Hollywood Writers Honor Coppola, 'American Splendor'

[Khephra]

By REUTERS

Published: February 22, 2004


Filed at 11:53 a.m. ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood's screenwriters on Saturday snubbed the final installment of the highly acclaimed ``Lord of the Rings'' trilogy and instead awarded a key prize to a low-budget film based on a comic book writer.

``American Splendor,'' which revolves around the travails of comics connoisseur Harvey Pekar, won the Writers Guild of America Award for best adapted screenplay, while writer/director Sofia Coppola's ``Lost in Translation,'' about a pair of mismatched Americans languishing in Tokyo, nabbed the trophy for original screenplay.

more........

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/arts/entertainment-leisure-writers.html

[joeybee12]

1. Probably a good prediction of the Oscar....

...and probably the weak part of LOTR was the script--well-done, but doesn't really rise above the level of well-done.

[girl gone mad]

2. I liked..

American Splendor.

I can't say I think Lost in Translation deserves an award for writing, though.

[stopbush]

3. Ditto

Watched AS last night. Excellent.

Lost in Translation - a total waste of time. Aimless, meandering and - to me, at least - uninspired. Who cares? I just didn't relate to it at all, and I rented it with great anticipation. What a disappointment! How could they nominate that barker and ignore Swimming Pool from the same studio?

Haven't seen LOTR-3. I'll wait for the DVD.

[jpgray]

4. "Lost in Translation" was pretty paint-by-numbers

You have your Hollywood royalty brat with your regular "oh the ennui" indie screenplay. They mock those original and tough targets: silly Japanese people and their loony accents, and of course Hollywood bimbos. Wheee.