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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should tack a couple more words onto that mildly pretentious name of theirs... The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and books. This morning, the Academy announced their nominees for the Oscars, and books were well-represented. In fact, many of the nominated movies started out as books.
Take a look at the Best Picture category alone. Here's the full list of Best Picture nominees - movies that started out as books are in bold.
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
"The Help"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"Moneyball"
"The Tree of Life"
"War Horse"
That's 6 out of 9, a whopping two-thirds. And that's just for Best Picture. Below is a full tally of Oscar-nominated movies that came from books (links to the books provided; let me know in the comments if I missed anything). And these books are drawing A-level talent-- George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt and Martin Scorcese to name a few. Book lovers, be proud!
Best Picture
Actor in a Leading Role (George Clooney)
Directing
Film Editing
Writing (Adapted screenplay)
Best Picture
Actor in a Leading Role (Brad Pitt)
Actor in a Supporting Role (Jonah Hill)
Film Editing
Actor in a Leading Role (Gary Oldman)
Music (original score)
Writing (Adapted screenplay)
Actress in a Leading Role (Michelle Williams)
Actor in a Supporting Role (Kenneth Branagh)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Best Picture
Actor in a Supporting Role (Max von Sydow)
Actress in a Leading Role (Glenn Close)
Actress in a Supporting Role (Janet McTeer)
Makeup
Best Picture
Actress in a Leading Role (Viola Davis)
Actress in a Supporting Role (Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Actress in a Leading Role (Rooney Mara)
Cinematography
Film Editing
Sound Editing
Sound Mixing
The Iron Lady
There have been many books written about Margaret Thatcher, but screenplay writer Abi Morgan doesn't seem to have called out any one in particular. So I'm linking to writer Morgan's earlier plays. If you're interested in Margaret Thatcher, you shouldn't have trouble finding books about her here.
Actress in a Leading Role (Meryl Streep)
Makeup
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Art Direction
Makeup
Visual Effects
Best Picture
Directing
Film Editing
Art Direction
Cinematography
Costume Design
Music (Original score)
Sound Editing
Sound Mixing
Visual Effects
Writing (Adapted screenplay)
Best Picture
Art Direction
Cinematography
Music (Original score)
Sound Editing
Sound Mixing
Anonymous
The movie questions whether Shakespeare was the author of his plays, putting forth the oft-contested theory that Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford was the true source behind the brilliance. There's no book directly linked to the film, but James Shapiro's Contested Will provides good further reading on the subject.
Costume Design
Costume Design
Music (Original Score)
Sound Editing
Visual Effects
Animated Feature Film
