And the Oscar Goes To ...

The winning picture in the Best Picture category at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony will mostly likely be based on a book.

Out of the eight nominated films, five are based on books:

• The Big Short – book by Michael Lewis
• Brooklyn – book by Colm Tóibín
• The Martian – book by Andy Weir
• The Revenant – book by Michael Punke
• Room – book by Emma Donoghue

One is loosely based on a book:

• Bridge of Spies – Strangers on a Bridge by James Donovan

Then there are three movies nominated in other categories which are also based on books:

• The Danish Girl – book by David Ebershoff
• Steve Jobs – book by Walter Isaacson
• Carol – The Price of Salt, or Carol by Patricia Highsmith

Hollywood has had a love of films based on books since the beginning of the award ceremony with 1929/1930’s Outstanding Production winner All Quiet on the Western Front based on Erich Maria Remarque’s novel. Some of these book-to-movie adaptations have been more than just great movies - they have helped usher in changes to the motion picture industry.

• Gone with the Wind – First color movie to win Best Picture
• Hamlet (1948) – First non-Hollywood produced movie to win Best Picture
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – One of only two sequels to win Best Picture (the other is Godfather Part II).

These book-to-movie adaptations do not only get nominated: they win a lot of awards:

• Ben-Hur and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – 11
• West Side Story (based on the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare) – 10
• The English Patient – 9
• Gone with the Wind and Slumdog Millionaire – 8

Here are some more book related films that have set records:

• Largest Sweep (winning awards in every nominated category) – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Big Five Winners (won Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay) – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Silence of the Lambs
• First fantasy film to win Best Picture – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• First posthumous nomination for a male actor – James Dean, East of Eden
• First Asian (and non-Caucasian) to win Best Director – Ang Lee (from Taiwan) for Brokeback Mountain
• First Black filmmaker to win Best Picture – Steve McQueen won for producing 12 Years a Slave
• First Black actress to win for acting – Hattie McDaniel won Best Supporting Actress for Gone with the Wind
• First Black writer to win for screenwriting – Geoffrey S. Fletcher won Best Adapted Screenplay for Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

-Amelia R.