I’ve already written an article on how many films in 2012 were based on popular books. Now it’s time for the 2013 awards ceremonies to show just how well these adaptations translated onto the screen. If the Golden Globes, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards are any indication, it’s going to be a good year for book adaptations at the Oscars this month.
Below is the list of adaptations that made the cut for the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Life of Pi – Pi Patel is the son a zookeeper and a story teller. While traveling on a cargo ship from Japan to North American, the ship sinks and leave Pi alone on a lifeboat full of zoo animals including a Bengal Tiger named Richard. Richard manages to eat the other animals, but with Pi’s knowledge of animals, he’s able to outsmart the tiger until they land off the coast of Mexico. Mexican authorities are skeptical of Pi’s story so he tells another that may be more believable, but is it true?
Argo – Tony Mendez, a former CIA Agent, retells the story of the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-81 when 6 Americans manage to escape the Embassy and were being held in the Canadian Ambassador’s home awaiting rescue in his book The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA. Mendez used the guise of doing a sci-film and needing the landscape of the desert to bring the hostages out and rescue them from certain death.
SAG Nominations – Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture*, Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (Alan Arkin)
Lincoln – Doris Kearns Goodwin biography of Abraham Lincoln, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, is the setting by which this movie was adapted and focuses on the last four months of the President’s life in which he battles to have the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution passed by the United States House of Representatives.
SAG Nominations – Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Lead Role (Daniel Day-Lewis )*, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (Tommy Lee Jones)*, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Sally Field)
Les Miserables (A FAVE!) – Author Victor Hugo brings to life the plight of the French during the time of the French Revolution. Through the many twists and turns we are introduced to several characters including Jean Valjean, a criminal fugitive who has turned his life around, Javert is the ruthless bounty hunter who is after Jean Valjean. Cossette is the bastard child of a prostitute, Fantine, in which Valjean has vowed to raise and nurture Marius is the son of a Napoleon sympathizer who fights the revolution.
SAG Nominations – Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Lead Role (Hugh Jackman), Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Anne Hathaway)*, Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble
The Silver Linings Playbook – Author Matthew Quick tells the story of a former history teacher who returns home to Collingswood, NJ after being released from a Neurology hospital in Baltimore. Pat theorizes that life is a film created by God that the “silver lining” will be what allows him to be reunited with his wife Nikki.
SAG Nominations – Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Lead Role (Bradley Cooper), Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Lead Role (Jennifer Lawrence)*, Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role(Robert De Niro)
Anna Karenina – Russian writer Leo Tolstoy tells us a story of forbidden love that turns into heart-breaking obsession. Married to a government official, Anna Karenina falls in love with the Count Vronsky and runs away with him to Italy. When their life together is unsuccessful they return to Russia where Vronsky picks up his life where he left it and Karenina finds she has been shunned by her society. Karenina grows increasingly possessive and paranoid of moments of infidelity she imagines Vronsky having with others. This eight-part novel was originally part of a Russian newspaper series similar to the stories of Sherlock Holmes.
Cloud Atlas – Written by British author David Mitchell, this novel is the story of how five times in history impact the others. We are introduced to six different stories all taking part in different times from nineteenth century South Pacific to a post-apocalyptic future. Each of the main characters of the stories become tied to together by each other’s histories and futures until we see the full circle of evolution.
*Indicates a win for the film.
Did your favorite book adaptation win in any of these categories?
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