Parasite maintained its status as a big Oscar contender while Jojo Rabbit positioned itself as an Oscar spoiler as each were the big winners at the annual Writers Guild Awards, honoring the best scriptwriting of 2019.
Writer / Director Bong Joon-ho and his co-writer Han Jin-won won the Best Original Screenplay award from the WGA, becoming the first foreign-language film to ever win the guild’s top prize. It topped fellow nominee 1917, the Best Picture favorite.
Along with their Best Cast win at the Screen Actors Guild awards, Parasite could prove to be a Best Picture upset over frontrunner 1917. As far as its Oscar prospects for Original Screenplay, the South Korean thriller will face stiff competition against two-time Academy Award winner Quentin Tarantino and his script for Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (which was ineligible for the WGA competition).
Meanwhile, in a bit of an upset, Jojo Rabbit won the Best Adapted Screenplay prize for writer / director Taika Waititi. He upset Greta Gerwig for her acclaimed restructuring of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. This should make Jojo the presumptive favorite in the same category on Oscar night, but don’t count out Little Women. It could still go either way.
Interestingly enough, both Parasite and Jojo Rabbit were the big winners at the American Cinema Editors awards, plus Jojo won a top prize from the Costume Guild. Waititi’s Nazi satire-drama hadn’t been considered a major Academy Award contender but these recent wins could suggest it may actually steal some Oscar gold.
Here is the full list of WGA winners (and nominees). Trophies were handed out on Saturday February 1, the weekend prior to the 92nd Annual Academy Awards on Sunday February 9.
2019 WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA WINNERS
Original Screenplay
Winner: Parasite, by Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won, Story by Bong Joon Ho
– 1917, by Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns
– Booksmart, by Emily Halpern & Sarah Haskins and Susanna Fogel and Katie Silberman
– Knives Out, by Rian Johnson
– Marriage Story, by Noah Baumbach
Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Jojo Rabbit, by Taika Waititi, Based on the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunens
– A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, by Micah Fitzerman-Blue & Noah Harpster, Inspired by the Article “Can You Say…Hero?” by Tom Junod
– The Irishman, by Steven Zaillian, Based upon the Book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt
– Joker, by Todd Phillips & Scott Silver, Based on Characters from DC Comics
– Little Women, by Greta Gerwig, Based on the Novel by Louisa May Alcott
Documentary Screenplay
Winner: The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, by Alex Gibney
– Citizen K, by Alex Gibney
– Foster, by Mark Jonathan Harris
– Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People, by Robert Seidman & Oren Rudavsky
– The Kingmaker, by Lauren Greenfield
(Click here to see the Television winners)
Click on links below for other Critics Group Awards and Guild Nominees that have been announced so far for the 2019 / 20 season:
Directors Guild of America Winners
Screen Actors Guild Award Winners
Producers Guild of America Winners
Critics’ Choice Awards Winners
Directors Guild of America Nominations
Golden Globe Winners
National Society of Film Critics
Dallas/Fort-Worth Film Critics Association
Boston Society of Film Critics
Oklahoma Film Critics Circle
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
AFI American Film Institute Awards
New York Film Critics Circle
National Board of Review
Atlanta Film Critics Circle