“Gone Girl,” “The Imitation Game,” “Inherent Vice,” “The Theory of Everything” and “Wild” have been nominated for the USC Libraries Scripter Award, an honor that goes to both the writer of an adapted screenplay and the author of the original work on which the script was based.
That means that reclusive author Thomas Pynchon, who wrote the the original novel “Inherent Vice,” is nominated alongside writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson — though no doubt Pynchon is less likely to attend the awards ceremony on Saturday, Jan. 31 in the Edward L. Doheny Memorial Library on the USC campus.
Glo
Of the five nominated films, only one, “Gone Girl,” has the same original author and screenwriter, Gillian Flynn.
Also read: Writers Guild Nominations Include ‘Gone Girl,’ ‘Grand Budapest Hotel,’ ‘Boyhood,’ ‘Imitation Game’
Scripter nominations are chosen by a jury chaired by WGA vice president and USC professor Howard Rodman. This year’s jury included screenwriters John Ridley (last year’s winner for “12 Years a Slave”), Erin Cressida Wilson and Steve Zaillian; authors Michael Chabon, Michael Ondaatje and Mona Simpson; film critics and journalists Leonard Maltin, Anne Thompson and Kenneth Turan; and USC deans Elizabeth Daley, Madeline Puzo and Catherine Quinlan.
The nominations include most of the top contenders for Oscar nominations in the Best Adapted Screenplay category, though those also include “American Sniper,” “Unbroken” and “The Fault in Our Stars.”
The Scripter Awards was established in 1988, with previous winners including “12 Years a Slave,” “The Social Network,” “A Beautiful Mind” and “The English Patient.”
The finalists:
Gone Girl” — Gillian Flynn, author and screenwriter
The Imitation Game” — author Andrew Hodges for the book “Alan Turing: The Enigma,” and screenwriter Graham Moore
“Inherent Vice” — novelist Thomas Pynchon and screenwriter Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything” — author Jane Hawking for “Travelling To Infinity: My Life With Stephen,” and screenwriter Anthony McCarten
Wild” – author Cheryl Strayed for “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail,” and screenwriter Nick Hornby