‘Deadpool’ gets WGA nod
Oscar favorites Moonlight, La La Land and Manchester by the Sea landed Writers Guild Award (WGA) nominations on Wednesday, but so did the R-rated Deadpool.
The Writers Guild of America announced its nominees for the best screenplays of the year with selections that largely stuck to awards season regulars. The best original screenplay nominees were Kenneth Lonergan’s script for Manchester by the Sea, Barry Jenkins’
Moonlight, Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, Taylor Sheridan’s Hell or High Water and Jeff Nichols’ Loving. While the WGA Awards can be strong predictors of the Academy Award screenplay nominees, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has already deemed Loving (inspired by Nancy Buirski’s documentary) and Moonlight (based on Tarell Alvini McCraney’s play) adapted scripts. The nominees for best adapted screenplay were Arrival, penned by Eric Heisserer; Fences, by the late playwright August Wilson; Hidden Figures, by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi; Nocturnal Animals, by Tom Ford; and Deadpool, by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. The snarky superhero film, easily the most unexpected choice of the bunch, earlier scored two nods for this Sunday’s Golden Globes. Nominees for best documentary screenplay went to Author: The JT LeRoy Story, written by Jeff Feuerzeig; Command and Control, with a telescript by Robert Kenner and Eric Schlosser, from a story by Brian Pearle and Kim Roberts; and Alex Gibney’s Zero Days.