In Contention

Personal theory

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I don’t see any way in hell “The Dark Knight” gets a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination and then fails to show up in the Best Picture category.  So…if we hear the brothers Nolan and David Goyer’s names uttered…we’ll know.

Comments

12 responses to “Personal theory”

  1. Robert Hamer Avatar
    Robert Hamer

    I don’t know if I agree with that. In fact, I disagree. There weren’t very many good adaptations this year and Academy voters may feel the need to nominate the screenplay as a sort of consolation.

    I hope that you’re right and I’m wrong, though.

  2. Kevin Avatar
    Kevin

    Actually, the screenplay has had very little mentions amongst a crowded field of book and play adaptations. You have two plays (Frost/Nixon, Doubt) and four novels (Slumdog Millionaire, Benjamin Button, The Reader, Revolutionary Road) and several others. The main thing it might struggle with is that its not a nomination in the traditional sense of the category. The again, this isn’t a traditional film or oscar contender. Regardless, I think the theory is pretty solid.

  3. Carson Dyle Avatar
    Carson Dyle

    I think it’s a fair point, but I don’t think that it works both ways. Of course, the lack of a screenplay nom for any BP contender destroys its chances of winning.

  4. Ryan Hoffman Avatar

    Kris you would agree though that not getting it wouldn’t kill it, right? Especially if say F/N gets snubbed there

  5. Jake Avatar
    Jake

    Hmm. I’m waking up for the nominations. I hope that The Dark Knight isn’t snubbed in either. If it is in Adapted Screenplay, I won’t be too worried about its Best Picture chances, unless The Reader is in the Adapted instead of it. PLEASE HAVE TDK NOMINATED FOR PIC, DIRECTOR, AND SCREENPLAY (not to mention supp. actor and the others).

    To tell you the truth, I care most about The Dark Knight landing in these categories:

    Picture
    Director
    Supporting Actor
    Original Score

  6. Brian Kinsley Avatar
    Brian Kinsley

    Although every Oscar voter could have seen The Unborn, and thought to themselves, fuck that, and not voted for TDK in screenplay and just voted it for picture.

    I mean, if they saw The Unborn, that would make total sense.

    Seriously. My heart shrivels when I think of the phrase “the Academy Award nominated writer and director of The Invisible and The Unborn”.

  7. Jake Avatar
    Jake

    Lol. Funny thing you say that, Brian. I laugh every time I saw those commercials for The Unborn, when it flaunted that David Goyer was the “co-writer” of The Dark Knight. I honestly don’t doubt the talents of the man, but his individual films suck. I think that Christopher and Jonah Nolan bring out the best of him, and that’s why he has been so personally successful with the new Batman franchise. Honestly, Chris Nolan is an absolute genius. As for Jonah, I know he is smart, but I don’t think he beats his older brother in terms of raw talent.

  8. Shawn Avatar
    Shawn

    We’ll actually know before that.

    They usually do the Directing category before Screenplay.

  9. Jonathan Spuij Avatar

    TDk needs to get as much nods as possible in order to make a chance of winning. Tom O’Neill’s theory with which I agree.

  10. Adam Smith Avatar
    Adam Smith

    Shawn:

    Even if they announce Director first, I wouldn’t be so sure. The directors seem to really like Nolan, and I expect that, regardless of whether or not The Dark Knight makes Picture, Nolan will more than likely make Director, even as a lone director. My impression has been that Nolan was the best bet for Director after Danny Boyle.

    But of course, getting the Director nod won’t hurt its chances by a long shot.

  11. Glenn Avatar

    This is true. I knew “Letters from Iwo Jima” was in when Paul Haggis’ name was announced as a writing nominee.

  12. Kristopher Tapley Avatar

    Shawn: No, I think a lone director bid is a possibility. Screenplay is the tip-sheet.