Some people think the Adapted Screenplay race is boring. Not with this vicious, competitive group it isn't. This is the most exciting, intense race there is. Stay tuned. #Oscars2023 pic.twitter.com/QIOm8xH7uC
— @realSarahPolley (she/her) (@realsarahpolley) March 8, 2023
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect Celine Song's Best Original Screenplay nomination for her directorial debut Past Lives.
Sarah Polley is in rarefied Oscars company among Canadians. Polley has 2 Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay: Away from Her (2007) and Women Talking (2022).
Paul Haggis is the only other Canadian with more than a single screenplay nomination. Haggis won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Crash (2005) and has 2 Academy Awards nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006).
Roger Avary won Best Original Screenplay for Pulp Fiction (1994). John Irving, who has been a Canadian citizen since 2019, won Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules (1999).
We focused on acting roles on Thursday with Brendan Fraser's Best Actor nomination for The Whale. We want to focus on Canadians with screenplay nominations.
Before doing research, I figured the list of screenplay Oscars nominations for Canadian films would be a short list. I was pleasantly surprised to see 7 Canadians, including Polley, on that list.
| Year | Name | Film | Type |
| 1974 | Lionel Chetwynd | The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz | Adapted |
| 1974 | Mordecai Richler | The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz | Adapted |
| 1975 | Ted Allan | Lies My Father Told Me | Original |
| 1997 | Atom Egoyan | The Sweet Hereafter | Adapted |
| 2003 | Denys Arcand | The Barbarian Invasions | Original |
| 2007 | Sarah Polley | Away from Her | Adapted |
| 2015 | Emma Donoghue | Room | Adapted |
Canadian film review: Away From Her
The first 3 people came at a time when quite a few Quebec films were in English. Lies My Father Told Me is the only film on this list that I have not seen.
Polley has a connection to Atom Egoyan and The Sweet Hereafter in that she is a primary actor in the film. Egoyan was an executive producer on Away from Her. Julie Christie (Away from Her) and Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) have Best Actress nominations from a Canadian film. Brie Larson is the only Best Actress winner from a Canadian film for Room.
Egoyan is the only one on this list who adapted content from outside Canada (depending on how you view the novel Room), taking an American novel. Polley adapted the screenplay for Away from Her from the Alice Munro short story The Bear Came over the Mountain. Polley adapted the Miriam Toews novel Women Talking for the film of the same name.
Denys Arcand has the only Oscar for what is now the Best International Feature Film for The Barbarian Invasions as well as the screenplay nomination. Arcand has 2 other Academy Award nominations for that category: The Decline of the American Empire and Jesus of Montréal.
Polley had her first Oscar nomination for her directorial debut at the age of 28 for Away from Her. Christie's co-star Gordon Pinsent recently passed away at the age of 92.
Donoghue, originally from Ireland and lives in Canada, is the only one on the list with a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination from her original work.
Brendan Fraser might be the first Canadian to ever win the Oscar for Best Actor
Sarah Polley gets Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay but not Best Director
Women Talking wins Robert Altman Award at the 2023 Independent Spirit Awards
There are other Canadians with screenplay nominees who we have not mentioned. Daniel Petrie Jr. was nominated for Best Original Screenplay for Beverly Hills Cop (1984). Celine Song joins this list with a Best Original Screenplay nomination for her directorial debut Past Lives (2023).
In the adapted screenplay category, we have:
John Meehan The Divorcee 1930
Stanley Mann The Collector 1965
Bernard Slade Same Time, Next Year 1978
Jason Reitman Up in the Air 2009
Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell District 9 2009
Denis Villeneuve Dune 2021
Canadians Oscars nomination scoreboard
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
Polley's fellow nominees in the Best Adapted Screenplay are All Quiet on the Western Front (screenplay — Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell); Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (written by Rian Johnson); Living (written by Kazuo Ishiguro); and Top Gun: Maverick screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks).
The Coen Brothers won Best Adapted Screenplay for No Country for Old Men (from the Cormac McCarthy novel) the year where Polley was up for Away from Her.
The 95th Academy Awards is Sunday at 8 pm Eastern on ABC in the United States and CTV in Canada.
Twitter capture: @realsarahpolley
photo credit: Away from Her
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