The socially conscious horror thriller Get Out and the coming-of-age romance Call Me by Your Name were the top film winners at the 2018 Writers Guild of America Awards Sunday night in simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles. Both strong contenders throughout this movie awards season, Get Out and Call Me by Your Name have often been nominated by critics groups and the likes of the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild, but have often fallen short of converting their nominations into wins.
Instead, Guillermo del Toro’s sci-fi fantasy romance The Shape of Water and Martin McDonagh’s dark crime comedy Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, have amassed the most love – with The Shape of Water having captured Best Picture from the Producers Guild of America and Best Director for del Toro from the Directors Guild of America; while Three Billboards took Best Actress (Frances McDormand), Best Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell) and Best Acting Ensemble at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Fortunes changed for both Get Out and Call Me by Your Name Sunday night, however, with each film snaring a major win at the WGA Awards. Jordan Peele took the the guild’s Best Original Screenplay Award for Get Out, while legendary filmmaker James Ivory was awarded Best Adapted Screenplay for Call Me by Your Name. With the honors, both films have gained momentum going into the final stretch of this year’s awards season, which concludes with the 90th Annual Academy Awards on March 4.
For its Best Original Screenplay honor, Get Out bested fellow nominees The Big Sick, I, Tonya, Lady Bird and The Shape of Water. Meanwhile, Call Me by Your Name won out over The Disaster Artist, Logan, Molly’s Game and Mudbound. Noticeably absent from the WGA nominations for Best Original Screenplay was Three Billboards, which did not conform to the guild’s eligibility structure.
McDonagh’s Three Billboards script did, however, earn a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination, where it supplanted WGA nominee I, Tonya in a race that also includes The Big Sick, Get Out, Lady Bird and The Shape of Water. The nominees for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar are the same five films that were up for the WGA Award. On the TV side, The Handmaid’s Tale won the WGA Award for Best Drama Series, while Veep took the Best Comedy Series honors and Saturday Night Live won for Best Variety/Sketch Series. The Handmaid’s Tale also won for Best New Series, while individual episode honors went to Better Call Saul (drama) and Will & Grace (comedy).
As far as the Oscar race pans out, it will be interesting to see if Three Billboards can muster enough support in its bid for Oscar gold over Get Out. Because Three Billboards appears to have the inside track on winning Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, its completely within reason that the film could pick up enough momentum for McDonagh to upset Peele’s Get Out for the prize, especially since McDonagh took Best Original Screenplay honors at the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. The big advantage Peele has, of course, is that neither of those bodies vote on the Oscars, but some WGA members do.
Source: Writers Guild of America
