Oscars upset in the making: ‘Past Lives’ could win Best Original Screenplay
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“Anatomy of a Fall” is the favorite to win Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars; director Justine Triet co-wrote the script with partner Arthur Harari. But another multi-hyphenate could pull off an upset: “Past Lives” writer/director Celine Song. Her acclaimed film follows two childhood friends from South Korea who reconnect in the USA years later and find that their bond is still there. Greta Lee and BAFTA-nominated Teo Yoo bring Song’s delicately crafted characters to life while the restrained story is a clear sign of Song’s maturity and control as a writer.
Her film has done very well with critics groups. She won Best Original Screenplay from the Austin Film Critics Association Awards, the Florida Film Critics Circle Awards, and the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards. She was also nominated at the Critics Choice Awards for Best Original Screenplay. She lost that race to “Barbie” (Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach) which is now nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars. And she won First Time Feature Film at the DGA Awards. Of course, that was for helming — but the fact that she garnered such a prestigious award just shows that she has a lot of love across this awards season.
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Song has only lost to Triet and Harari once. That was at the Golden Globes when “Anatomy of a Fall” won Best Screenplay. The films will be going head to head at the BAFTAs, too, where they are nominated alongside “Barbie,” “The Holdovers,” and “Maestro.”
This is a very interesting lineup. “Barbie” could beat both films just as the movie did at the Critics Choice Awards. Equally, “The Holdovers” could snatch a win, too, particularly as BAFTA clearly loves that film. And “Past Lives” could easily win, too. Plenty of BAFTA voters and members I’ve spoken to have name-checked “Past Lives” as one of their favorite films of the year. BAFTA feels key here — if “Anatomy of a Fall” loses, and there are three films that could all easily beat it to the trophy here, suddenly the French film’s Oscar position feels at risk.
Song could also benefit from an IOU win for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars. She was snubbed for Best Director and voters could decide to give her the writing win to make up for that. Of course, they could think the same thing about Triet as Triet is nominated for Best Director but isn’t going to win. But perhaps they will be satisfied that, by nominating Triet for Best Director, they’ve rewarded “Anatomy of a Fall” enough. They may feel that because Song didn’t get that directing bid, she’s not received quite enough love as she deserves. That could lead to a makeup win for her writing, which is something that has happened plenty of times before at the Oscars.
Sarah Polley was snubbed for Best Director in 2023 for “Women Talking” and she went on to win Best Adapted Screenplay. Sian Heder was also snubbed for directing in 2022 for “CODA” and she, too, won Best Adapted Screenplay. And Taika Waititi was snubbed for Best Director in 2020 for “Jojo Rabbit.” He then won Best Adapted Screenplay.
It’s the same story in the Original Screenplay category, too. Peter Farrelly missed out on a Best Director bid in 2019 for “Green Book” but won Original Screenplay alongside Brian Currie and Nick Vallelonga. In 2014, Spike Jonze won Original Screenplay for “Her” after being blanked in the directors’ category. And Quentin Tarantino won this same writing category in 2013 for “Django Unchained” after being overlooked for a Best Director bid.
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