Another tricky category this one. As proven by “Barbie” this past year, you can never guarantee as to which of the screenplay categories the Academy will place certain films depending on their origin. The Academy also love to celebrate writer-directors in this category, of which there are plenty here.
Writer-directors to consider for original screenplay include; Sean Baker “Anora”, Greg Kwedar “Sing Sing”, Steve McQueen “Blitz”, Jesse Eisenberg “A Real Pain”, Mohammad Rasoulof “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” and Mike Leigh “Hard Truths”. The only potential outlier is Justin Kuritzkes for his script work on Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers”, a collaboration which may also earn the writer an Adapted Screenplay nomination for “Queer” which will premiere later this year.
Full list of Original Screenplay predictions – June 2024:
Strong Contenders
- Anora (Sean Baker)
- Sing Sing (Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar)
- Blitz (Steve McQueen)
- Challengers (Justin Kuritzkes)
- A Real Pain (Jesse Eisenberg)
Possible Contenders
- The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoulof)
- Hard Truths (Mike Leigh)
- Kinds of Kindness (Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou)
- The Apprentice (Gabriel Sherman)
- The Room Next Door (Pedro Almodóvar)
Outsiders
- Emilia Perez (Jacques Audiard)
- Didi (Sean Wang)
- Juror No. 2 (Jonathan Abrams)
- His Three Daughters (Azazel Jacobs)
- The End (Joshua Oppenheimer, Rasmus Heisterberg)
Check out my Movie Reviews and other way-too-early Oscar Predictions via the links below.
Dan Loves Film 
Great predictions for best original screenplay. I definitely agree this is a tricky category to predict. All of the films do sound promising to me, but the one that stands out the most is “Challengers”. I thought that was a beautifully written film by Justin Kuritzkes. Non-linear storytelling is a tricky technique to use in movies, but it worked so well in that film. Kuritzkes expertly used the non-linear structure to capture how bonds among childhood lovers develop over time. “Challengers” is one of my favorite films of the year, and I would love it if it somehow managed to score a victory in this category. The Academy has the tradition of ignoring sports movies, so we’ll just have to wait and see. That being said, it does seem to be the most deserving winner in this category.
Here’s why I loved the storytelling of “Challengers”:
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