A sudden Oscar frontrunner and dark horse contender took top honors at the Writers Guild Awards on Sunday night, when the heartwarming “CODA” and the satirical “Don’t Look Up” prevailed in the Adapted and Original categories, respectively. screenplay .
“This is real, legitimate excitement,” Don’t Look Up writer-director Adam McKay said in a pre-recorded speech. While several awards have reverted to in-person meetings, the WGA ceremony was virtual and nominees were asked to send in their acceptance speeches in advance. During the ceremony, only the winner’s game was played.
Several major films were ineligible for the WGAs this year because they were not written under a negotiation agreement with the WGA or its sister guilds. So “Belfast” and “The Worst Person in the World” (in the original screenplay category) and “The Power of the Dog” and “The Lost Daughter” (in the modified category) were not in the running. And because it significantly reduced the number of major contenders, most pundits expected writer-director Sian Heder’s “CODA,” based on the 2014 French film “La Famille Bélier,” to triumph at the Writers Guild, although “Don’ t Look Up” still faced stiff competition from Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza”.
Can the WGA victors also win their Oscar races now that “Belfast” has lost its prize mojo, beating the soaring “CODA” “The Power of the Dog” at this weekend’s influential Producers Guild Awards? In a recent scenario competition at the BAFTAs, “CODA” took another surprising win over “The Power of the Dog”, its biggest rival for best pictures. Since the path to the best Oscar almost always winds through the screenplay categories, a win in the adapted screenplay for ‘CODA’ on Oscar night could foreshadow the film’s ultimate fate.
And while “Don’t Look Up” has a more difficult path to the Best Picture Oscar, with no notable season wins to date, at least the WGA win suggests the original screenplay race will remain one to watch. .
Here are some of the other WGA winners:
Documentary: “Unmasking Muybridge”
Drama series: “Succession”
Comedy series: “hacking”
New series: “hacking”
Original long-form series: “mare of Easttown”
Customized Long Form Series: “Domestic help”
