Yesterday we looked at 25 Best Adapted Screenplay. The field here isn’t as big, boasting 17 total contenders right now, but perhaps after looking over the list you’ll think of a couple contenders I may have overlooked.
For the time being my top five is set and at this point they really are the most obvious five though I’m sure the title I have at #6 is one many will believe deserves a spot among the top five early contenders for a nomination.
Let’s take a look at my five and then please share your thoughts in the comments below…
1.) George Clooney and Grant Heslov (Monuments Men) – Clearly my early year favorite is Clooney’s Monuments Men. The World War II setting and the talent involved make it too obvious the choice. That said, I plan on reading Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter‘s “The Monuments Men” next to see just what kind of story we’re talking about here and what level of intrigue is involved. It sounds fascinating on the surface.
As for history, Clooney and Heslov were previously nominated for their screenplays for The Ides of March (shared with Beau Willimon) and Good Night, and Good Luck. So history is also on my side with this prediction.
2.) Dan Futterman and E. Max Frye (Foxcatcher) – Futterman was previously nominated for his Capote screenplay, which Bennett Miller also directed and Frye previously scripted an episode of “Band of Brothers” as well as Jonathan Demme’s raucous crime-comedy Something Wild, the latter of which is probably the best indicator as to what we might expect from Foxcatcher.
Based on the true story of John du Pont (Steve Carell), the paranoid schizophrenic heir to the du Pont chemical fortune who built a wrestling training facility called Team Foxcatcher on his Pennsylvania estate. David Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) was a longtime friend of du Pont who had repeatedly tried to help him before du Pont shot and killed him in 1996. Where the story will begin, where it will end and what happens in-between I don’t know, but there are a lot of good pieces in place to make this a great one.
3.) Terence Winter (The Wolf of Wall Street) – I’ve mentioned several times already how I’m currently reading Jordan Belfort’s autobiography from which the film is based and while it is quite entertaining, after about 150 pages I’m really curious what tone this film will be going for. So far it’s a story about stock brokers, hookers and Quaaludes… What’s it going to be like once the shit hits the fan? I’m anxious to find out. As for Winter, his resume isn’t exactly stacked. He has been writing and executive producing “Boardwalk Empire” and before that “The Sopranos”, but his most notable feature screenplay is 50 Cent’s awful Get Rich or Die Tryin’, which we can hope isn’t a sign of things to come.
4.) Jason Reitman (Labor Day) – Hard to count out Reitman right? Nominated for an Oscar with Sheldon Turner for Up In the Air and a lot of respect for his Thank You For Smoking screenplay before that… both of which were adaptations. Labor Day is based on Joyce Maynard’s novel of the same name and we’ll see if he can wow us once again with this coming-of-age story.
5.) Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke (Before Midnight) – My most anticipated film of the year and one attached to a franchise where the last installment, Before Sunset, was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2005. Early word on this third film is solid and I’m going to be seeing it for myself very, very soon and hope after I do so it remains a strong contender.
Like I said, there are a total of 17 contenders in the Best Adapted Screenplay category at this point and you can check out the other 12 right here.
Again I’ll note, if you don’t have a free RopeofSilicon account you may want to register for one. Later this year, all contenders below the Bubble Line and not among my projected nominees will only be visible to logged in and registered members of the site. In addition to that, beginning April 1, 2013 you will need to be a registered and logged-in member of the site to comment.
So if you haven’t registered yet, you may as well do so now. It only takes a second.
