Countdown to the Oscars: Best Original Screenplay

Jake Gyllenhaal and Renee Russo star in writer-director Dan Gilroy's Oscar-nominated Nightcrawler.

Each day as we make our way to the Academy Awards ceremony Feb. 22, Last Cinema Standing will take an in-depth look at each of the categories, sorting out the highs, the lows, and everything in between. Check back right here for analysis, predictions, and gripes as we inch toward the Dolby Theater and that world-famous red carpet.

Best Original Screenplay

The nominees are:

Birdman, written by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Alexeander Dinelaris, Armando Bo, and Nicolás Giacobone

Boyhood, written by Richard Linklater

Foxcatcher, written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman

The Grand Budapest Hotel, written by Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness

Nightcrawler, written by Dan Gilroy

Some of my favorite nominations each year come in the Original Screenplay category. While the whole Academy might not embrace the strangeness of some of the year’s most out-there films, the writers’ branch has no such difficulty. It sometimes takes a writer to recognize the challenge of writing, and if you want a quick rundown of the best films in any given year, a look through the Best Original Screenplay nominees will give you a pretty good starting point.

Just in the last decade, some of the great films that could not find traction in Best Picture but snuck in as screenplay nominees include Match Point, In Bruges, Margin Call, and The Savages. This is the category that made Oscar winners of films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Chinatown, and Citizen Kane. Original Screenplay is home to the kind of outside-the-box thinking that would serve the rest of the Academy well.

Still, when it comes to the win, the whole Academy votes, and they are as susceptible as always to their preconceived notions and general tendencies. Best Picture nominees tend to dominate. In fact, the last film to win without a corresponding Best Picture nomination was the aforementioned Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in 2004. If it is a possible winner, so much the better. This year, three of the five nominees are also nominated in Best Picture, and two are likely battling it out for the win.

Birdman – This is the best script of the year, hands down. Nothing else is as insightful, cutting, and damn entertaining as the Hollywood takedown written by a talented group of veritable outsiders, Iñárritu, Dinelaris, Bo, and Giacobone. Though dialogue-heavy, the film moves at the speed of light as characters go in and out of rooms, go on and come off stage, and twist and turn through a film that is light on plot but big on themes of art and artistry, love, respect, and truth.

It is a lot to cover in a two-hour film, but Birdman never feels overstuffed. The best part is that it is about self-serious characters, which means that anytime the script starts to dip into self-congratulatory reverie, someone is there to point out how full of shit it all is. While many words have been written about the meta-textual meaning of Michael Keaton, a former Batman, playing an aging actor who played Birdman, a Batman-like superhero, that is not even the most interesting meta-angle of the story.

The script serves as its own commentary on itself, and somehow, the writers find a way to have their cake and eat it, too. Riggan Thompson (Keaton) is seen as a joke, and everyone treats him that way, but he weathers the critiques in the pursuit of accomplishing something real and true. The script, while giving voice to its own detractors, takes Thompson seriously, and though it satirizes and pokes fun at the whole world of self-aggrandizing art and artists, it is as serious a consideration of its themes as you are ever likely to find.

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Anderson and Guinness’ story is a frothy confection, not unlike one of their characters’ famous baked goods. It is a jaunty ride through a fantastical world that is tackling the same problems as ours. Anderson has always specialized in fantasies, but this is the first time the fantasy has hinted at real-world issues such as war and fascism. While Anderson has never shied away from grief in his films, it always feels coated in something sweet. Here, Anderson and Guinness allow the pain to melt away some of the sugar, and the film is better for it.

M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) is another in a long line of eccentric male protagonists in Anderson films, following in the footsteps of the Steve Zissou (Bill Murray in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou), Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman in Rushmore), and Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums), among others. They are all men out of time in one regard or another, and they all stretch the boundaries of audience credulity. Fiennes brings to the role a degree of humanity that is rarely on the page in Anderson films, and if Anderson and Guinness win their first Oscars, it will be in part because Fiennes was able to elevate a good script into something more meaningful.

