10 Oscar Nominations Received By First Time Writers

10 Oscar Nominations Received By First Time Writers

Screenwriters of films like Whiplash, Juno, and Room were nominated for (or won) an Oscar on their first try.

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Crafting a narrative is an intensive process that requires knowledge of just how much a tightrope walk it can be. A story is a puzzle that only looks right when every piece is positioned as it should be. While many screenwriters end up fading into obscurity, some receive acclaim and notoriety.

The notoriety is especially applicable when the screenwriter makes it big on their first film. Sometimes a writer even strikes the perfect balance in their first attempt (at least their first script to get picked up). When this does happen, an Oscar nomination usually isn’t too far behind.

10 American Beauty (2000): Alan Ball

American Beauty may be incredibly difficult to watch in 2021, but there was a time when it was a big part of the late 90s zeitgeist. It was an even bigger part of the 72nd Academy Awards, where it was nominated for 8 awards total. It won 5, including Best Cinematography, Best Actor, Best Director (Sam Mendes), and Best Picture.

Alan Ball won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his work on the film. It was his first screenplay, and only one of three he’s written to date.

9 District 9 (2009): Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell

This obscure but awesome action movie from the summer of 2009 was a box office smash featuring no real draw in the star power department. But a strong script and a stronger central concept brought audiences to the theater in droves.

On top of Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Film Editing, and Best Visual Effects, the film’s screenplay received some love. Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell’s script for District 9 received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nomination. Adapted because it was based on Blomkamp’s own, and quite similar, short film Alive in Joburg.

8 One Night In Miami (2020): Kemp Powers

One Night in Miami’s Oscar nomination list and general production were filled with firsts. Leslie Odom Jr. received his first Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor. The director of the film, Regina King, had won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for If Beale Street Could Talk, but she’d never directed a feature film. There was speculation she would receive a nomination, but it, unfortunately, did not come to fruition.

There was also Kemp Powers script, which he adapted from his 2013 play of the same name. For his work, Power received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Impressive, considering he’d only written five episodes of Star Trek: Discovery prior to King’s film.

7 A Star Is Born (2018): Bradley Cooper

One of the best directorial debuts of the 2010s was also a major nominee at the Academy Awards. It was nominated for Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Sound Mixing, Original Song, and Adapted Screenplay.

Bradley Cooper’s name was attached to several of these nominations, including for Best Adapted Screenplay. A Star is Born was technically co-written with Eric Roth and Will Fetters, both of whom had a career in the industry prior to the Cooper-Lady Gaga movie. However, it was a first for Cooper, as was his subsequent (writing-related) Oscar nom.

6 Good Night, And Good Luck (2005): George Clooney & Grant Heslov

Most associate George Clooney with acting, but he’s also had a successful directorial career that started with the Edgar R. Murrow biopic Good Night, and Good Luck.

Clooney wrote the film along with writing partner Grant Heslov, with whom he would collaborate on The Ides of March, The Monuments Men, Suburbicon. All four films have a political focus, but it was for Good Night that Clooney and Heslov received a Best Original Screenplay nomination. The fact that their dialogue is delivered by the perpetually underrated David Strathairn in his best role is icing on the cake.

5 Juno (2007): Diablo Cody

Jason Reitman’s sophomore film, Juno, is a breezy movie about a serious topic. It’s all a balancing act and while screenwriter Diablo Cody’s dialogue may not be for everyone, it is still wildly impressive and unique.

The movie is filled with fun details (like the hamburger phone) that make it feel like a quirky indy, but with mass appeal. This is what it ended up being, as Juno was a part of the public conversation upon its release. Along with box office success, it was met with open arms at the 80th Academy Awards. Along with nominations for Best Picture, Director, and Actress, Cody won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

4 Gosford Park (2001): Julian Fellowes

Gosford Park did extremely well when it came to Academy Award nominations, but it only took home one gold statue. Julian Fellowes took home the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and has since gone on to work on films such as The Young Victoria and The Tourist.

Most notably, though, is the TV series that was initially a Gosford Park spinoff: Downton Abbey. The whip-smart writing Fellowes displays in Gosford is displayed to arguably an even greater extent in Downton.

3 Whiplash (2013): Damien Chazelle

This 2015 Academy Award for Best Picture nominee was written as intensely as it was acted. J.K. Simmons gives a powerhouse performance, but scenes like “rushing or dragging” work so well because they’re written with both insight and concentration.

Damien Chazelle had written a low-budget, black-and-white independent feature prior to writing and directing Whiplash, but the psychological drama was his real Hollywood introduction. For the film, he was nominated both for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture.

2 Room (2015): Emma Donoghue

One of Brie Larson’s best films, Room, is a heartbreaking experience featuring two astonishing lead performances. Emma Donoghue expertly adapted her equally impressive 2010 novel of the same name to the screen and received a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination for her effort.

Room is an extremely restrained story that takes place almost entirely inside of a single-room shed. This means the dialogue has to crack, and Donoghue’s characters not only speak like real human beings but lovable ones as well.

1 Boyz N The Hood (1991): John Singleton

The late John Singleton did very well in the industry, and it started with Boyz n the Hood. A box office success as well as a critical darling, the film was a major achievement for the young Singleton.

On top of introducing the world to Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ice Cube the actor, the movie is poignant and devastating in equal measure. Nothing about the script plays as inorganic, and Singleton’s Best Director and Best Screenplay Oscar Nominations were well-deserved. In fact, at 24, he was the youngest person ever to be nominated for Best Director, which is a title he continues to hold posthumously.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/oscar-nominations-received-by-first-time-writers/

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