Life of Pi, Lincoln among Writers Guild Award nominees

Life of Pi, based on a novel by Canada’s Yann Martel, and Lincoln, based in part on the book Team of Rivals, have earned nominations for best adapted screenplay from the Writers Guild of America.

In the adapted screenplay category, Life of Pi and Lincoln are competing against Silver Linings Playbook, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Argo, about the Canadian embassy operation that helped six Americans escape from Iran during the 1980 hostage crisis.

In the original screenplay category, there were nominations announced Friday for sci-fi story Looper, Moonrise Kingdom, Zero Dark Thirty and The Master, which was overlooked at the Producers’ Guild Award nominations revealed Thursday.

Screenwriter David Magee bags the nomination for Life of Pi, about a boy adrift in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, based on Martel’s Booker Prize-winning novel.

Tony Kushner, who won a WGA award in 2005 for an adaptation of his own play Angels in America, is the writer for Lincoln, one of several frontrunners for Oscar nominations next week. He based his script in part on the non-fiction book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Argo, with a screenplay by Chris Terrio, was based on a selection from The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez and the Wired Magazine article “The Great Escape” by Joshuah Bearman.

But the film came under heavy criticism in Canada for downplaying the role of Ken Taylor, the Canadian ambassador who stickhandled the rescue, instead focusing on the story of one CIA agent.

The WGA Awards are to be handed out during simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles on Feb. 17. They are one of a clutch of industry honours that pave the way for the Oscars.