In a very competitive race, Cord Jefferson won his first Academy Award in the Adapted Screenplay category for the dramedy “American Fiction.” Based on the 2001 novel “Erasure“ by Percival Everett, “Fiction” overcame a slew of worthy nominees such as Christopher Nolan‘s screenplay for “Oppenheimer,” Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach‘s bizarrely categorized script for “Barbie,” and Tony McNamara’s adaptation of “Poor Things” to take the prize.

Continue reading Cord Jefferson Wins Adapted Screenplay Oscar For ‘American Fiction’ at The Playlist.

As the Oscars draw closer, more and more category winners seem to be locking into place. One of those categories that took another step to being pretty much over is Adapted Screenplay. “American Fiction’s” Cord Jefferson has taken the BAFTA Award, the Independent Spirit Award, and, tonight, won the prestigious USC Scripter Award for Film alongside the original novel’s author, Percival Everett.

READ MORE: “Barbie,” “American Fiction” and “Star Trek: Picard” earn 2024 WGA Awards nominations
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Oh, and Jefferson also has a WGA Award nomination but due to the strike last year, those honors won’t be handed out until over a month after the Oscars.

Continue reading ‘American Fiction’ & ‘Slow Horses’ Take 2024 USC Scripter Awards at The Playlist.

Can you even hear a guild awards ceremony if it occurs after the Academy Awards? Thanks to the WGA strike, we’re about to find out. The nominees were announced this morning for the 2024 WGA Awards which will take place on April 14. On the film side, likely Oscar winner “American Fiction” led an Adapted Category including “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Oppenheimer” and, um, “Nyad.” The Original Screenplay category features “Barbie” (in its correct category), “The Holdovers,” “Air,” “May December,” and “Past Lives.”

READ MORE: “Oppenheimer” wins Best Picture and Best Actor and dominates the 2024 BAFTA Awards [Full List]

As always, only WGA writers qualify for the guild awards which means a slew of potential nominees including likely Oscar Original Screenplay winner “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Poor Things,” “All of Us Strangers,” and “The Zone of Interest,” among others, did not qualify.

Continue reading ‘Barbie,’ ‘American Fiction’ & ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Earn 2024 WGA Awards Nominations at The Playlist.

The BAFTA nominations are in less than 24 hours and the Oscar nominations are in less than a week, but there are still other adjacent awards season nominations to unveil. This morning, The USC Libraries revealed the honorees for the 2024 USC Scripter Awards rewarding the best in adapted screenplays for television and film. And, intriguingly, there were a few surprises.

READ MORE: “Poor Things,” “The Last of Us” and “The Bear” earn 2024 PGA Awards nominations

Cord Jefferson’s script for “American Fiction,” Tony McNamara’s screenplay for “Poor Things,” Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” were expected in the film category.

Continue reading ‘Origin,’ ‘Poor Things’ & ‘The Last Of Us’ Among 2024 USC Scripter Nominations at The Playlist.

Every year, former President Barack Obama drops his list of the best movies of the year, always showing a man of interesting taste and, at the very least, a prominent, globally renowned figure who puts a big spotlight on underseen movies.

READ MORE: The 21 Best Films Of 2023

This year, Obama divided his list into two parts: the top three best films of the year that his production company happened to produce and the rest. 

Continue reading Barack Obama’s Fave Movies Of 2023 List Includes ‘Rustin,’ ‘The Holdovers’ & More at The Playlist.

We had a question for Jeffrey Wright, but we knew we had to be careful with it. The star of Cord Jefferson‘s award-season darling, “American Fiction,” is in the running for a Best Actor Oscar nomination and has already won several critics’ group awards. And yet, since his breakout debut as the title character in the 1996 indie biopic “Basquiat,” title roles on the big screen seemed few and far between (emphasis on “seemed”).

Continue reading Jeffrey Wright Hasn’t Always Wanted The Spotlight But Then Came ‘American Fiction’ [Interview] at The Playlist.

The topic of race in America is a challenging one to discuss nowadays. On the one hand, you have various groups of non-white people who are exhausted trying to explain how racism runs rampant. Then, on the other hand, you have white people who are either racist, unable to discuss race because it’s uncomfortable, or both. That disconnect drives the humor and heart of the new film, “American Fiction.”

READ MORE: The 21 Best Films Of 2023

As seen in the trailer, “American Fiction” follows the story of a Black author who is sick of a society who only wants and expects “Black” stories.

