Welcome to the screenwriting race for 2024. With the fall film festival season now in the distance and a few potential contenders still to debut on the horizon, it’s time for our first look at the battle for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay.
On the adapted side, it’s officially been determined Emilia Pérez will compete as an adaptation. It’s odd this was ever in doubt, given the credits clearly state the film is based on Jacques Audiard’s opera of the same name, which was in turn loosely adapted from Boris Razon’s 2018 novel Écoute. Frankly, the original screenplay race is already crowded, so Audiard has a smoother ride ahead here.
The battle on the original side is a complicated mix of previous nominees and newcomers with too many contenders and only five spots to fill. That being said, Sean Baker (Anora) feels so far out in front that this race might already be over before it’s begun. But there’s a long, long way to go yet and we’re just getting started.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY PREDICTIONS:
1. Conclave (Focus Features)
Peter Straughan
2. Sing Sing (A24)
Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John “Divine G” Whitfield
3. Emilia Pérez (Netflix)
Jacques Audiard (Netflix)
4. The Room Next Door (Sony Pictures Classics)
Pedro Almodóvar
5. Nickel Boys (Amazon MGM Studios)
RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes
IN CONTENTION
A Complete Unknown (Searchlight Pictures)
Jay Cocks, James Mangold
Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.)
Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts
Gladiator II (Paramount Pictures)
David Scarpa, Peter Craig
I’m Still Here (Sony Pictures Classics)
Murilo Hauser, Heitor Lorega
Inside Out 2 (Disney)
Meg LeFauve, Dave Holstein, Kelsey Mann
Nightbitch (Searchlight Pictures)
Marielle Heller
Nosferatu (A24)
Robert Eggers
The Piano Lesson (Netflix)
Virgil Williams, Malcolm Washington
Queer (A24)
Justin Kuritzkes
The Wild Robot (Universal Pictures)
Chris Sanders
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY PREDICTIONS:
1. Anora (Neon)
Sean Baker
2. The Brutalist (A24)
Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold
3. A Real Pain (Searchlight Pictures)
Jesse Eisenberg
4. Blitz (Apple TV+)
Steve McQueen
5. Hard Truths (Bleeker Street)
Mike Leigh
IN CONTENTION
All We Imagine as Light (Janus Films)
Payal Kapadia
Babygirl (A24)
Halina Reijn
Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios)
Justin Kuritzkes
A Different Man (A24)
Aaron Schimberg
His Three Daughters (Netflix)
Azazel Jacobs
Juror #2 (Warner Bros.)
Jonathan Abrams
Maria (Netflix)
Steven Knight
Saturday Night (Sony Pictures)
Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan|
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (NEON)
Mohammad Rasoulof
September 5 (Paramount Pictures)
Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum
The Substance (MUBI)
Coralie Fargeat