They Shoot Oscar Prognosticators, Don’t They?
The PGAs and WGAs and Their Impact on Oscar Nominations
By J. Don Birnam
January 6, 2016
Other Developments: Editing and Writing Guilds
Other guilds have spoken, too. The Editors (aka ACE Eddie) Guild did give some love to Star Wars, nominating it for best edited dramatic feature, along with by-now staples Mad Max, Sicario, The Martian, and The Revenant. It seems like this guild went strong on action this year, but Star Wars still seems like the odd man out. On the comedy side, they went for Joy and The Big Short, as well as Trainwreck, Ant-Man, and Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl.
As we know, Birdman won Best Picture last year without an Editing nomination, a feat that hadn’t been achieved since Ordinary People did it over 30 years before that. Still, a miss with the Eddie does not mean that there will be a miss with the Oscar editing branch, but Spotlight sure would like a nomination in that category to shore up its chances.
Finally, the Writers Guild of America also announced their list of nominees. They named Bridge of Spies, Sicario, Spotlight, Straight Outta Compton and Trainwreck for original screenplay, and Carol, Trumbo, Steve Jobs, The Big Short and The Martian for best adapted screenplay. The correspondence between this list and the PGA list is uncanny - except of course Carol, Steve Jobs and Trumbo made it here, which helps all three after the PGA hit. Meanwhile, the repeated appearances of movies like Sicario and Compton really make them serious Best Picture contenders. I suppose there is the notable omission is that of Mad Max, but it was ineligible for a nomination. And where is The Revenant? Again, perhaps the script was not "talky" enough for them. I still think that movie is in for Best Picture.
WGA Winners: Sicario, Steve Jobs, Straight Outta Compton
WGA Loser: The Revenant
The Golden Globes are on Sunday, so we will have some predictions for who will win those awards, tomorrow.
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