Sideways Eternally Grateful to the WGA

February 20, 2005

The Annual Writers Guild Awards held their 57th annual awards on Saturday. Among the more than a dozen awards handed out were three for theatrical releases, including the inaugural award for best documentary, (which had been handed out earlier.)

Best Original Screenplay went to Charlie Kaufman for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It beat out fellow nominees, The Aviator, Garden State, Hotel Rwanda and Kinsey, all of which were deserving of the award.

The Best Adapted Screenplay went to Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor for Sideways, which is a pretty good indicator that it will take home the Oscar. The film beat out Before Sunset, Mean Girls, Million Dollar Baby and Motocycle Diaries. The only film on that list that could be considered a surprise nomination was Mean Girls, which is not to say Tina Fey's writing wasn't brilliant, it's just that it's not the kind of film that usually gets this kind of recognition.

Best Documentary Screenplay Award went to Morgan Spurlock for Super Size Me, which looked at the effect of fast food diet on the writer / director / star. Also nominated were Bright Leaves, Control Room, Home of the Brave, Hunting the President and In the Realms of the Unreal. Some people were shocked that Fahrenheit 9/11 wasn't at least nominated, but Michael Moore never submitted the film for consideration.


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Filed under: The Aviator, Million Dollar Baby, Mean Girls, Sideways, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Garden State, Hotel Rwanda, The Motorcycle Diaries, Super Size Me, Kinsey, Before Sunset, Control Room, In the Realms of the Unreal, The Hunting of the President, Bright Leaves