Oscar Watch: Academy Corrupts Syriana

In a shocking turn of events, the screenplay for Stepehn Gaghan's SYRIANA was apparently classified by the Academy as an original screenplay. Only a few days remain before Oscar nomination ballots are due, and for the past several weeks, Warner Bros. has been touting the film for consideration as an adaptation. No one pointed out until Wednesday that they were pushing it in the "wrong" category.

If someone has voted for the film in the adapted category, it will not be switched over to original. Even if every member of the 6,000 strong organization chalked it up for a citation in adapted, each vote would be tossed.
Gaghan on Wednesday said, "I wrote a lot of original stuff that wasn't in the book and I'm proud of that. And I'm proud that the Academy considers it original. But we optioned a book and I tried to honor Bob Baer. I used his life and I used his book, so I assumed -- everyone assumed -- it was an adaptation." On screen, the credits for the pic say "based on the book 'See No Evil' by Robert Baer."

"You don't do work for awards; it's the gift of being able to make a movie. But it's a weird feeling. Nobody called me, nobody alerted me. I'm kind of heartbroken."