Boyhood – Linklater has been nominated for this award twice, and this is the closest he has come to winning. If Boyhood were more of an awards juggernaut – like The Hurt Locker or The King’s Speech – he would have a decent shot at taking home this prize, but he might have a better chance in the Picture or Director categories this year. That is less a reflection on Linklater’s script than on how competitive a year this is.

One thing I think that has always hurt Linklater in the screenplay category is how improvisational his films feel. Linklater’s best films are always highly naturalistic and intensely humanistic, featuring the kinds of characters we might run into in our everyday lives. They feel so real that their conversations seem off the cuff, as though they are just living out normal interactions and Linklater happened to point a camera at them and start filming.

That degree of naturalism does not come easily, and Linklater has spent decades developing his craft, delivering with Boyhood perhaps his most humanist take on what it is like to be part of an American family. Every moment, every interaction is scripted and comes from years of dedication. It takes an incredible amount of hard work to make something look this effortless, and few are as good at it as Linklater.

Nightcrawler – I wish this film had caught on more with voters. I truly do. It is a meat-and-potatoes thriller that at the same time serves as a brutal satire of the modern news media. It showed strength with the various crafts guilds and looked like it might be headed to a spot in the Best Picture lineup, but come nomination morning, it found itself shutout everywhere but here. The recognition is well deserved as Gilroy’s script is a marvel, exposing the seediness of a world that cannot help but be attracted to that which should be repulsive.

Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is the embodiment of the worst habits that society encourages and embraces but taken to their logical extreme. Nothing and no one matters if it gets in the way of what he wants. Bloom is to the self-actualization set what Gordon Gekko was to yuppies. He is the villain. We should hate him, but there is a part of us – and not a small part – that wishes we had the guts to be just like him. Gilroy deserves a prize just for shining a light on the darkness buried inside us.

Foxcatcher – This is one of the stranger nominees this year, since movies based on true stories more often than not come from scripts based on books written about those stories. In fact, it was a strange year in general with a number of films based on true events made from original screenplays, including this, Selma, and Mr. Turner. At the same time, Futterman and Frye’s script has a distinctly literary feel to it, mixing the lurid detail of a true-crime novel with the stateliness of a chamber drama – like In Cold Blood by way of Ethan Frome.

The influences makes sense when you remember that two-time Oscar nominee Futterman was previously recognized for his work on director Bennett Miller’s Capote, all about the writing of In Cold Blood. The story of how John du Pont came to be a murderer is the basis for Futterman and Frye’s own true-crime tale. While milking every ounce of suspense and intrigue out of the story, they present the facts as coldly as possible within the icy and unsettling world Miller creates. It is a gamble that pays off beautifully.

The final analysis

This comes down to Birdman vs. The Grand Budapest Hotel, two comedies that are as different from one another as they could possibly be. The Academy, as a whole, likes to feel good, and Anderson’s romp is clearly the feel-good picture of the two. Some of this depends on whether Birdman sweeps or if the Academy spreads the love. If Birdman has the momentum, it will take this. Otherwise, The Grand Budapest Hotel is in the lead, particularly after winning the Writers Guild award last night, though Birdman was ineligible with the guild. Still, my bet is that Anderson wins his first Oscar, recognition that will bring no end of delight to his many supporters.

Will win: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Should win: Birdman

Wish it had been here: Frank

Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel lead Oscar nominations

For people like me, much of the movie-going year leads up to two days: Oscar nominations morning and Academy Awards night. Today was the first of the two, and if you were not up in time to watch, well, the announcement was a bit of a strange one. The Academy was all over the place really, showing a lot of love for a number of films, a little love for some, and next to no love for others that had been expected to do well.

First, here are the nominees for Best Picture, if you missed the announcement:

American Sniper; Birdman; Boyhood; The Grand Budapest Hotel; The Imitation Game; Selma; The Theory of Everything; Whiplash.

My first reaction is that there is not really a clunker in there (full disclosure: I have not seen American Sniper but plan to tonight). There is nothing embarrassing such as Interstellar or Unbroken, though those films showed up in a number of technical categories and deservedly so.

