Best Adapted Screenplay: Ranking Every 96th Academy Award Nominee
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
This article is a part of the Academy Awards Project, where Andreas Babiolakis from Films Fatale ranks every Oscar nominee from worst to best, and goes through every category once a day five days a week.
Today we’re checking out the second of both screenwriting categories: Best Adapted Screenplay. I usually find this to be the weaker of the two groups because I prefer original ideas, I find that Best Adapted Screenplay winds up getting a few lazier nominations because of the familiarity of their subject matters, and this category usually reeks more of that infamous Oscar bait we’ve all come to know and hate. Having said that, 2023 is a bit of a strange year in that I’d argue that the Best Adapted Screenplay nominees this time around are far more competitive, and the group as a whole is actually quite strong. Go figure. I’m not only looking for the strength in writing with these nominees (as I do with the Best Original Screenplay nominations as well), but I’m also keeping an eye on how these films adapted their source materials (it’s all in the name). Did these screenwriters make the right choices on how to improve or translate these materials for the screen?
Here are your nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay ranked from worst to best.
Biggest Snub: Killers of the Flower Moon-Written by Eric Roth & Martin Scorsese
I’m actually shocked that Killers of the Flower Moon isn’t represented here. The novel is a much larger depiction of the gestation of the FBI in response to the Osage Nation murders, and Martin Scorsese’s film dials everything down to a tale between two partners in a toxic marriage. While this wasn’t everyone’s ideal decision (possibly why the film didn’t get nominated), I think Killers of the Flower Moon is all the better for it. It’s its own film and depiction of systemic, racist devastation. We’re able to focus on a few key characters to get the maximum effect via fewer moving parts. We get an allegory for the times regarding lopsided relationships, colonialism, and political injustices. I love what Scorsese and Eric Roth did to make Killers of the Flower Moon work better on the big screen (the book works best in its own way, but it would have been far too much to put as-is in a film). I thought it would have been a shoo-in for at least a nomination here. I guess I was wrong. I’d also like to shout out a couple of other worthy films like All of Us Strangers and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret that didn’t get any nominations at all (and yet both could have easily gotten one here).
5. American Fiction-Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson
While I quite like Cord Jefferson’s adaptation of Erasure in the form of American Fiction, it feels like the weakest nominee for me. Firstly, it is the most direct adaptation of the five nominees, and I find that the other selections do more with their source materials (yes, even Barbie); American Fiction is faithful to Erasure and it makes linear sense of Percival Everett’s writing which definitely helps, but it also relies heavily on what Everett wrote. Additionally, I think that not every instance of sociopolitical satire lands as effortlessly as it should in American Fiction, which reads to me like an adaptation flaw. Nonetheless, American Fiction is strong for the most part. It is humanistic at its darkest, and a shocking riot at its funniest. It’s definitely written well enough when you consider all things. It’s just a tough year, and so the bumps in American Fiction’s writing feel more apparent upon analysis.
4. Barbie-Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach
I guess the biggest question many have had this entire awards season is whether or not Barbie qualifies as an adaptation of a source material, or if it should be considered an original idea. I’d go with the former, because the film is clearly both tributing and satirizing an existing, beloved property (in fact, the majority of Barbie’s existence is based on dolls, props, costumes, and other properties that are a part of Mattel’s Barbie line). So, with my thoughts out of the way, how does Barbie compare to other films here? Not every joke works, but a vast majority do (from the sillier quips to the deeper jabs). The meta turns are always nice and I think they’re exquisitely handled. Perhaps where I start to split hairs as to go about ranking this film is when it gets to the blurred line between Barbieland and the real world, especially that passage in the Mattel building that kind of exists with no in-universe rhyme or reason. Otherwise, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach do a terrific job with Barbie: a film that tips its hat to the iconic toy line while also picking out its problematic side as the shifts of time take place.
3. Poor Things-Screenplay by Tony McNamara
Tony McNamara’s adaption of Poor Things is direct enough like the screenplay for American Fiction, but his signature offensive dialogue and twisted take on things are what help it win a few points. McNamara takes the quest of one Bella Baxter from Alasdair Gray’s novel and dials it up to ten, particularly through a modern lens on what is now a slightly dated text. This is what makes the adaptation so strong; McNamara acknowledges what presently works in the original novel and how it can be translated to the big screen while upping the ante via its shocking elements (which go quite far but not too far as to appear needlessly edgy) and fine-tuning the film with contemporary society’s shifted discussion on the male gaze, systemic misogyny, and more. Even the fantasy elements feel modernized (but not atrociously so) in a paradoxical sense as if Poor Things fixates on the archaic nature of the science present and instills a nostalgia for years we never lived (thus completing the theme of longing for a society that isn’t the one we’re in right now). McNamara has never been better than he is with Poor Things.
2. Oppenheimer-Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan
Firstly, Christopher Nolan takes American Prometheus and turns the tome of wartime and political guilt into two coexisting timelines that contrast one another (fission and fusion). Voices are given to J. Robert Oppenheimer and company; even though dialogue is usually Nolan’s weak point, his dialogue is some of the best he’s ever written here (outside of that atrocious line about this being the biggest event in the history of the world; this is painfully on-the-nose). Nolan’s signature narrative fragmentation works so well because of the frantic, tense tone of the film, the literary representations of fission (story elements that bounce off one another to progress) and fusion (passages that merge together and break reality in ways), and the cyclical nature of the film (allowing Oppenheimer to finish as it began: within the mind of a broken man awaiting trial while the world burns around him). Oppenheimer is an exemplary example of an adaptation.
1. The Zone of Interest-Written by Jonathan Glazer
Then there was The Zone of Interest. When Jonathan Glazer’s opus was announced, I worried a little bit. Not because I didn’t care for Martin Amis’ story, but because I didn’t know what a director like Glazer — who is so Kubrickian in nature — would want to do with a love triangle story that takes place near Auschwitz. The setting and the concept of living right outside of the death camps are the only things The Zone of Interest has in common with its source material, so there was a lot changed in order for this film to work in its minimalist, ghostly way. This alone makes it a winner in my eyes. Then we can account for the sparse-yet-striking dialogue, where Glazer says as little as possible to maximum effect. The progression of the story is so subdued yet present. You can just sense all around how Glazer took matters into his own hands with this screenplay, turning a full-on story into a fatal ambience; this is narrative storytelling in its most primitive form. At the same time, there are so many things happening that you won’t catch every little character detail, line, or symbol on the first watch. This is a masterclass of austere artistry within writing. Screenplays like this usually don’t even get acknowledged, so I’m thrilled to see The Zone of Interest rightfully being represented here.
Who I Want To Win: All five nominees are different degrees of strong, but I’ll try and narrow this down. I want The Zone of Interest to win the most, with Oppenheimer next in line. I’d also be thrilled if Poor Things snuck in a surprise win here.
Who I Think Will Win: Despite the tough competition, I think Oppenheimer has this Oscar with near certainty. I’d imagine its only competition may be Barbie, but, even then, that film’s award-season successes have started to trail off quite a bit while Oppenheimer only seems to get stronger. I think this one is already set in stone, folks.
The Academy Awards Project will continue on Monday with another category. We’re going to rank every single nominee in every single category, Monday through Friday. You don’t want to miss it!
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.