Oscars: ‘Barbie’ steps into Best Adapted Screenplay Top 5 after switching categories

Marcus James Dixon
·3 min read
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The Best Adapted Screenplay category at the 2024 Oscars has gained some pink heels.

The Writers Branch executive committee of the academy recently determined that Warner Bros.’ box office behemoth “Barbie,” written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, was not eligible for the Best Original Screenplay race because it was based on the popular Mattel dolls. Variety first reported the news. That prompted a category switcheroo in Gold Derby’s predictions center in early January, and now the script has officially cracked into our Top 5 in the adapted race.

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As of this writing, “Barbie’s” four strongest contenders in Best Adapted Screenplay look to be “Oppenheimer” by Christopher Nolan, “Poor Things” by Tony McNamara, “Killers of the Flower Moon” by Eric Roth & Martin Scorsese, and “American Fiction” by Cord Jefferson. Also watch out for potential spoilers like “The Zone of Interest” by Jonathan Glazer and “All of Us Strangers” by Andrew Haigh to shake up the race.

Awards confusion surrounding the “Barbie” screenplay has been there since its debut last summer at the top of the box office. While groups like BAFTA, the Writers Guild of America and the Critics Choice Awards all declared the script to be original, others like the Indiana Film Journalists and now the Oscars have labeled it adapted. The academy’s thinking is that, since “Barbie” is based on a childhood doll, it’s not truly original. However, it should be noted that a prior film based on toys, “The Lego Movie,” campaigned for Best Original Screenplay at the 2015 Oscars, though it was snubbed.

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“Barbie” takes place in an eye-popping fantasy world (described in the script as “like a movie-musical of the best life ever”) where the dolls that humans play with are actually real. After Barbie (Margot Robbie) experiences an existential crisis, she and her tagalong boyfriend Ken (Ryan Gosling) travel to the real world to try to discover the truth about humanity.

Best Adapted Screenplay is just one of the many Oscar nominations Gold Derby predicts “Barbie” will receive on January 23. Other expected bids are for Best Picture, Best Director (Gerwig), Best Actress (Robbie), Best Supporting Actor (Gosling), Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design and Best Song x2 (for “What Was I Made For?” and “I’m Just Ken”).

Gerwig and Baumbach, who are married, have both been nominated before at the Oscars, though neither have won. She was previously recognized for writing and directing “Lady Bird” (2017) and for writing “Little Women” (2019), while he was up for writing “The Squid and the Whale” (2005) and for writing and producing “Marriage Story” (2019). Could they both finally prevail for the difficult task of adapting the Barbie doll into a bonafide Hollywood phenomenon?

PREDICT the 2024 Oscar nominees through January 23

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