WGA Noms: ‘Avatar’ and ‘Star Trek’ Score Nominations: Perhaps Due To Ineligibilty of ‘Basterds,’ ‘Road,’ ‘Single Man’? Let’s Hope So

The WGA nominees were just announced, via THR, and James Cameron’s out-of-control freight train “Avatar” picked up steam with a nomination for best original screenplay. Pardon us, but what the F?

Of all the merits of ‘Avatar,’ its screenplay was definitely not one of them, trafficking in stock, black-and-white characters, lazy cliches (“We’re not in Kansas anymore,” please) and rehashing beloved children’s classic “Fern Gully,” by adding guns and robots. It’s actually a bit of a slap in the face to writers in this category frankly.

Cameron was nommed by the WGA for “Titanic,” but failed to make the leap to Oscar noms with that one. Also nominated in the best original screenplay category were “(500) Days of Summer,” “The Hangover,” The Hurt Locker,” and “A Serious Man.”

In other questionable nominations, the plot-hole heavy, “Star Trek” was nominated in the best adapted screenplay category, along with “Crazy Heart,” “Julie & Julia,” “Precious,” and “Up in the Air.”

We’ve noted that sharp screenplays like “Inlgourious Basterds,” “The Road,” and “A Single Man” were all ineligible for the WGA nominations (“An Education” is also ineligible) because the writers are not members of the guild, but that will have no affect on their Oscar chances, so here’s hoping the Academy favors something a little bit more artful than the clunker of a screenplay from Cameron’s 3D extravaganza.

The WGA awards ceremony will take place on February 20th in simultaneous ceremonies in New York and LA.

Full list of WGA nominees:

Orignal Screenplay
James Cameron, “Avatar”
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, “(500) Days of Summer”
Jon Lucas & Scott Moore, “The Hangover”
Mark Boal, “The Hurt Locker”
Joel & Ethan Coen, “A Serious Man”

Adapted Screenplay
Scott Cooper,”Crazy Heart,” based on the novel by Thomas Cobb
Nora Ephron, “Julie & Julia,” adapted from “Julie & Julia” by Julie Powell and “My Life in France,” by Julia Child and Alex Prud’homme
Geoffrey Fletcher, “Precious,” adapted from the novel, “Push” by Sapphire
Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman, “Star Trek”
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, “Up in the Air,” based on the novel by Walter Kirn

Documentary
Richard Trank, “Against the Tide”
Michael Moore, “Capitalism: A Love Story”
Mark Monroe, “The Cove”
Robert Stone, “Earth Days”
Chris Rock, Jeff Stilson, Lance Crouther & Chuck Sklar,”Good Hair”
Bill Guttentag & Dan Sturman, “Soundtrack for a Revolution”

CINEMATOGRAPHERS
While we’re at it with Awards, the ASC, the American Society of Cinematographers have given out their nominees. They are, like most guilds, a good augur of the way the Oscars will go. This year’s nominees are notable for the inclusion of an action sci-fi adventure film (“Avatar”) and a black and white film shot digitally (Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon”). The ASC, like most Cinematography awards, generally stays away from big blockbustery sci-fi films and tends to award films with big sweeping vistas and shots of nature (recent nominees include, “There Will Be Blood,” “No Country For Old Men,” and “Into The Wild”). Digital nominees seem to be a big deal, but they are actually less and less of an issue, (see Oscar cinematography nominations for ‘Benjamin Button” and a win for “Slumdog Millionaire”).

American Society of Cinematographers NOMINEES
Barry Ackroyd, BSC for The Hurt Locker
Dion Beebe, ASC, ACS for Nine
Christian Berger, AAC for The White Ribbon
Mauro Fiore, ASC for Avatar
Robert Richardson, ASC for Inglourious Basterds