series Ice Road Truckers into a summer crash-bang-boom picture.

Morning Deal Report: To Hell With Ellen Page

Peter Smith — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:15:00 GMT

It girl Ellen Page will star in Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell. Drag Me to Hell sounds kind of cool — it's said to be Raimi's return to his budget-horror roots after a decade of blockbuster work.

Stephen Frears's next film is Cheri, an adaptation of the French novel. It'll star Michelle Pfeiffer, reteaming Frears with his Dangerous Liaisons star.

The writers' strike could end Wednesday, depending how its members vote on a possible settlement tomorrow night. No settlement probably means no Oscars at this point — a possibility that has a certain appeal. But let's hope it's over, for the sake of the writers and their coworkers.

Afternoon Deal Report: No Oscar Party for Vanity Fair

Peter Smith — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:30:00 GMT

Vanity Fair has cancelled its traditional Oscar night party in support of the striking WGA (perhaps hoping to provoke more Maggie Gyllenhaal Lesbian Orgies[TM]).

Casey Affleck will play an amnesiac mobster in love with his sadistic boss's girlfriend, in the Depression-era noir The Kind One.

Remake of Fritz Lang's 1956 thriller Beyond a Reasonable Doubt to star Michael Douglas, Amber Tamblyn and Jesse Metcalfe.

Globes Without Glitter

Phil Nugent — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:43:00 GMT

The 65th annual Golden Globes were announced last night, getting the awards season off to a wobbly start. After much speculation about whether No Country for Old Men or There Will Be Blood might be the front runner as the Oscar race heats up, the Golden Globe for Best Drama went to the Ian McEwan adaptation Atonement, a sturdy vote for respectable literary source material, period romance, and clipped accents in these confusing times. (Another perceived front-runner competition that's been heating up movie message boards, the one between Julie Christie in and Marion Cotillard in Ma Vie en Rose, was effectively defused in this round by the Globes' method of breaking up its movie categories into as many different sub-categories as possible: Christie won the award for Best Actress in a Drama, Cotillard won for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy.) Daniel Day-Lewis did won for Best Actor in a Drama for his work in There Will Be Blood, while No Country took home prizes for Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem) and for its Coen brothers screenplay. The Best Director award went to Julian Schabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which also won for Best Foreign Language Film. Rounding out the big winners were Sweeney Todd (Best Musical or Comedy) and its star, Johnny Depp (Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy), Cate Blanchett (Best Supporting Actress for I'm Not There), and Ratatouille (Best Animated Feature Film).

Of course, as the strike by the Writers' Guild of America drags on into its third month, the big question was whether there would be any awards ceremony or not. NBC, which had the rights to this year's presentation, grimly held to its plans to broadcast something, but it wasn't until last Friday that it was announced that union picketers would not show up to protest the event. By that time, most celebrities who might otherwise have attended had made other plans. The awards were given out, but in a press-conference-style format presided over by announcers from entertainment-news shows such as and Inside Edition. The winners will have news of their glad tidings duly Incorporated into the ads for those movies that are still playing, but the general feeling is that, compared to the impact of previous years' awards ceremonies, the whole thing was a wash. Daniel Battsek, president of Miramax Films, laments that "you can’t replace having the clips and the people who made the films on television. It’s impossible to predict the impact of the lack of a full-on ceremony. But we are all in the same boat. No one will get an advantage.”