Continue reading ‘American Fiction’ Trailer: Jeffrey Wright Stars In Cord Jefferson’s Acclaimed Comedy at The Playlist.

“He’s changing the narrative.” The new comedy, “American Fiction,” features a wickedly sharp and bitingly funny premise. The feature-length directorial debut of Cord Jefferson, a producer and writer on acclaimed series such as “Watchmen,” “Station Eleven” and “Master Of None,” the film is adapted from Percival Everett’s “Erasure,” a brilliant indictment of the way modern culture handles race, a pointed satire about the commodification of marginalized voices and a writer forced to confront himself and his own creative integrity.

Continue reading ‘American Fiction’ First-Look Featurette: Jeffrey Wright & Cast On The Sharp Audacity Of This Black Cultural Satire [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

The Gotham Awards, the New York wing of the indie film world, has already handed out its year-end honors and now it’s time for the West Coast to have their say. Bright and early this morning, Film Independent revealed the 2024 Independent Spirit Awards nominees, and, no surprise, Celine Song’s “Past Lives” was at the top of the list with five nominations. What may have been more surprising is that Todd Haynes’ “May December” and Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction” also landed five nominations each.

Continue reading ‘American Fiction,’ ‘May December’ & ‘Past Lives’ Top 2024 Independent Spirit Awards Nominations at The Playlist.

December is overridden with terrific and exciting films that are worth adding to your likely growing “to watch” list. As end-of-year “best of” lists continue to roll in, along with critics’ awards already naming the year’s strongest contenders, it’s easy to lose certain titles to the shuffle. Luckily, it will be tough to misstep this month with plenty of upcoming films that offer a variety of genres and perspectives. From the Oscar-friendly titles that come in towards the end of the month to the latest movie in the long-running Godzilla franchise kickstarting it and films from master filmmakers crowding the middle, there’s no time for rest. 

Continue reading 16 Films To See In December: ‘Poor Things,’ ‘Zone Of Interest’ & More at The Playlist.

“American Fiction” has quickly become the movie to watch in the awards season after it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival to critical acclaim, garnering the festival’s People’s Choice Award. The award has come to be seen as a precursor for Academy Award nominations. Since its inception in 1978, 42 TIFF People’s Choice Award winners have gone on to be nominated for a Best Picture or Best International Picture Academy Award, with 17 taking home a statue.

Continue reading ‘American Fiction’ Trailer: TIFF’s Audience Winner & Cultural Satire With Jeffrey Wright Arrives December 15 at The Playlist.

TORONTO – “American Fiction,” the directorial debut from Cord Jefferson, is genuinely a very, very funny movie. And that’s hyperbole on our part. It’s also a perceptive look at how the mainstream media only has room for a select number of African-American stories. In fact, going by the movie’s spot-on premise, this movie would not be one of them. It’s not an easy endeavor to pull off, but considering Jefferson’s resume, we aren’t surprised he has.

Continue reading ‘American Fiction’ Review: Cord Jefferson Delivers A Funny & Insightful Feature Debut [TIFF] at The Playlist.

Trends change and ebb and flow, but in years past, winning the Toronto International Film Festival audience award used to be a surefire way to mean you were getting an Oscar nomination for Best Picture and, and many instances, winning the big Academy Award prize. And while the winning element of that trend has somewhat waned in recent years, the power of the prize is still there. So, filmmaker Cord Jefferson has got to be feeling pretty good right now as his feature-length debut “American Fiction” has just won TIFF’s People’s Choice Award.

Continue reading TIFF: Cord Jefferson’s ‘American Fiction’ With Jeffrey Wright Wins Toronto Film Fest Audience Award at The Playlist.

It’s officially September. Summer is winding down, school is starting, and the Fall film festival circuit has kicked off. By the time you read this, you’ll have seen dozens of our reviews from the Venice Film Festival and Telluride Film Festivals. And so, while TIFF boasts much-anticipated titles like Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails” with Jessie Buckley, Richard Linklater’s “Hitman,” Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” reuniting him with Paul Giamatti, Michel Franco’s “Memory” with Jessica Chastain, Kitty Green’s “The Royal Hotel” with Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick, you’ll have read our reviews of those now.

Continue reading Toronto International Film Festival 2023: 26 Must-See Films To Watch At TIFF at The Playlist.