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Writers Guild Nominations: Guardians of the Galaxy and Gone Girl Lead the Charge

By Cameron Cubbison · January 8, 2015

The Writers Guild nominations are in and the lists include the screenplays we expected, but there are a couple we did not see coming. Guardians of the Galaxy and American Sniper are the two adapted screenplays that made us scratch our heads. 

Guardians of the Galaxy is a movie that, albeit a standard formula film, returns us to well paced, enjoyable filmmaking. It's harder than one would think. Co-written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman, Guardians shows how an ensemble set of characters can work together in a well drafted, adapted story misfits. It does spotlight multiple worlds and large scale action sequences, but at its core it is a smart hybrid of buddy-film and romance. 

Alongside Guardians is Gone Girl (in direct competition no less). Penned by Gillian Flynn (also the author of the novel), this screenplay is a clean adaptation that is tight and each word provokes us to turn a mental page to see what will be revealed next. 

There are other films that did not qualify for the Writers Guild nominations – Selma and Birdman being two big ones – but for now find all three lists below. 

 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Boyhood, Written by Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher, Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
Nightcrawler, Written by Dan Gilroy
Whiplash, Written by Damien Chazelle

 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

American Sniper, Written by Jason Hall; Based on the book by Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice
Gone Girl, Screenplay by Gillian Flynn; Based on her novel
Guardians of the Galaxy, Written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman; Based on the Marvel comic by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
The Imitation Game, Written by Graham Moore; Based on the book Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges
Wild, Screenplay by Nick Hornby; Based on the book by Cheryl Strayed

 

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

Finding Vivian Maier, Written by John Maloof & Charlie Siskel
The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, Written by Brian Knappenberger
Last Days in Vietnam, Written by Mark Bailey & Kevin McAlester
Red Army, Written by Gabe Polsky

Photo: Marvel