Best Original Screenplay

Like the Best Actress field, the Original Screenplay contest looks like a maternity ward. The unlikely front-runner is first-time scribe (and one-time stripper) Diablo Cody for her hysterical and heartfelt Juno. It was the best-reviewed of this year’s three unplanned pregnancy films; Knocked Up may be too vulgar for the crusty Academy, and Waitress may be too slight (and released too long ago.) Cody’s primary challenger is – hey, another lady writer! Tamara Jenkins’s The Savages is her first film since her brilliant Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), and though her triumphant return to film hasn’t nabbed the acting honors it was expected, her script has proven a mighty force in this contest. Next up is – hey, another lady writer! Nancy Oliver’s Lars and the Real Girl may not be anywhere near the Best Picture race, but since there are 10 writing nominees every year versus 5 Best Pics, the Academy has more room to honor the “less serious” (more interesting?) films. Cody, Jenkins, and Oliver will make history for the most women nominated in a writing category in a single year, and a surprise inclusion of the late Adrienne Shelley could bring it up to four. The only dude sure to be included is Tony Gilroy, for the solid Best Picture candidate Michael Clayton. Then the fifth nod is up for grabs. Judd Apatow was the King of Comedy in 2007: He wrote and directed Knocked Up, produced Superbad, and co-wrote Walk Hard; watch those three back to back and you might go into a Funny Coma. (Zing!) But the Academy needs a spoonful of drama to make the comedy go down; straight-up yuk-fests are a tougher sell. There was some early support for Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead by Kelly Masterson (Kelly is a guy), but that film has simply been lost in the shuffle. So I turn to the Academy’s recent taste for nominating sure-fire winners for Animated Feature in the writing categories: Shrek, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles all won Animated Feature with a writing nod under their belts, and so will Ratatouille by Incredibles writer-director Brad Bird.