In September, 20th Century Fox kicked off a heavy push for ‘Logan’ for the upcoming awards season. In addition to ads in trade publications and on websites, ‘Logan’ was one of the first movies to be sent out to voters “for consideration.” But it seemed like it was all for nothing as The Golden Globes snubbed the acclaimed comic book movie (along with fellow hopeful, ‘Wonder Woman’ from Warner Bros). But at least one voting body is giving credit to where it’s due, the Writer’s Guild of America. The WGA has nominated ‘Logan’ for Best Adapted Screenplay by Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green.
The WGA Awards are strictly for screenplays, so there is no Best Picture, Best Actor, etc., but it’s a step toward comic book movies gaining greater respectability. Just this past week, award-winning actor/director Jodie Foster trashed comic book movies saying “Studios making bad content in order to appeal to the masses and shareholders is like fracking — you get the best return right now but you wreck the earth. It’s ruining the viewing habits of the American population and then ultimately the rest of the world.”
This nomination pits ‘Logan’ against ‘Call Me By Your Name’, ‘The Disaster Artist’, ‘Molly’s Game’ and ‘Mudbound’.
In the Best Original Screenplay category, two genre films scored recognition– ‘Get Out’ written by Jordan Peele and ‘The Shape of Water’ written by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor. These two will compete with ‘The Big Sick’, ‘I, Tonya’ and ‘Lady Bird’.
Three highly acclaimed awards hopefuls were judged ineligible– ‘Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri’, ‘Victoria & Abdul’, and ‘Darkest Hour’. Eligible, yet surprisingly snubbed was Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Post’, written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer.
You may have noticed that this makes ‘Logan’ the biggest budgeted and highest grossing movie on this list by a pretty wide margin. Whether that works for or against it, remains to be seen.
The Writers Guild of America Awards will be handed out in February.
