Your Literary Guide to the 2017 Academy Awards
The 89th Academy Awards will air this Sunday, and this year, the show is likely to be a good—or at least an interesting—one. But the Oscars aren’t only about film and politics; they’re also about books. At least tangentially. After all, everyone knows that there would be way fewer great movies if there weren’t books and plays to adapt, and the Oscars tend to reflect this. Over at the Chicago Review of Books, Adam Morgan points out that it’s actually relatively un-literary year for the Oscars. He calculates that the all-time percentage of Best Picture nominees that have been based on books is 53% (same percentage for literary winners of Best Picture, by the way), but that this year, it’s only 3 out of 9, or 33%, making 2017 the least literary Oscars since 2006. Very true, if you’re being strict about what “literary” means. Morgan doesn’t count Fences or Moonlight, because they’re adapted from plays (fair enough; his criteria is “based on books”), but I think you have to count plays in any account of literary influences, so they’ll be highlighted below—and including both of them brings this year’s Best Picture nominations right up to 55% literary, so how’s that for cooking the books? (sorry). Below, a full guide to this Sunday’s awards, with literary offerings in bold, so you’ll be the most informed participant at your local Oscar party.
Best Picture
Arrival (based on “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang)
Fences (based on Fences, by August Wilson)
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures (based on Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly)
La La Land
Lion (based on A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley with Larry Buttrose)
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight (based on In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney)
Actor in a Leading Role
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences
Actress in a Leading Role
Isabelle Huppert, Elle (based on Oh… by Philippe Djian)
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie (borderline—based on Theodore H. White’s 1963 LIFE magazine cover story/interview, “For President Kennedy: An Epilogue”)
Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
Actor in a Supporting Role
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel, Lion
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals (based on Tony and Susan by Austin Wright)
Actress in a Supporting Role
Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
Animated Feature Film
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini (based on Autobiographie d’une Courgette, by Gilles Paris)
The Red Turtle
Zootopia
Cinematography
Arrival
La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Silence (based on Silence by Shūsaku Endō)
Costume Design
Allied
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (based on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, by Newt Scamander (J.K. Rowling))
Florence Foster Jenkins
Jackie
La La Land
Directing
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Documentary (Feature)
Fire at Sea
I Am Not Your Negro (based on James Baldwin’s unfinished Remember This House)
Life, Animated (based on Animated: A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism, by Ron Suskind)
O.J.: Made in America
13th
Documentary (Short Subject)
Extremis
4.1 Miles
Joe’s Violin
Watani: My Homeland
The White Helmets
Film Editing
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
La La Land
Moonlight
Foreign Language Film
Land of Mine
A Man Called Ove (based on A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman)
The Salesman (borderline—Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman plays an integral role)
Tanna
Toni Erdmann
Makeup and Hairstyling
A Man Called Ove
Star Trek Beyond
Suicide Squad
Music (Original Score)
Jackie
La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Passengers
Music (Original Song)
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from La La Land; Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
“Can’t Stop The Feeling” from Trolls; Music and Lyric by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster
“City Of Stars” from La La Land; Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
“The Empty Chair” from Jim: The James Foley Story; Music and Lyric by J. Ralph and Sting
“How Far I’ll Go” from Moana; Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Production Design
Arrival
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hail, Caesar!
La La Land
Passengers
Short Film (Animated)
Blind Vaysha (“Blind Vaysha” by Georgi Gospodinov)
Borrowed Time
Pear Cider and Cigarettes
Pearl
Piper
Short Film (Live Action)
Ennemis Intérieurs
La Femme et le TGV
Silent Nights
Sing
Timecode
Sound Editing
Arrival
Deepwater Horizon (borderline—based on a 2010 New York Times article, “Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours,” by David Barstow, David S. Rohde, and Stephanie Saul)
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Sully (based on Highest Duty by Chesley Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow)
Sound Mixing
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (based on 13 Hours by Mitchell Zuckoff)
Visual Effects
Deepwater Horizon
Doctor Strange (borderline—based on Marvel’s Doctor Strange character, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko)
The Jungle Book (based on The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling)
Kubo and the Two Strings
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Arrival
Fences
Hidden Figures
Lion
Moonlight
Writing (Original Screenplay)
Hell or High Water
La La Land
The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea
20th Century Women
Originally published in Literary Hub.
