A popcorn bucket of Oscar nominated page turners

With the Academy Awards soon to be handed out in a couple of weeks, I thought it was time to highlight some of the nominees as Oscar Night is my SuperBowl!

A good number of the films this year up for honors are based on books and/or graphic novels and while many know about the major league contenders who hold that distinction, for this post, I wanted to focus on a few that might not be as prominently featured.

Granted, American Fiction has been strongly showcased with five nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Jeffrey Wright as Monk Ellison, a well respected writer and college professor who has become increasingly annoyed by the stereotypical novels that have grown undeservedly popular with his intended audience.

Out of frustration, he writes his own mocking version of these books and is unpleasantly surprised when publishers find this work to not only be a potential bestseller, they’re eager to pay him major money and get him a movie deal.

The more he tries to tank the project (including pretending to be an ex-con on the run as his author persona), the more it gets green lit by those self same “enlightened “ people. The time does come when Monk has to decide just how far he can go with this before things get more out of hand.

One of the film’s nominations is for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer/director Cord Jefferson based this movie on the 2001 novel Erasure by Percival Everett, which shows how good writing is always timely.

 With recent focus on how race is portrayed by the publishing industry with novels such as The Other Black Girl and Yellow Face, the spot on accuracy of this story from over twenty years ago is eerily adept indeed:

In the Best Live Action Short category, we have both a film with a well known star and based on a lesser known short story by an author best known for children’s books, quite the odd brew there.

Then again, director/writer Wes Anderson is sort of an intellectual Tim Burton type there but even so, his version of Roald Dahl’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is not your usual nominee for this cinematic section.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the title role as an already wealthy man who learns how to see beyond his senses in order to earn more gambling money. However, that talent does more than make him richer financially, causing Henry to take his new found ability to new heights.

Apparently, this mini movie is meant to be the first in a quartet of adaptations of Dahl’s short stories that were written for much older readers. Whether or not it wins on Oscar Night, bringing these smaller works to wider audiences is definitely a win in more ways than one:

Meanwhile in the Best Animated Feature category, we have Nimona, based on the beloved graphic novel by ND Stevenson.

Chloe Grace Moretz voices the title character, a mischievous shapeshifter who declares herself the sidekick to disgraced knight Ballister Boldheart(Riz Amed).

Together, they seek to clear Ballister’s name but even as that evidence comes to light, complications arise that pushes their friendship to a breaking point that may not be repairable. Yet, a greater wrong is out there to be righted and perhaps only the two of them are the perfect partners for that job.

It’s hard to predict a clear winner in this category as the latest Spiderverse movie was excellent but voters might not want to give this series back-to-back awards(they should in my opinion!). Also, many were surprised at The Elementals from Pixar getting a spot here as its reception from audiences and critics was mixed at best.

That does allow for a smaller film to potentially get the Oscar gold and while it may a long shot, Nimona does have a decent chance at least. The fans who loved the original source material would certainly be cheering loudly if that came to pass:

At least Oscar Night should be entertaining this year, even if the already predictable sweep for Oppenheimer happens. That film is fine, I’m sure ,but it checks too many typical boxes on the Oscar checklist for my taste.

I was happy to see America Ferrera get a Best Supporting Actress spot for Barbie(many of the other award shows seemed to be overlooking her performance) and hope that Ryan Gosling performs “I’m Just Ken”, although the Billie Elilish Barbie song is probably going to take the Best Original Song award home. 

No matter who wins what, it is good to know that many of these wonderful silver screen moments started as words on a page in a book. Hopefully next year, we’ll find more great stories in print brought to cinematic glory being honored by the Academy with reader and viewer agreement alike: