The sci-fi smash “Inception” and the Facebook drama “The Social Network” took top screenplay honors Saturday night at the Writers Guild Awards.
“Inception” writer Christopher Nolan won for best original screenplay and “The Social Network” writer Aaron Sorkin won for best adapted screenplay. The awards were handed out by the Writers Guild of America in simultaneous ceremonies at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles and the AXA Equitable Center in New York.
“The Social Network,” which Sorkin adapted from the Ben Mezrich book “The Accidental Billionaires,” was expected to win Saturday. But the original screenplay category was considered a toss-up between “Inception,” the psychosexual thriller “Black Swan” and the boxing drama “The Fighter” because current awards-season darling “The King’s Speech” was not eligible for a WGA award as it was not made under the writing union’s contract guidelines.
Other top films of 2010 like “Toy Story 3” and “Winter’s Bone” were ineligible for the same reason.
Sorkin will be the prohibitive favorite in the adapted category, and “The King’s Speech” and “Inception” will vie for original screenplay honors at the Academy Awards on Feb. 27.
“The Social Network,” was also considered an early favorite for a best picture Oscar. But it has been trumped in recent award ceremonies including the Golden Globes and Producers Guild Awards by “The King’s Speech,” which features Colin Firth as the stammering father of Queen Elizabeth II and is expected to sweep several categories on Oscar night.
In other WGA categories, Charles Ferguson, Chad Beck and Adam Bolt won best documentary screenplay honors for “Inside Job,” a chronicle of the 2008 economic meltdown.
And large teams of writers from AMC’s “Mad Men” and ABC’s “Modern Family” won for best drama and comedy series, respectively.
Oscar Winners “I’m Still Here” and “Emilia Pérez” Shed Light On Latin America’s Thousands of People Who’ve Disappeared
If there is a still open wound in Latin America, it is that of the tens of thousands of disappeared people and decadeslong pain that has accumulated in parts of the region such as Mexico and Colombia.
Two visions of the trauma had a central role at the 97th Academy Awards: the Brazilian film "Ainda Estou Aqui" ("I'm Still Here"), which tells the drama of the family of a leftist former congressman who disappeared in 1971 at the height of the military dictatorship; and the musical "Emilia Pérez," about a fictional Mexican drug lord who leaves a life of crime to become a transgender woman and searcher for the disappeared in Mexico.
"We hope that in this way the society will be sensitized," said activist Indira Navarro, who directs the Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco collective in Mexico and has been searching for her brother, who disappeared in the northern state of Sonora nine years ago.
The Academy Awards' recognition of the films, both of which were nominated in multiple categories, was an unparalleled opportunity to make the problem visible, Navarro said.
"I'm Still Here," by Brazilian Walter Salles, won the Oscar in the category of best international film. "Emilia Pérez," by renowned French director Jacques Audiard, was this year's most-nominated film and won in the categories of best original song and best supporting actress for Zoe Saldaña.
Salles and Audiard's films also had a common denominator of disappearances in Latin America: impunity.
The story behind "I'm Still Here"
"I'm Still Here" was inspired by the book "Ainda Estou Aqui" by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, son of the disappeared former congressman Rubens Paiva. More than five decades after he was taken from his Rio de Janeiro home and... Read More