My Best Adapted Screenplay Winners
This list details those adapted screenplays performances that I felt were the best. Sometimes these choices stray from those of the Academy Awards and those of other people as these are purely based on opinion. I have tried my best to look at all screenplays in the same light and have tried not to compensate someone for not giving them one the previous year. The years covered are 1928-2010. I have also included whether or not my winner was nominated and/or won the Academy Award for that particular screenplay as well as the other films/actors/directors I would have nominated alongside my winner. If you have a comment, disagreement, question about justification of one of my choices, recommendations, and etc. please leave a polite comment and I'll try to respond to the best of my ability. I hope you enjoy.
Note: For Honorable Mentions, * denotes category nominee and ** denotes category winner
Note: For Honorable Mentions, * denotes category nominee and ** denotes category winner
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- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsGeorge O'BrienJanet GaynorMargaret LivingstonA sophisticated city woman seduces a farmer and convinces him to murder his wife and join her in the city, but he ends up rekindling his romance with his wife when he changes his mind at the last moment.Year: 1927/28
Screenwriter(s): Carl Mayer
Source: short story Die Reise nach Tilsit by Hermann Sudermann
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: No
Nominees: **Seventh Heaven (play by Austin Strong); Street Angel (play Lady Cristilinda by Monckton Hoffe); *The Jazz Singer (play Day of Atonement by Samson Raphaelson); Sadie Thompson (short story Rain by W. Somerset Maugham) - DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsLillian GishLars HansonMontagu LoveA frail young woman from the East moves in with her cousin in the West, where she causes tension within the family and is slowly driven mad.Year: 1928/29
Screenwriter(s): Frances Marion
Source: novel by Dorothy Scarborough
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: No
Nominees: **The Patriot (play Der Patriot by Alfred Neumann and translated by Ashley Dukes and story Paul I by Dmitry Merezhkovsky); *In Old Arizona (short story The Caballero's Way by O. Henry); The Love Parade (play The Prince Consort by Jules Chancel and Leon Xanrof); Coquette (play by George Abbott and Ann Preston Bridgers) - DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLew AyresLouis WolheimJohn WrayA German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.Year: 1929/30
Screenwriter(s): Maxwell Anderson, George Abbott, and Del Andrews
Source: novel by Erich Maria Remarque
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: Pandora's Box (plays Erdgeist and Die Buchse der Pandora by Frank Wedekind); *The Divorcee (novel Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott); *Disraeli (play by Louis N. Parker); Applause (novel by Beth Brown) - DirectorNorman TaurogStarsJackie CooperRobert CooganMitzi GreenSkippy, the mischievous son of a wealthy doctor, meets Sooky in poverty-ridden Shantytown, and together they try to save Sooky's pet from a cruel dogcatcher.Year: 1930/31
Screenwriter(s): Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Sam Mintz
Source: comic strip by Percy Crosby
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: *Little Caesar (novel by William R. Burnett); A Free Soul (play by Willard Mack based on novel by Adela Rogers St. Johns); The Public Enemy (novel Beer and Blood by John Bright); **Cimarron (novel by Edna Ferber) - DirectorHoward HawksRichard RossonStarsPaul MuniAnn DvorakKaren MorleyAn ambitious and nearly insane violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.Year: 1931/32
Screenwriter(s): Ben Hecht
Source: novel by Armitage Trail
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: No
Nominees: Trouble in Paradise (play The Honest Finder (A Becsuletes Megtalalo) by Aladar Laszlo); Grand Hotel (play by William A. Drake based on novel Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum); **Bad Girl (novel and play by Vina Delmar); *Arrowsmith (novel by Sinclair Lewis) - DirectorGeorge CukorStarsKatharine HepburnJoan BennettPaul LukasA chronicle of the lives of sisters growing up in 19th-century New England.Year: 1932/33
Screenwriter(s): Victor Heerman and Sarah Y. Mason
Source: novel by Louisa May Alcott
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (autobiography I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang by Robert Elliott Burns); She Done Him Wrong (play Diamond Lil by Mae West); 42nd Street (novel by Bradford Ropes); King Kong (story by Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace) - DirectorFrank CapraStarsClark GableClaudette ColbertWalter ConnollyA rogue reporter trailing a runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops along the way.Year: 1934
Screenwriter(s): Robert Riskin
Source: story Night Bus by Samuel Hopkins Adams
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *The Thin Man (novel by Dashiell Hammett); Twentieth Century (play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur based on play Napoleon of Broadway by Charles B. Millholland); The Gay Divorcee (musical play Gay Divorce by Dwight Taylor, Kenneth Webb, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Cole Porter based on play by J. Hartley Manners); The Barretts of Wimpole Street (play by Rudolf Besier) - DirectorJohn FordStarsVictor McLaglenHeather AngelPreston FosterIn 1922, an Irish rebel informs on his friend, then feels doom closing in.Year: 1935
Screenwriter(s): Dudley Nichols
Source: novel by Liam O'Flaherty
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: The 39 Steps (novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan); *Captain Blood (novel by Rafael Sabatini); *Mutiny on the Bounty (novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall); Alice Adams (novel by Booth Tarkington) - DirectorWilliam WylerStarsWalter HustonRuth ChattertonPaul LukasA retired auto manufacturer and his wife take a long-planned European vacation only to find that they want very different things from life.Year: 1936
Screenwriter(s): Sidney Howard
Source: play by Sidney Howard based on novel by Sinclair Lewis
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: *My Man Godfrey (story 1101 Park Avenue by Eric Hatch); *Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (story Opera Hat by Clarence Budington Kelland); *After the Thin Man (story by Dashiell Hammett); Camille (novel and play La Dame aux camelias by Alexandre Dumas, Jr.) - DirectorLeo McCareyStarsIrene DunneCary GrantRalph BellamyA married couple file an amicable divorce, but find it harder to let go of each other than they initially thought.Year: 1937
Screenwriter(s): Vina Delmar
Source: play by Arthur Richman
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: Make Way for Tomorrow (play by Noah and Helen Leary based on novel The Years Are So Long by Josephine Lawrence); *A Star Is Born (story by William A. Wellman and Robert Carson); *Stage Door (play by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman); Lost Horizon (novel by James Hilton) - DirectorAnthony AsquithLeslie HowardStarsLeslie HowardWendy HillerWilfrid LawsonA phonetics and diction expert makes a bet that he can teach a cockney flower girl to speak proper English and pass as a lady in high society.Year: 1938
Screenwriter(s): Ian Dalrymple, Cecil Lewis, W.P. Lipscomb, and George Bernard Shaw
Source: play by George Bernard Shaw
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: The Lady Vanishes (novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White); *You Can't Take It with You (play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart); *The Citadel (novel by A.J. Cronin); Jezebel (play by Owen Davis, Sr.) - DirectorVictor FlemingGeorge CukorSam WoodStarsClark GableVivien LeighThomas MitchellA sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.Year: 1939
Screenwriter(s): Sidney Howard
Source: novel by Margaret Mitchell
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (story by Lewis R. Foster); The Wizard of Oz (novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum); *Wuthering Heights (novel by Emily Bronte); *Ninotchka (story by Melchior Lengyel) - DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaJane DarwellJohn CarradineAn Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.Year: 1940
Screenwriter(s): Nunnally Johnson
Source: novel by John Steinbeck
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: **The Philadelphia Story (play by Philip Barry); His Girl Friday (short story The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur); *Rebecca (novel by Daphne du Maurier); Waterloo Bridge (play by Robert E. Sherwood) - DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartMary AstorGladys GeorgeSan Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.Year: 1941
Screenwriter(s): John Huston
Source: novel by Dashiell Hammett
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: **Here Comes Mr. Jordan (novel Heaven Can Wait by Harry Segall); *How Green Was My Valley (novel by Richard Llewellyn);*Hold Back the Dawn (story Memo to a Movie Producer by Ketti Frings); Suspicion (novel by Francis Iles) - DirectorSam WoodStarsGary CooperTeresa WrightBabe RuthThe story of the life and career of famed baseball player Lou Gehrig.Year: 1942
Screenwriter(s): Herman J. Mankiewicz and Jo Swerling
Source: story by Paul Gallico
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: The Magnificent Ambersons (novel by Booth Tarkington); **Mrs. Miniver (newspaper column by Jan Struther); To Be or Not to Be (story by Melchior Lengyel); *Random Harvest (novel by James Hilton) - DirectorMichael CurtizStarsHumphrey BogartIngrid BergmanPaul HenreidA cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.Year: 1943
Screenwriter(s): Philip G. Epstein, Julius J. Epstein, and Howard Koch
Source: play Everybody Comes to Rick's by Murray Burnett and Joan AlisonNominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *The More the Merrier (story by Frank Ross and Robert Russell); The Ox-Bow Incident (novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark); Heaven Can Wait (play Birthday by Leslie Bush-Fekete); *The Song of Bernadette (novel by Franz Werfel) - DirectorBilly WilderStarsFred MacMurrayBarbara StanwyckEdward G. RobinsonA Los Angeles insurance representative lets an alluring housewife seduce him into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, an insurance investigator.Year: 1944
Screenwriter(s): Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler
Source: novel Double Indemnity in Three of a Kind by James M. Cain
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: *Meet Me in St. Louis (novel by Sally Benson); To Have and Have Not (novel by Ernest Hemingway); *Gaslight (play Angel Street by Patrick Hamilton); **Going My Way (story by Leo McCarey) - DirectorBilly WilderStarsRay MillandJane WymanPhillip TerryThe desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout.Year: 1945
Screenwriter(s): Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder
Source: novel by Charles R. Jackson
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (novel by Betty Smith); The Clock (story by Paul Gallico); *Mildred Pierce (novel by James M. Cain); National Velvet (novel by Enid Bagnold) - DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMyrna LoyDana AndrewsFredric MarchThree World War II veterans, two of them traumatized or disabled, return home to the American midwest to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.Year: 1946
Screenwriter(s): Robert Sherwood
Source: novel Glory for Me by MacKinlay Kantor
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: It's a Wonderful Life (short story The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern); *Brief Encounter (play Still Life by Noel Coward); The Big Sleep (novel by Raymond Chandler); *The Killers (short story by Ernest Hemingway) - DirectorJacques TourneurStarsRobert MitchumJane GreerKirk DouglasA private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses, and duplicitous dames.Year: 1947
Screenwriter(s): Daniel Mainwaring
Source: novel Build My Gallows High by Daniel Mainwaring
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: No
Nominees: *Great Expectations (novel by Charles Dickens); The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (novel by R.A. Dick (pseudonym of Josephine Leslie)); Black Narcissus (novel by Rumer Godden); **Miracle on 34th Street (story by Valentine Davies) - DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartWalter HustonTim HoltTwo down-on-their-luck Americans searching for work in 1920s Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.Year: 1948
Screenwriter(s): John Huston
Source: novel by B. Traven
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Johnny Belinda (play by Elmer Blaney Harris); *The Snake Pit (novel by Mary Jane Ward); Red River (story Blazing Guns on the Chisholm Trail by Borden Chase); Key Largo (play by Maxwell Anderson) - DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsJeanne CrainLinda DarnellAnn SothernA letter is addressed to three wives from their "best friend" Addie Ross, announcing that she is running away with one of their husbands - but she does not say which one.Year: 1949
Screenwriter(s): Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Source: novel Letter to Five Wives by John Klempner
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *All the King's Men (novel by Robert Penn Warren); *The Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette) (novel Bicycle Thief by Luigi Bartolini); *The Fallen Idol (short story The Basement Room by Graham Greene); Kind Hearts and Coronets (novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal by Roy Hornihan) - DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsBette DavisAnne BaxterGeorge SandersA seemingly timid but secretly ruthless ingénue insinuates herself into the lives of an aging Broadway star and her circle of theater friends.Year: 1950
Screenwriter(s): Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Source: short story The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Born Yesterday (play by Garson Kanin); *Father of the Bride (novel by Edward Streeter); *The Asphalt Jungle (novel by W.R. Burnett); Harvey (play by Mary Chase) - DirectorElia KazanStarsVivien LeighMarlon BrandoKim HunterDisturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.Year: 1951
Screenwriter(s): Tennessee Williams
Source: play by Tennessee Williams
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: Strangers on a Train (novel by Patricia Highsmith); **A Place in the Sun (play An American Tragedy by Patrick Kearney based on novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser); *The African Queen (novel by C.S. Forester); *Detective Story (play by Sidney Kingsley) - DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsGary CooperGrace KellyThomas MitchellA town Marshal, despite the disagreements of his newlywed bride and the townspeople around him, must face a gang of deadly killers alone at "high noon" when the gang leader, an outlaw he "sent up" years ago, arrives on the noon train.Year: 1952
Screenwriter(s): Carl Foreman
Source: story The Tin Star by John W. Cunningham
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: **The Bad and the Beautiful (story Tribute to a Badman by Charles Bradshaw); *The Quiet Man (story Green Rushes by Maurice Walsh); *The Man in the White Suit (play by Roger MacDougall); Come Back, Little Sheba (play by William Inge) - DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsBurt LancasterMontgomery CliftDeborah KerrAt a U.S. Army base in 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his commanding officer's wife and top aide begin a tentative affair.Year: 1953
Screenwriter(s): Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton
Source: novel by James Jones
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: *Roman Holiday (story by Dalton Trumbo); *Shane (novel by Jack Schaefer); *Lili (story Love of Seven Dolls by Paul Gallico); Stalag 17 (play by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski) - DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartGrace KellyWendell CoreyA wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his Greenwich Village courtyard apartment window and, despite the skepticism of his fashion-model girlfriend, becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.Year: 1954
Screenwriter(s): John Michael Hayes
Source: story It Had to Be Murder by Cornell Woolrich
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: A Star Is Born (1937 film, written by William A. Wellman, Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker, and Alan Campbell and directed by William A. Wellman); Dial M for Murder (play by Frederick Knott); *The Caine Mutiny (novel by Herman Wouk); **The Country Girl (play by Clifford Odets) - DirectorDelbert MannStarsErnest BorgnineBetsy BlairEsther MinciottiA middle-aged butcher and a school teacher who have given up on the idea of love meet at a dance and fall for each other.Year: 1955
Screenwriter(s): Paddy Chayefsky
Source: teleplay, written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Delbert Mann
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *East of Eden (novel by John Steinbeck); The Night of the Hunter (novel by Davis Grubb); Mister Roberts (play by Joshua Logan and Thomas Heggen based on novel by Thomas Heggen); *Bad Day at Black Rock (story Bad Day at Hondo by Howard Breslin) - DirectorGeorge StevensStarsElizabeth TaylorRock HudsonJames DeanSprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.Year: 1956
Screenwriter(s): Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat
Source: novel by Edna Ferber
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: The Searchers (novel by Alan Le May); Invasion of the Body Snatchers (novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney); Written on the Wind (novel by Robert Wilder); **Around the World in 80 Days (novel by Jules Verne) - DirectorDavid LeanStarsWilliam HoldenAlec GuinnessJack HawkinsBritish POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.Year: 1957
Screenwriter(s): Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson
Source: novel by Pierre Boulle
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: Sweet Smell of Success (novelette by Ernest Lehman); *12 Angry Men (teleplay Twelve Angry Men, written by Reginald Rose and directed by Franklin J. Schaffner); *Peyton Place (novel by Grace Metalious); Paths of Glory (novel by Humphrey Cobb) - DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartKim NovakBarbara Bel GeddesA former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.Year: 1958
Screenwriter(s): Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor
Source: novel D'entre les morts by Boileau-Narcejac (pseudonym of Pierre Boileau and Pierre Ayraud)
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: No
Nominees: Touch of Evil (novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson); *The Horse's Mouth (novel by Joyce Cary); **Gigi (novella by Colette); *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (play by Tennessee Williams) - DirectorOtto PremingerStarsJames StewartLee RemickBen GazzaraAn upstate Michigan lawyer defends a soldier who claims he killed an innkeeper due to temporary insanity after the victim raped his wife. What is the truth, and will he win his case?Year: 1959
Screenwriter(s): Wendell Mayes
Source: novel by Robert Traver (pseudonym of John D. Voelker)
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: *Some Like It Hot (untitled story suggestion by Robert Thoeren and M. Logan); *Ben-Hur (novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace); The Diary of Anne Frank (play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett based on diary of Anne Frank); *The Nun's Story (novel by Kathryn Hulme) - DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnthony PerkinsJanet LeighVera MilesA Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.Year: 1960
Screenwriter(s): Joseph Stefano
Source: novel by Robert Bloch
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: No
Nominees: **Elmer Gantry (novel by Sinclair Lewis); *The Sundowners (novel by Jon Cleary); *Inherit the Wind (play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee); *Sons and Lovers (novel by D.H. Lawrence) - DirectorJerome RobbinsRobert WiseStarsNatalie WoodGeorge ChakirisRichard BeymerTwo youngsters from rival New York City gangs fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends build toward tragedy.Year: 1961
Screenwriter(s): Ernest Lehman
Source: musical play by Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, and Leonard Bernstein
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: *The Hustler (novel by Walter Tevis); **Judgment at Nuremberg (teleplay written by Abby Mann and directed by George Roy Hill); *Breakfast at Tiffany's (novella by Truman Capote); *The Guns of Navarone (novel by Alistair MacLean) - DirectorRobert MulliganStarsGregory PeckJohn MegnaFrank OvertonAtticus Finch, a widowed lawyer in Depression-era Alabama, defends a Black man against an undeserved rape charge, and tries to educate his young children against prejudice.Year: 1962
Screenwriter(s): Horton Foote
Source: novel by Harper Lee
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Lawrence of Arabia (writings of T.E. Lawrence); Dr. No (novel by Ian Fleming); The Manchurian Candidate (novel by Richard Condon); *The Miracle Worker (play by William Gibson) - DirectorMartin RittStarsPaul NewmanMelvyn DouglasPatricia NealHonest, hard-working Texas rancher Homer Bannon has a conflict with his unscrupulous, selfish, arrogant, egotistical son Hud, who sank into alcoholism after accidentally killing his brother in a car crash.Year: 1963
Screenwriter(s): Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank, Jr.
Source: novel Horseman, Pass By by Larry McMurtry
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: The Great Escape (book by Paul Brickhill); The Cardinal (novel by Henry Morton Robinson); From Russia with Love (novel by Ian Fleming); **Tom Jones (novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding) - 19641h 35mPG8.4 (519K)97MetascoreDirectorStanley KubrickStarsPeter SellersGeorge C. ScottSterling HaydenAn unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.Year: 1964
Screenwriter(s): Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern, and Peter George
Source: novel Red Alert by Peter George
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: A Shot in the Dark (film character Inspector Jacques Clouseau from 1964 film The Pink Panther, written by Blake Edwards and Maurice Richlin and directed by Blake Edwards); **My Fair Lady (musical play by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe based on play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw); *Mary Poppins (novel series by P.L. Travers); Seven Days in May (novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II) - DirectorDavid LeanStarsOmar SharifJulie ChristieGeraldine ChaplinThe life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.Year: 1965
Screenwriter(s): Robert Bolt
Source: novel by Boris Pasternak
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (novel by John le Carre); The Hill (play by Ray Rigby and R.S. Allen); *The Collector (novel by John Fowles); A Patch of Blue (novel Be Ready with Bells and Drums by Elizabeth Kata) - DirectorMike NicholsStarsElizabeth TaylorRichard BurtonGeorge SegalA bitter, aging couple, with the help of alcohol, use their young houseguests to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other over the course of a distressing night.Year: 1966
Screenwriter(s): Ernest Lehman
Source: play by Edward Albee
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: **A Man for All Seasons (play by Robert Bolt); *The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (novel Off-Islanders by Nathaniel Benchley); *Alfie (play by Bill Naughton); *The Professionals (novel A Mule for the Marquesa by Frank O'Rourke) - DirectorMike NicholsStarsDustin HoffmanAnne BancroftKatharine RossA disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.Year: 1967
Screenwriter(s): Calder Willingham and Buck Henry
Source: novel by Charles Webb
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: *Cool Hand Luke (novel by Donn Pearce); **In the Heat of the Night (novel by John Ball); *In Cold Blood (book by Truman Capote); *Ulysses (novel by James Joyce) - DirectorSergey BondarchukStarsLyudmila SavelevaVyacheslav TikhonovSergey BondarchukThe Russian aristocracy prepares for the French invasion on the eve of 1812.Year: 1968
Screenwriter(s): Sergei Bondarchuk and Vasili Solovyov
Source: novel by Leo Tolstoy
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: **The Lion in Winter (play by James Goldman); *Oliver! (musical play by Lionel Bart based on novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens); Romeo and Juliet (play by William Shakespeare); *Rosemary's Baby (novel by Ira Levin) - DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsDustin HoffmanJon VoightSylvia MilesA naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, finding a new friend in the process.Year: 1969
Screenwriter(s): Waldo Salt
Source: novel by James Leo Herlihy
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Anne of the Thousand Days (play by Maxwell Anderson); *Z (novel by Vassilis Vassilikos); *They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (novel by Horace McCoy); *Goodbye, Columbus (novel by Philip Roth) - DirectorRobert AltmanStarsDonald SutherlandElliott GouldTom SkerrittThe staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and high jinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.Year: 1970
Screenwriter(s): Ring Lardner, Jr.
Source: novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: The Great White Hope (play by Howard Sackler); *Airport (novel by Arthur Hailey); *Women in Love (novel by D.H. Lawrence); *Lovers and Other Strangers (play by Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor) - DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsTimothy BottomsJeff BridgesCybill ShepherdIn 1951, a group of high schoolers come of age in a bleak, isolated, atrophied North Texas town that is slowly dying, both culturally and economically.Year: 1971
Screenwriter(s): Larry McMurtry and Peter Bogdanovich
Source: novel by Larry McMurtry
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: **The French Connection (book The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy by Robin Moore); *A Clockwork Orange (novel by Anthony Burgess); *The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini) (novel by Giorgio Bassani); *The Conformist (Il conformista) (novel Il Conformista by Alberto Moravia) - DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMarlon BrandoAl PacinoJames CaanThe aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.Year: 1972
Screenwriter(s): Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola
Source: novel by Mario Puzo
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: Deliverance (novel by James Dickey); Sleuth (play by Anthony Shaffer); *Cabaret (musical play by Joe Masteroff, Fred Ebb, and John Kander); *Sounder (novel by William H. Armstrong) - DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsEllen BurstynMax von SydowLinda BlairWhen a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.Year: 1973
Screenwriter(s): William Peter Blatty
Source: novel by William Peter Blatty
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Paper Moon (novel Addie Pray by Joe David Brown); *The Last Detail (novel by Darryl Ponicsan); *Serpico (book by Peter Maas); Bang the Drum Slowly (novel by Mark Harris) - DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsAl PacinoRobert De NiroRobert DuvallThe early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York City is portrayed, while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on the family crime syndicate.Year: 1974
Screenwriter(s): Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo
Source: novel The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Young Frankenstein (novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley); *Murder on the Orient Express (novel by Agatha Christie); *Lenny (play by Julian Barry); The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (novel by John Godey (pseudonym of Morton Freedgood)) - DirectorMilos FormanStarsJack NicholsonLouise FletcherMichael BerrymanIn the Fall of 1963, a Korean War veteran and criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies up the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse.Year: 1975
Screenwriter(s): Bo Goldman and Laurence Hauben
Source: novel by Ken Kesey
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: Jaws (novel by Peter Benchley); *The Man Who Would Be King (story by Rudyard Kipling); *Profumo di donna (Scent of a Woman) (novel Il buio e il mare by Giovanni Arpino); *Barry Lyndon (novel The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. by William Makepeace Thackeray) - DirectorAlan J. PakulaStarsDustin HoffmanRobert RedfordJack Warden"The Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation.Year: 1976
Screenwriter(s): William Goldman
Source: book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Bound for Glory (autobiography by Woody Guthrie); Carrie (novel by Stephen King); *The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (novel by Nicholas Meyer); Marathon Man (novel by William Goldman) - DirectorJohn BadhamStarsJohn TravoltaKaren Lynn GorneyBarry MillerAnxious about his future after high school, a 19-year-old Italian-American from Brooklyn tries to escape the harsh reality of his bleak family life by dominating the dance floor at the local disco.Year: 1977
Screenwriter(s): Norman Wexler
Source: newspaper article Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night by Nik Cohn
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: No
Nominees: **Julia (novel Pentimento by Lillian Hellman); Looking for Mr. Goodbar (novel by Judith Rossner); *Oh, God! (novel by Avery Corman); *I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (novel by Hannah Greene) - DirectorAlan ParkerStarsBrad DavisIrene MiracleBo HopkinsBilly Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.Year: 1978
Screenwriter(s): Oliver Stone
Source: book by Billy Hayes and William Hoffer
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Heaven Can Wait (play by Harry Segall); *California Suite (play by Neil Simon); *Same Time, Next Year (play by Bernard Slade); Death on the Nile (novel by Agatha Christie) - DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.Year: 1979
Screenwriter(s): John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola
Source: novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: **Kramer vs. Kramer (novel by Avery Corman); Being There (novel by Jerzy Kosinski); *Norma Rae (book Crystal Lee, a Woman of Inheritance by Hank Leiferman); *A Little Romance (novel E=mc2 mon amour by Patrick Cauvin (pseudonym of Claude Klotz)) - DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsEdward WoodwardJack ThompsonJohn WatersThree Australian lieutenants are court martialed for executing prisoners as a way of deflecting attention from war crimes committed by their superior officers.Year: 1980
Screenwriter(s): Bruce Beresford
Source: play Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts by Kenneth G. Ross
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: No
Nominees: Airplane! (1957 film Zero Hour!, written by Arthur Hailey and directed by Hall Bartlett); **Ordinary People (novel by Judith Guest); Raging Bull (memoir Raging Bull: My Story by Jake LaMotta); *The Elephant Man (book The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences by Sir Frederick Treves and book The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity by Ashley Montagu) - DirectorMark RydellStarsKatharine HepburnHenry FondaJane FondaNorman is a curmudgeon with an estranged relationship with his daughter Chelsea. At Golden Pond, he and his wife nevertheless agree to care for Billy, the son of Chelsea's new boyfriend, and a most unexpected relationship blooms.Year: 1981
Screenwriter(s): Ernest Thompson
Source: play by Ernest Thompson
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Ragtime (novel by E.L. Doctorow); *Pennies from Heaven (TV miniseries, written by Dennis Potter and directed by Piers Haggard); *Prince of the City (book Prince of the City: The True Story of a Cop Who Knew Too Much by Robert Daley); *The French Lieutenant's Woman (novel by John Fowles) - DirectorSidney LumetStarsPaul NewmanCharlotte RamplingJack WardenAn outcast, alcoholic Boston lawyer sees the chance to salvage his career and self-respect by taking a medical malpractice case to trial rather than settling.Year: 1982
Screenwriter(s): David Mamet
Source: novel by Barry Reed
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: *Das Boot (The Boat) (novel by Lothar-Gunther Buchheim); Blade Runner (novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick); *Sophie's Choice (novel by William Styron); The World According to Garp (novel by John Irving) - DirectorJames L. BrooksStarsShirley MacLaineDebra WingerJack NicholsonFollows hard-to-please Aurora looking for love and her daughter's family problems.Year: 1983
Screenwriter(s): James L. Brooks
Source: novel by Larry McMurtry
Nominees: The Right Stuff (book by Tom Wolfe); *Reuben, Reuben (play Spoonford by Herman Shumlin); *The Dresser (play by Ronald Harwood); A Christmas Story (short story collections In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories by Jean Shepherd); *Reuben, Reuben (play Spoonford by Herman Shumlin) - DirectorMilos FormanStarsF. Murray AbrahamTom HulceElizabeth BerridgeThe life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.Year: 1984
Screenwriter(s): Peter Shaffer
Source: play by Peter Shaffer
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *A Soldier's Story (play A Soldier's Play by Charles Fuller); *The Killing Fields (article The Life and Death of Dith Pran by Sydney Schanberg); The Natural (novel by Bernard Malamud); *A Passage to India (novel by E.M. Forster) - DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDanny GloverWhoopi GoldbergOprah WinfreyA tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry.Year: 1985
Screenwriter(s): Menno Meyjes
Source: novel by Alice Walker
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: Ran (play King Lear by William Shakespeare); *Kiss of the Spider Woman (novel by Manuel Puig); *The Trip to Bountiful (teleplay written by Horton Foote and directed by Vincent J. Donehue); **Out of Africa (memoir Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen, book Silence Will Speak by Errol Trzebinski, and book Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller by Judith Thurman) - DirectorJames IvoryStarsMaggie SmithHelena Bonham CarterDenholm ElliottLucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) shares a brief romance with George Emerson in Florence. Yet as she tries to move on with her life and look for marriage elsewhere, can she truly forget the events of that summer?Year: 1986
Screenwriter(s): Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Source: novel by E.M. Forster
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Stand by Me (novella The Body by Stephen King); *The Color of Money (novel by Walter Tevis); *Children of a Lesser God (play by Mark Medoff); *Crimes of the Heart (play by Beth Henley) - DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsJohn LoneJoan ChenPeter O'TooleBernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning dramatisation of the life story of China's last emperor, Pu Yi.Year: 1987
Screenwriter(s): Bernardo Bertolucci and Mark Peploe
Source: autobiography From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi by Henry Pu Yi
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: The Princess Bride (novel by William Goldman); *Full Metal Jacket (novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford); *Fatal Attraction (teleplay Diversion written and directed by James Dearden); *My Life as a Dog (Mitt liv som hund) (novel Mitt liv som hund by Reidar Jonsson) - DirectorStephen FrearsStarsGlenn CloseJohn MalkovichMichelle PfeifferA scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.Year: 1988
