Oscar Nominations came out yesterday. While perusing the list, I found myself looking at the nominations for best adapted screen play and wondering what exactly those screenplays were adapted from.Here’s what I found out.
Before Midnight, written by Richard Linklater, Julie Dephie, & Ethan Hawke
This adaptation was the hardest to figure out. The movie used original characters, in an original situation, with original dialogue. So why is it considered an adaptation? The answer is because as a sequel it borrows from the storyline of the 1995 film Before Sunrise. If you are still confused this article explains the situation better than me.
Captain Phillips, written by Billy Ray
This movie was adapted from the book A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea, by Richard Phillips and Stephan Talty.
Philomena, written by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
“Philomena” was adapted from just a few pages of the nonfiction novel The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, by Martin Sixsmiths. According to some articles the movie comes from pages 439 to 454 to be exact.
12 Years a Slave, written by John Ridley
This film was adapted from a memoir of the same name written by Solomon Northrop, a free black man who was kidnapped, sold into slavery, and kept in bondage for twelve years.
The Wolf of Wall Street, written by Terence Winter
This movie was also adapted from a memoir by the same name, written by Jordan Belfort.
So those are the sources the best adapted screenplays were adapted from. Isn’t it interesting (and kind of sad) that none of them came from fiction? Also, do you have an opinion on which film should win the award? Let me know in the comments.
Alison Doherty 
It is perhaps a sign of the times that the fiction being adapted for screen is generally drawn from comic books and graphic novels.
Yeah, that is interesting. I also think that sometimes people think if a film comes from a true story it has more gravitas. I don’t know if this is an overall trend or just a fluke this year.