The nomination that stands out the most is the well-deserved recognition for Selma in Best Picture, despite the film missing in virtually every other category. What that means is a number of Academy voters – at least 5 percent per the rules of the nominations process – thought the film overall was the best of the year, but on the micro-level, no one aspect of the production stood out as best or in the top five. It is an odd bit of logic, to say the least. Ava DuVernay missing out on a Best Director nomination for Selma is my biggest disappointment of the morning.

On the flipside of the odd Selma nomination is the odd Foxcatcher omission. Foxcatcher picked up nominations in key categories such as Best Director for Bennett Miller, Best Actor for Steve Carrell, Best Supporting Actor for Mark Ruffalo, and Best Original Screenplay for E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, as well as a Best Make-up nod. However, it missed in the top category. This is the reverse of the Selma situation, meaning Academy members loved the individual parts of Foxcatcher but did not name it their favorite film of the year.

Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel lead the list with nine nominations each (click here to go to the Academy website to check out the full list), while The Imitation Game is close behind with eight. Little surprise there as all three of these films are technical marvels, though The Grand Budapest Hotel got there with no acting nominations, which is unusual.

My favorite nominations of the morning came in the Best Foreign Film category, where my No. 1 movie of the year, Leviathan, was chosen among the nominees, and in the Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Costume categories, where the otherwise-ignored Inherent Vice pulled nominations. I am also delighted by Marion Cotillard’s Best Actress nomination for Two Days, One Night and by Dan Gilroy’s Best Original Screenplay nomination for Nightcrawler.

We have about six weeks to go to the Academy Awards. Right now, Boyhood is your presumed frontrunner, having won the Golden Globe for best drama, as well as a mountain of critics’ awards. Little about this morning’s announcement did anything to change that as Richard Linklater’s film came away with a healthy haul of nominations, chalking up six. Check back here later for more in-depth analysis on the nominations and follow along throughout the season as we make our way to the big night.

Year in Review: Top 10 Quotes

We remember great movie quotes because they are funny or poignant or important, and many of us use our favorites in everyday conversation. There is an art to a great movie line and just a little bit of science. What will tug at the heart strings, tickle the funny bone, or stick in viewers’ minds? There is some calculation to it all. Although, just as often, writers stumble backward into something great.

The quotes that interest me most, however, are not the humorous quips or the bravado-laden boasts. I am intrigued by the individual lines that get at the heart of a film. Sometimes, these lines stick out right away, and other times, it takes a moment’s thought, but when it hits you, it hits you like a ton of bricks. These are the quotes this year that best summed up the soul of the movies in which they appeared, the lines that tell us all we need to know about the characters speaking them and the lives they lead.

10. “It’s just an ordinary pen – looks like a pen, writes like a pen, and listens like a pen.” – from A Most Wanted Man

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s German intelligence officer, Gunther Bachmann, says this to a man he is sending to do his dirty work for him. It speaks directly to the complex worldview of a man whose only job is deception. Bachmann sends many people to do his bidding, but he always believes he is on the side of right, or at least, this is what he has convinced himself. Deception is second nature to him now, including self-deception.

9. “A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing.” – from Birdman

Though never spoken in the film, this line appears on a scrap of paper taped to Riggan Thompson’s (Michael Keaton) dressing-room mirror. For a film about an actor who wants to be taken seriously as an artist in a world where being taken seriously means less and less, it is a bold statement of purpose. The villain of Birdman is the instant-evaluation culture bred by the Internet, a culture that criticizes and dismisses art with all the consideration of a swarm of flies on a fresh carcass. The line reminds us that the swarm does not matter, even if that swarm is us.

8. “This is not only your film.” – from Life Itself

Leave it to Roger Ebert, in his dying days, to sum up the great paradox of documentary filmmaking. Director Steve James is rightly protective of his craft, and Ebert is more than willing to share the struggles of his cancer and treatment, but at the end of the day, the question remains: For whom is this documentary made? For James? For Ebert’s family? For the audience? Once a work of art is completed and submitted for exhibition and scrutiny, it belongs to everyone. Speaking via email, Ebert tells James succinctly that he may be the director, but one day, the film will not belong only to him.

