Cowboys and Virgins among WGA Nominations

January 6, 2006

The Writers Guild of America announced its nominations this week, and while there are plenty of awards, only three are for theatrical releases.

Here is a complete list of the theatrical nominations:

Best Original Screenplay

• The 40-Year Old Virgin
• Cinderella Man
• Crash
• Good Night and Good Luck
• The Squid and the Whale

• Brokeback Mountain
• Capote
• The Constant Gardener
• A History of Violence
• Syriana

• Cowboy del Amor
• Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
• The Fall of Fujimori
• The March of the Penguins
• Street Fight

• The 40-Year Old Virgin earns a nomination, and as good as the movie was, I have to say I'm surprised. On a side note, during the audio commentary it is mentioned that Judd Apatow actually wrote very little of the dialogue in the movie as most of it was improvised and it was suggested he should get a transcript of the movie and submit that instead of the original script. I don't know if that's what they did, but whatever they did, it worked.
• Match Point didn't pick up a nomination, which is the only major omission I can see.
• Two George Clooney movies were nominated, and since Good Night and Good Luck was an original screenplay and Syriana was adapted, they could both win. However, that seems unlikely; in fact, vote splitting could cost both films a chance at the prize.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Source: Writers Guild of America

Filed under: The 40 Year-old Virgin, Brokeback Mountain, La marche de l'empereur, Cinderella Man, Crash, Syriana, The Constant Gardener, Good Night, and Good Luck, A History of Violence, Capote, The Squid and the Whale, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room