Books Lead the Oscars
Leading the Oscar nominations, announced this morning, is The King’s Speech. It received 12 nominations, including best picture, best director and best actor. It is based on historical events, not on a book. However, a book by Mark Logue, the grandson of the king’s speech therapist draws on the same historical material and was published as a tie-in.
 |
|
Four of the other nine nominees for Best Picture are book adaptations;
- 127 Hours — based on mountain climber Aron Ralston’s Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Atria
- The Social Network, based on Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich
- True Grit, based on the 1968 novel by Charles Portis, Overlook Press
- Winter’s Bone, based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell, Back Bay
True Grit, which the NYT regards a the “biggest surprise,” came in second, with ten nominations.
Once considered the front runner, The Social Network, came in at third place, with eight nods.
Winter’s Bone, which came out in June, received three other nominations in addition to Best Picture — Actress (Jennifer Lawrence); Supporting Actor (John Hawkes) and Adapted Screenplay.
The full list is here. The other nominations for movies based on books are:
How to Train Your Dragon — Animated Feature Film — based on the chidlren’s book by Cressida Cowell, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Alice in Wonderland –Art Direction — loosely based on both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 — Art Direction — based on…well, you know
Barney’s Version — Makeup — based on the novel by Mordecai Richler, Vintage