Literary adaptations made a strong showing at the Academy Award nominations, with Emilia Pérez, Wicked, and A Complete Unknown among the films based on books drawing multiple nods from the Oscar voters.
Emilia Pérez, based on director Jacques Audiard’s opera libretto, which was itself based on Boris Razon’s French-language novel Écoute, led all movies with 13 nominations, including ones for best picture, best lead female actor (Karla Sofía Gascón), best supporting female actor (Zoe Saldaña), and best director (Audiard). The film’s 13 nods are the most ever for a foreign-language film, and Gascón is the first out transgender actor to ever earn an Oscar nomination.
Wicked, the film adaptation of the stage musical based on Gregory Maguire’s Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, earned 10 nominations, including best picture, best lead female actor (Cynthia Erivo), and best supporting female actor (Ariana Grande).
A Complete Unknown, based on Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties, was nominated in eight categories, earning nods for best picture, best lead male actor (Timothée Chalamet), best supporting male actor (Edward Norton), and best supporting female actor (Monica Barbaro). Conclave, an adaptation of Robert Harris’ novel, also earned eight nods, including best picture, best lead male actor (Ralph Fiennes), and best supporting female actor (Isabella Rossellini).
Other literary adaptations to earn multiple nominations include Dune: Part Two, based on Frank Herbert’s Dune; Nosferatu, inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula; I’m Still Here, based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s memoir; The Wild Robot, based on Peter Brown’s middle-grade novel; and Nickel Boys, an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel The Nickel Boys.
The winners will be announced at a televised ceremony on March 2.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
