Despite Appariton’s “For Your Consideration” ads, and despite the Gurus of Gold voters who voted it the eighth-most-likely nominee, Jane Campion’s “Bright Star” has no chance of winning an Oscar nomination in the original-screenplay category.
That’s because the Academy’s writers branch has classified “Bright Star,” the story of the romance between poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, as an adapted screenplay, not an original one.
Apparition was reportedly informed of the decision after the company had already taken out ads promoting the film in the original-screenplay category.
Campion was inspired to write the film both by Keats’ poetry and by a biography of the poet by Andrew Motion. The film’s story is told from the point of view of Brawne, of whom very few records survive; her character was largely invented by Campion, as were the details of the relationship between the two.
Although Campion makes use of Keats’ poetry and letters, the writer-director did not adapt any existing material, because there is none that tells the story of Keats and Brawne in any depth.
But an executive committee of the writers branch determined that the film should be considered an adaptation, and included it as such on the “Reminder List” of eligible screenplays that accompanied nomination ballots.
The original-screenplay category has more contending films, 153 as opposed to 106 adaptations. As usual, though, the competition is stronger in the adapted-screenplay category, meaning it’ll be harder for “Bright Star” to break into a field whose frontrunners include “Up in the Air,” “An Education,” “Precious,” “Julie & Julia,” “A Single Man,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “District 9.”
Prime contenders in the original-screenplay category include “The Hurt Locker,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “A Serious Man,” “(500) Days of Summer” and “Up.”
The Academy’s writers branch is known for taking a hard line on what constitutes an original screenplay, but in the past it has classified as original a number of films based on real characters (and thus drawing from various pre-existing sources). These include “Milk,” “The Queen” and “The Aviator.”
“Bright Star” is the highest-profile film to be classified in a category other than the one suggested by its studio. The lesser-known Tilda Swinton drama “Julia,” which was thought to be an adapted screenplay, was instead classified as original.
The full list of qualifying films in each category:
Original screenplay:
ADAM
ADORATION
ADVENTURELAND
ADVENTURES OF POWER
ALIENS IN THE ATTIC
ALL ABOUT STEVE
AMERICAN VIOLET
AMREEKA
ANTICHRIST
ARMORED
AVATAR
AWAY WE GO
BLACK DYNAMITE
BLUE TOOTH VIRGIN
BRIDE WARS
BROKEN EMBRACES
BRONSON
THE BURNING PLAIN
CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY
CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA
CHERRY BLOSSOMS
COLD SOULS
COUPLES RETREAT
THE COVE
CROSSING OVER
DANCE FLICK
DAYTIME DRINKING
DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS?
DON’T FADE AWAY
DRAG ME TO HELL
DUPLICITY
EXTRACT
FIGHTING
FIRED UP
(500) DAYS OF SUMMER
THE FOURTH KIND
FRANKIE & ALICE
FREE STYLE
FUNNY PEOPLE
G-FORCE
GAMER
GENTLEMEN BRONCOS
GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST
GOOD HAIR
GOODBYE SOLO
THE GOODS: LIVE HARD*SELL HARD
THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD
THE HANGOVER
THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT
THE HEADLESS WOMAN
HOME
THE HURT LOCKER
I LOVE YOU, MAN
IL DIVO
THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR.
