Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Tis the Season: The Guilds

(Scroll over any film title for the full Black Sheep review.)

The Screen Actors Guild made their announcements before the year ended and now it is time for the three other major factions of the film voting community to weigh in with their choices for best film achievements of 2010. They are the Producers Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America. The producers and directors nominations are ordinarily strong indicators of what to expect when the Oscars are announced on January 25 but the writers have come under a fair amount of flack this year. Major Oscar contenders like THE KING'S SPEECH and TOY STORY 3 were not eligible because they were not affiliated with the guild during production. It is difficult to give much credit to a group that would not consider the screenplays for WINTER'S BONE, BLUE VALENTINE or ANOTHER YEAR when they are all serious Oscar contenders in their respective screenplay categories. Especially when they don't fill those voids with films like RABBIT HOLE. Meanwhile, the PGA Top 10 is another variation on the same 11 films that are being tossed around in the Best Picture race this year, with WINTER'S BONE not making the cut this time out. And the DGA favoured newcomers to the Best Direction race, Darren Aronofsky (BLACK SWAN) and David O. Russell (THE FIGHTER) over past winners, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for TRUE GRIT.

The PGA will announce its winners on January 22, in a ceremony hosted by Judd Apatow. The WGA will announce its winners on February 5, in simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York City to cater to both the Eastern and Western divisions of the guild. The DGA will announce its winner on January 29, at its 75th anniversary edition of the ceremony.

Here are the major nominees from each of the guilds ...

THE WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Screenplay by Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin; Story by Andres Heinz

Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson

Written by Christopher Nolan

Written by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg

PLEASE GIVE
Written by Nicole Holofcener


ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy; Based on the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston

I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS
Written by John Requa & Glenn Ficarra; Based on the book by Steven McVicker

Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin; Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich

Screenplay by Peter Craig and Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard; Based on the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan

Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen; Based on the novel by Charles Portis


THE DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA

Darren Aronofsky

David Fincher

Tom Hooper

Christopher Nolan

David O. Russell


THE PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA

Producers: Danny Boyle, Christian Colson

Producers: Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver

Producers: Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas

Producers: David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Mark Wahlberg

Producers: Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray

Producers: Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin

Producers: Dana Brunetti, Ceán Chaffin, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin

Producers: Basil Iwanyk, Graham King

Producer: Darla K. Anderson

Producers: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin


SOURCES: