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Writers Guild announces awards nominees

By PAT NASON, UPI Hollywood Reporter
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LOS ANGELES, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- The Writers Guild of America announced the nominees Thursday for the 55th annual Writers Guild of America Awards, to be presented March 1.

The nominees for best original screenplay are "Antwone Fisher," "Bowling for Columbine," "Far from Heaven," "Gangs of New York" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." The nominees for best adapted screenplay are "About a Boy," "About Schmidt," "Adaptation," "Chicago" and "The Hours."

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The nominees are widely regarded as front-runners for the Oscars in their respective categories.

The WGA winner for original screenplay has gone to win the Oscar in seven of the last 11 years. The WGA winner for adapted screenplay has won the Oscar 11 times in the last 15 years.

It is relatively more rare, however, for both WGA winners to go on to win Oscars. It has happened only four times since 1991. "A Beautiful Mind" and "Gosford Park" turned the tricks last year. "Sling Blade" and "Fargo" won both the Oscar and the WGA Award in 1997. "Schindler's List" and "The Pianist" (1993), and "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Thelma & Louise" (1991) were the only other screenplays in the past 11 years to win both the Oscar and the WGA Award.

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The nominations announced Thursday may have provided a little help for Oscars handicappers trying to peek around the corner to see which movie will win the Academy Award for best picture on March 23. In 10 of the last 15 years, one of the two WGA Award winners has gone on to take the top Oscar.

This year's group of WGA nominees contained a few surprises, not just for what made the finals but also for some movies that did not.

"Bowling for Columbine," documentary filmmaker Michael Moore's provocative movie about guns and violence, was not expected to be nominated for a WGA screenplay honor. Some "prestige" movies -- including "Road to Perdition," "Punch-Drunk Love," "The Pianist" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" -- were left off the guild's list.

In the WGA's television categories, Fox, HBO and NBC had eight nominations each.

Fox had all six nominations in the animated program category -- three of them for "The Simpsons." HBO's "Sex and the City" snagged three of the seven nominations in the comedy series category.

The guild announced earlier this week that it will present Mel Brooks with its prestigious Screen Laurel Award.

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The 55th annual Writers Guild Awards will be presented on March 8 in ceremonies to be held simultaneously in Beverly Hills and New York.

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