BRIGHT STAR not an original screenplay, Academy says
It’s hard out there for a Jane Campion. First, the writer and director’s film, BRIGHT STAR, was all but ignored by audiences and critics alike when it opened last fall. The film never got beyond 380 theaters, and Abbie Cornish’s lyrical performance has been consistently snubbed in year-end wrap-up, lists, and awards. Now a serious wrench has been thrown in the film’s “For Your Consideration” ads, which have been pushing the film for an Oscar nomination in the Best Original Screenplay category – the Academy has ruled that the screenplay is not an original. Oops!
Instead, BRIGHT STAR has been classified as an adapted screenplay. Apparently, the film’s production company Apparition “was…informed of the decision after the company had already taken out ads promoting the film in the original-screenplay category.”
Campion’s film was “inspired” by both John Keats’ poetry (a no-brainer, as the film spent much time showing Keats’ writing process and struggles as a writer), and a biography about the poet by Andrew Morton. However, the focus of BRIGHT STAR was on the relationship between Keats and Fanny Brawne (Cornish), a relationship that has not previously been given a thorough telling (mainly due to the fact that Brawne and Keats destroyed all letters she wrote them during their relationship). Without having a bevy of hard facts to work from, Campion embellished and imagined many aspects of the supposed love affair. Sounds original to me.
The Best Original Screenplay category has 153 possible contenders (including such recent darlings as THE HURT LOCKER and INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS). The Best Adapted Screenplay has less, with 106 contenders, but those 106 include even heavier hitters – including UP IN THE AIR, AN EDUCATION, PRECIOUS, DISTRICT 9, and FANTASTIC MR. FOX. By all accounts, this is a much harder category to break into and I would be (happily, though) surprised to see it garner a nod.
Source The Wrap
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