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Aaron Sorkin and Christopher Nolan Win 2011 Writers Guild Awards

by Alex Billington
February 6, 2011
Source: Deadline

Finally, winners we can all be happy about! The 2011 Writers Guild Awards were held last night at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles. The two key winners: Inception, written by Christopher Nolan, winner of Best Original Screenplay from the WGA; and The Social Network, written by Aaron Sorkin (seen above), winner of Best Adapted Screenplay (original nominees below). As for documentaries, Charles Ferguson's Inside Job took top prize. Last year, Up in the Air did not go on to win the Oscar even though it won a WGA, so it's hard to tell, but I would absolutely love to see Nolan take home an Oscar, too.

The other nominees in Original Screenplay included: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz & John McLaughlin for Black Swan, Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson for The Fighter, Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg for The Kids Are All Right and Nicole Holofcener for Please Give. The other Adapted Screenplay nominees included: Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy for 127 Hours, John Requa & Glenn Ficarra for I Love You Phillip Morris, Peter Craig, Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard for The Town, and Joel Coen & Ethan Coen for True Grit. I'm quite satisfied, I really think the WGA chose the two best scripts of 2010, hands down. Now onwards to the Oscars! However, there were a few more honorary awards given out at the WGA last night to mention:

» Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth, recipients of the 2011 Paul Selvin Award for their screenplay for Fair Game. The award recognizes work which embodies the spirit of constitutional rights and civil liberties.

» Academy Award-winner Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List) will receive the WGAW's 2011 Laurel Award for Screen, honoring lifetime achievement in outstanding writing for motion pictures.

» Iconic Italian screenwriter Tonino Guerra (Amarcord, Blow-Up) has been named the recipient of the 2011 Jean Renoir Award for Screenwriting Achievement.

We could argue endlessly over which screenplays were really the best of 2010 and deserving of accolades like this, but I think we already know the best of the best (plus we're going to have more on scripts in the future). To see a complete list of WGA 2011 winners, including for TV, video games & shorts, head over to Deadline.

Filed under Awards, Movie News, Opinions

From around the web:

Anonymous

YES!!!! Wow, Inception wins! Well earned... Nolan made a movie that will last.
Al

Well no, we aren't all happy. That will never happen with awards, and it didn't happen here. Sorkin's screenplay was laughably melodramatic. And let me counter argue in advance....yes, I understand it was a difficult time for all involved in real life and no doubt filled with thi kind of suspense. Personally though, I felt it a little much.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1503900114 Tyler Morgan
  
  He condensed the dramatic parts into a "dramatic" movie. Your counter argument negates your previous statement. Would anyone complain that Titantic was laughably melodramatic because it only focused on the sad parts of the event instead of how great the dinner was the night before...
Day

Yeah! So happy for Christopher Nolan. And you know what, in my opinion, this award should mean more to writers than an Oscar considering (I am kind of assuming here) that the WGA voters actually reads the scripts.