The guilds are beginning to weigh in as we head into the final stretch of the awards race, and today it’s the Writers Guild of America’s turn. The WGA nominations are tricky because A. Every year major films are deemed ineligible due to strict WGA rules and B. The WGA loves to throw a wild card into the bunch. Both things are true this year—Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, Victoria & Abdul, and Darkest Hour were ruled ineligible, and Logan made a surprise nominee for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Fox has been serious about its awards play for Logan, and while I’m dubious of its larger prospects at the Oscars, this WGA nod is a very nice recognition of the ballsy X-Men movie. The screenplay by Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green is pretty terrific.
The other big surprise is also a Fox movie—The Post was snubbed. Liz Hannah and Josh Singer’s screenplay is a favorite to potentially win the Oscar, but the WGA left the Steven Spielberg film out in the cold. A harbinger of things to come or simply an oddity? We’ll find out in a few weeks, but it’s certainly curious.
Elsewhere Get Out and Lady Bird continue their domination, Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon are official nominees for The Big Sick, and Netflix continues to fare quite well with a WGA nod for Virgil Williams and Dee Rees’ Mudbound. A big question I have is whether Aaron Sorkin will get snubbed at the Oscars again, after being left out for his tremendous Steve Jobs screenplay. Molly's Game, while entertaining, isn't exactly as flashy or impressive as that or The Social Network.
Check out the full list of WGA nominees below. The awards will be held on February 11th.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Big Sick, Written by Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani; Amazon Studios
Get Out, Written by Jordan Peele; Universal Pictures
I, Tonya, Written by Steven Rogers; Neon
Lady Bird, Written by Greta Gerwig; A24
The Shape of Water, Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor; Story by Guillermo del Toro; Fox Searchlight
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Call Me by Your Name, screenplay by James Ivory; based on the novel by André Aciman; Sony Pictures Classics
The Disaster Artist, screenplay by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber; based on the book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside the Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell; A24
Logan, screenplay by Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green; story by James Mangold; based on characters from the X-Men Comic Books and Theatrical Motion Pictures; Twentieth Century Fox Film
Molly's Game, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin; Based on the Book by Molly Bloom; STX Entertainment
Mudbound, Screenplay by Virgil Williams and Dee Rees; Based on the Novel by Hillary Jordan; Netflix
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Betting on Zero, Written by Theodore Braun; Gunpowder & Sky
Jane, Written by Brett Morgen; National Geographic
No Stone Unturned, Written by Alex Gibney; Abramorama
Oklahoma City, Written by Barak Goodman; American Experience Films
