USC Scripter Award: ‘Gone Girl,’ ‘Inherent Vice,’ ‘Wild’ Among Nominees

The USC Libraries have announced the nominees for the 27th annual USC Libraries Scripter Award, which honors the screenwriter(s) of the year’s “most accomplished cinematic adaptations” as well as the author(s) of the “written work upon which the screenplay is based.”

This year’s nominees…

Gone Girl, adapted by Gillian Flynn from her novel of the same name

The Imitation Game, adapted by Graham Moore from Andrew Hodges‘ book Alan Turing: The Enigma

Inherent Vice, adapted by Paul Thomas Anderson from Thomas Pynchon‘s novel of the same name

The Theory of Everything, adapted by Anthony McCarten from Jane Hawking‘s Traveling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen

Wild, adapted by Nick Hornby from Cheryl Strayed‘s memoir of the same name

The winning screenwriter(s) and author(s) will be announced at a black-tie dinner ceremony on Saturday, Jan. 31 at USC’s historical Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library. Oscar winners Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford will serve as honorary chairs of the event.

Members of the selection committee this year include, among others, authors Michael Chabon and Mona Simpson; screenwriters John Ridley and Steve Zaillian; film critics Leonard Maltin and Kenneth Turan; and USC deans Elizabeth Daley and Catherine Quinlan.

Over the 26 years in which the Scripter has been awarded, 10 films that won the Scripter went on to win the best adapted screenplay Oscar, including each of the last four: Schindler’s List (1993), Sense and Sensibility (1995), L.A. Confidential (1997), A Beautiful Mind (2001), No Country for Old Men (2007), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), The Social Network (2010), The Descendants (2011), Argo (2012) and 12 Years a Slave (2013).

Twitter: @ScottFeinberg