OVP: Best Adapted Screenplay (2002)
The Nominees Were...
Peter Hedges, Chris Weitz, & Paul Weitz, About a Boy
Charlie Kaufman & Donald Kaufman, Adaptation
Bill Condon, Chicago
David Hare, The Hours
Ronald Harwood, The Pianist
My Thoughts: Heading right into the adapted screenplay category, you see a change-of-pace here compared to what we'd think of this category today. Because of the expanded fields, both the original & adapted races almost always feature a wide swath of Best Picture nominees. Prior to 2009, though, with only five nominees for Best Picture, at least one of those categories was largely films outside of the race. In 2002 (and for most of the 1990's & 2000's) best adapted would take on the Best Picture mantle while original got creative. Here we have three Best Picture nominees, one film that was clearly in the running (and would've made it in an expanded field given its trio of acting nominations as well as its mention here), and a film that comes totally out-of-the-blue, to the point where there are apocryphal legends about its citation.
About a Boy is perhaps the weirdest nomination of 2002, not because it's necessarily bad, but because it is such a weird citation, a coming-of-age comedy about a grown man befriending a boy and changing both their lives. It wasn't even listed in predictions articles at the time, to the point where there were online rumors at the time that the authors (then most famous for creating the raunchy sex comedy American Pie) only got in because older members of the Academy confused it with About Schmidt (given its precursor haul, this doesn't seem exactly fair, though it is amusing), the surprise miss of this group. The film itself is fine. It's not breaking new ground with the screenplay, telling a story we've seen many times in film, and more of the charm here comes not from the script itself but from the chemistry between Hugh Grant & a young Nicolas Hoult, which is a victory for the casting department, not the writers.
It's a testament to how strong Chicago was in the 2002 Oscar races that it got a mention here, given that musicals historically struggle to be included in the writing categories. The film's script is solid, particularly some of the ribald double entendres that Zellweger, Zeta-Jones, & Latifah get to utter throughout the movie, and unlike other movies of this nature, we at least get consistency in the "staged" musical idea. I will admit, though, that the story itself never feels quite right for Billy Flynn, and I think takes one too many detours. This is being picky for the sake of Oscar, I'll point out (this is overall one of the stronger lineups Oscar pulled together), but it is there.
The Pianist, in my opinion, does a better job in the long line structure of its movie, with our main character moving into a slow decline, and weirdly juxtaposing with another man (a Nazi who feeds him & doesn't tell his whereabouts) who is about to start a similar decrescendo. The dialogue here isn't quite as memorable as Chicago or The Hours, but the story structure is very strong. I think focusing exclusively on one man's journey, and also how the world sort of devolves around him, him never quite being able to get a grip of his own surroundings in this horrifying tale of genocide...it's one of the most harrowing tales of the Holocaust ever put to film.
The Hours is a book I've actually read (the only of these five where I've read the source material), and that might make me a little biased just because I know how difficult it is to adapt. This is one of those novels that people at the time said was "unfilmable" and yet it kind of feels destined for the movies in the way that it is presented onscreen. The best part of this is the way we see both subtle and not so subtle overlap between the three stories. Everything from sexual experimentation to buying flowers to ultimately more serious issues like loss, regret, and suicide start to take on different guises, giving us insights into how the three main women are the same and how they differ. On top of that, the movie is endlessly quotable ("Richmond is death" "we stay alive for each other...that's what we do" "come to bed Laura Brown"), a quintessential ingredient for top-flight screenplay.
Our final nominee is Adaptation, the most "writerly" of these five, and one of three nominations Charlie Kaufman got from 1999-2004, his heyday with the Academy. I will admit to post-Eternal Sunshine Kaufman being not my thing (it's too eccentric, too close to "weird for the sake of weird" for my taste), but I was a fan at the time, and a recent revisit of Adaptation underlined that for me. I think that Kaufman gets a bit too in-love with his own meta concepts in the middle, particularly the "Charlie & Donald" sequences, but there are some really beautiful bits, particularly when it comes to Streep's Susan Orlean going through her writerly process that I found well constructed.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes combine their writing categories so there is no adapted or original distinction, but in a sign of how Best Picture-focused this category was, adapted dominated in their lineup, with About Schmidt winning against Chicago, Adaptation, and The Hours. BAFTA splits his nominations where we had Adaptation atop About a Boy, Catch Me If You Can, The Hours, and The Pianist while the WGA put The Hours above About a Boy, About Schmidt, Adaptation, and Chicago. In terms of sixth place, in my opinion, there's no question here-About Schmidt is exactly the sort of thing that gets nominated for a writing statue, and its miss is one of the bigger mysteries of the 2002 Oscars.
Films I Would Have Nominated: Like I said, this is a pretty good list, so there's not a lot to complain about here even if there's improvements to be made. Toward the top of the list would be including Catch Me If You Can, which is such a spry flick that balances its cheekier comedy bits with its late dramatic tones surprisingly well. I personally think it showcases Leonardo DiCaprio's best bit of acting, and the script is the perfect match for his star quality.
Oscar's Choice: In what was a genuinely close race, The Pianist upset on Oscar night against heavier favorites The Hours and Adaptation.
My Choice: Not a hard one for me-this is The Hours all-the-way. I think the way that its structured is mesmerizing, and in an era where multi-story all-star bonanzas were kind of the rage, this was easily the best of the bunch. Behind it is The Pianist, followed by Chicago, Adaptation, and About a Boy (close race between those last three).
Those are my thoughts-what about you? Do you want to go with Oscar's epic The Pianist or join me in the literary circle alongside The Hours? Why do you think that About a Boy was able to get a nomination against films like About Schmidt and The Two Towers which were much more Oscar's speed in 2002? And do you think Oscar's aversion to musicals in this category is fair? Share your thoughts below!
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