7. “I think forgiveness has been highly underrated.” – from Calvary

When Catholic priest Father James (Brendan Gleeson) says this to his daughter, played by Kelly Reilly, she believes he is asking her for forgiveness, and he is, but it is so much more. The heart of John Michael McDonagh’s slow-burn meditation on faith in a faithless world is forgiveness and who deserves it and who has earned it. Every character in the movie is either seeking forgiveness or committing acts for which they should be forgiven. In one line, Father James summarizes his world view. We all deserve forgiveness, whether or not we have earned it.

6. “I don’t share that interpretation of events.” – from Force Majeure

Force Majeure is about a husband and wife whose marriage has been forever altered by one shared moment, and though they lived that moment together, they did not experience it the same way. Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke) cannot face up to what he has done. He cannot admit it for fear of the blow to his pride, so he denies what he knows to be true. He falls back on trying to sound logical when his protestations are anything but. The film begins with the event, but it tells the story of Tomas coming to grips with the event as it occurred, not as he wishes it had.

5. “It’s like all of life has unfolded before us just so we could stand here and say, ‘Fuck yeah!’” – from Boyhood

The character who says this is not of particular note, but the sentiment may be the epitome of viewer reactions to the film. Boyhood is about life unveiling itself in the little moments, the details, the minutes that pass rather than the years. While we sit and analyze the past and plan for the future, life simply moves forward. The grandest statement Richard Linklater’s film makes is that we should stop analyzing and planning, and instead, maybe we should take a second just to stand here and say, “Fuck yeah.”

4. “On TV, it looks so real.” – from Nightcrawler

Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a man who has not faced reality in some time. He has no goal but to succeed at whatever he may try and by any means necessary. So, he slithers through the Los Angeles night, preying on carnage and selling it to the highest bidder in network news. We know the reality. He does not, and the hyper-sensational news – not too far removed from the world we live in – certainly cannot see the reality. When Bloom tours the news studio, he says this about the fake Los Angeles backdrop behind the desk, but he could just as well be speaking about the news itself.

3. “Nobody is stopping you.” – from Winter Sleep

Said multiple times by multiple characters, the line grows in thematic weight each time someone new utters it, failing to recognize the irony of his statement. Everyone in this movie is stagnating, dreaming of a different, better life, but unmotivated to seek out fulfillment. Instead, they argue and complain and accuse others of being too lazy or too scared to chase after what they want. They are right when they say there is nothing standing in the way, but no one seems to realize this about their own goals. All they would need to do to find out is take a step in the right direction.

2. “So I’m to become a non-entity?” – from Mr. Turner

Art is an ever-evolving medium, bouncing from one inspiration to another and from this stylistic choice to that. The worst fate I can imagine befalling an artist is to live to see his pioneering style fall out of fashion. This is the theme of Mr. Turner and the preoccupation of the protagonist, JMW Turner. We meet him when he is riding high in the European art world, an influence on and the envy of his contemporaries, but no one stays at the top forever. Turner knows this, and as his life slips from him and his work falls into obscurity, he wonders aloud to his doctor if he and all he has accomplished will add up to nothing in the end.

1. “You will never do something as hard as staring someone in the eyes and telling them the truth.” – from A Most Violent Year

Abel, as played by Oscar Isaac, is a man of honor and integrity, but the business he has chosen has fallen into the muck. It is a world of thieves, liars, criminals, and gangsters. Struggling to keep his business afloat with nothing but honesty and hard work, there is no one who knows the difficulty in telling the truth better than Abel. He says this line about midway through the film to a group of salespeople-in-training. From the ground up, he is trying to build a business that is above reproach, but he has no delusions about the world around him. He is preparing his troops for the hardships they will face in following his example, but for his conscience, he must put himself and everyone else to the test.

Check back tomorrow as Last Cinema Standing’s Year in Review continues with the Top 10 Performances of the Year.