OVP: Best Adapted Screenplay (2001)
The Nominees Were...
Akiva Goldsman, A Beautiful Mind
Daniel Clowes & Terry Zwigoff, Ghost World
Rob Festinger & Todd Field, In the Bedroom
Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, & Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, & Roger SH Schulman, Shrek
My Thoughts: Like I pointed out in Best Original Screenplay, if you were looking for Best Picture nominees, this is where you were going to find them. Three of the films cited here were in the Best Picture race, and to be honest a fourth was darn close. That of course means, in theory, that the category was competitive, but in practice it was not. Despite rewrites of history that might peg this as closer than it was given how well Peter Jackson's JRR Tolkien epic has aged, this was not a contest, and Akiva Goldman won it in a landslide.
Goldman's script, it has to be said, is not the worst. Something happens to you when you win an Oscar that pretty much everyone in retrospect agrees you shouldn't have, and part of that cycle of shame is that people misremember how good your movie is. A Beautiful Mind is a good movie, and the script works pretty well. I think that the soliloquies are well-constructed (I quote Connelly's "I have to believe that something real is possible" line at least once a week, which may say something about my personal life but that's an article for a different day), and it incorporates scientific theory without it feeling overbearing or confusing. The love story isn't as well-written as it needs to be (and the glossing over Nash's real-life bisexuality feels tacky decades later, especially as it is very briefly hinted at so I think it's fair to criticize the script's handling of it), but this wouldn't be an embarrassing win were it not for the competition.
That competition includes, of course, the adaptation of JRR Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring. In the next nine months, I will be rereading The Hobbit and reading Tolkien's trilogy for the first time, so I'm just going off of anecdotes here, but from what I've gleaned this is a really remarkable adaptation given how prescriptive & poetry-driven the source novels are. It comes across beautifully in the picture, with the narration at the front feeling hallowed rather than expositional (and it could've easily been the latter), and the way that a movie with over a dozen characters doesn't confuse the audience with too much at once (despite the film not having a lot of well-known actors at the time). Throw in some magnificent speeches & dialogue, and you've got a masterpiece.
In the Bedroom is the third Best Picture of the group, and is really wonderful. There was a trend at this point to talk about the "what lies beneath the surface of the suburbs" in movies (there was literally a film called What Lies Beneath the year before that did just that), and this is one of those films where you don't entirely know the characters at the beginning of the picture, and what they're capable of becoming. The way that it unfolds, with hidden truths springing from our main couple after unspeakable tragedy befalls them, and how they can find a place together after it, is bold & surprising...words you wouldn't guess at first for a family drama.
Ghost World is the only one of these films that didn't get nominated in any other categories (it was close for Supporting Actor), and therefore you generally know that the screenplay is the star when this branch is the only one calling. It's a movie that, for much of the first half, I wasn't feeling-it felt too suspended from reality, and needlessly cruel in its perspective. But the movie works because of the ending, which is staggering & melancholy in a way that I didn't expect heading into the picture. That's on the script (and Thora Birch's timing as a young woman who doesn't see the potential her youth gives her in the way the other, older characters, understand it), and I give kudos where they're due-it finishes well.
Which brings us to Shrek. This is a movie I have a complicated relationship with, because it does have good elements, and some of them come from the script. Eddie Murphy's voiceover work as the Donkey is sensational, funny & full of the quick-wit that the comedian has been known for in movies & television for years. But it's also brimming with dated pop culture references, gross-out humor, and charmless nonsense from Mike Myers. I lived through this sensation-I know what a big deal Shrek was at the time. That doesn't mean I condone it.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes combine their writing categories so there is no adapted or original distinction, and in 2001 only one nominee was adapted, A Beautiful Mind (but it did win). A Beautiful Mind also took the WGA Award, taking out Black Hawk Down, Bridget Jones's Diary, Ghost World, and The Fellowship of the Ring while the BAFTA's went with Shrek against A Beautiful Mind, Bridget Jones's Diary, Iris, and The Fellowship of the Ring. In sixth place, I feel pretty confident in guessing Bridget Jones even if Iris & Black Hawk Down both had better Oscar runs. It's hard to underscore what a big deal this novel was at the time (pretty much everyone read it, including me), and it was one of those event books that oftentimes got nominated in this category.
Films I Would Have Nominated: Taking over where Kubrick left off, it's hard not to be impressed with what Steven Spielberg brings (from both directors) to AI: Artificial Intelligence.
Oscar's Choice: Oscar went with its Best Picture winner atop its second place Best Picture contender, The Fellowship of the Ring.
My Choice: I am not denying Peter Jackson anything-it gets the gold for me. Behind it, I'll go In the Bedroom, A Beautiful Mind, Ghost World, and Shrek, in that order.
Those are my thoughts-what about you? Are you with me that this is the start of an epic story of hobbits & elves, or do you want to get into the magical mind of John Nash? What do you think of that truly out-of-character victory for Shrek at the BAFTA's? And how do you think Ghost World pulled off a surprise against expected contender Bridget Jones? Share your thoughts below!
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