Screenwriter(s): Christopher Hampton
Source: play Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Christopher Hampton based on novel Les liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Little Dorrit (novel by Charles Dickens); Who Framed Roger Rabbit (novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf); *The Accidental Tourist (novel by Anne Tyler); *The Unbearable Lightness of Being (novel by Milan Kundera) - DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsMorgan FreemanJessica TandyDan AykroydAn old Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur in the American South have a relationship that grows and improves over the years.Year: 1989
Screenwriter(s): Alfred Uhry
Source: play by Alfred Uhry
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *My Left Foot (autobiography by Christy Brown); *Field of Dreams (novel by W.P. Kinsella); Glory (letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, novel Lay This Laurel by Lincoln Kirstein, and novel One Gallant Rush by Peter Burchard); Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (characters from 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, written by Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas, and Philip Kaufman and directed by Steven Spielberg, and 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz, and George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg) - DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroRay LiottaJoe PesciThe story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.Year: 1990
Screenwriter(s): Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese
Source: book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: *The Grifters (novel by Jim Thompson); Misery (novel by Stephen King); *Reversal of Fortune (book Reversal of FortuneL Inside the von Bulow Case by Alan M. Dershowitz); The Hunt for Red October (novel by Tom Clancy) - DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsJodie FosterAnthony HopkinsScott GlennA young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.Year: 1991
Screenwriter(s): Ted Tally
Source: novel by Thomas Harris
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *JFK (book Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy by Jim Marrs and book On the Trail of the Assassins by Jim Garrison); *Europa, Europa (book I Was a Hitler Youth Salomon by Solomon Perel); *Fried Green Tomatoes (novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg); The Commitments (novel by Roddy Doyle) - DirectorJames IvoryStarsAnthony HopkinsEmma ThompsonVanessa RedgraveSet in the early 20th century, class distinctions and troubled relations affect the relationship between two families and the ownership of a cherished British estate known as Howards End.Year: 1992
Screenwriter(s): Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Source: novel by E.M. Forster
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: A Few Good Men (play by Aaron Sorkin); Glengarry Glen Ross (play by David Mamet); *The Player (novel by Michael Tolkin); *Scent of a Woman (novel Il buio e il miele by Giovanni Arpino and 1974 film Profuma di Donna, written by Ruggero Maccari and Dino Risi and directed by Dino Risi) - DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLiam NeesonRalph FiennesBen KingsleyIn German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.Year: 1993
Screenwriter(s): Steven Zaillian
Source: novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *The Remains of the Day (novel by Kazuo Ishiguro); *In the Name of the Father (book Proved Innocent by Gerry Conlon); *The Age of Innocence (novel by Edith Wharton); *Shadowlands (play by William Nicholson based on 1985 TV film, written by William Nicholson and directed by Norman Stone) - DirectorFrank DarabontStarsTim RobbinsMorgan FreemanBob GuntonOver the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.Year: 1994
Screenwriter(s): Frank Darabont
Source: short story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: *Quiz Show (book Remembering America: A Voice from the Sixties by Richard N. Goodwin); **Forrest Gump (novel by Winston Groome); *The Madness of King George (play The Madness of King George III by Alan Bennett); Little Women (novel by Louisa May Alcott) - DirectorAng LeeStarsEmma ThompsonKate WinsletJames FleetRich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The two eldest daughters are the title opposites.Year: 1995
Screenwriter(s): Emma Thompson
Source: novel by Jane Austen
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: Dead Man Walking (book by Sister Helen Prejean); *Leaving Las Vegas (novel by John O'Brien); *Apollo 13 (book Lost Moon by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger); *Babe (novel The Sheep-Pig by Dick King-Smith) - DirectorDanny BoyleStarsEwan McGregorEwen BremnerJonny Lee MillerRenton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.Year: 1996
Screenwriter(s): John Hodge
Source: novel by Irvine Welsh
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: **Sling Blade (1994 short film Some Call It a Sling Blade, written by Billy Bob Thornton and directed by George Hickenlooper); *Hamlet (play by William Shakespeare); *The English Patient (novel by Michael Ondaatje); Emma (novel by Jane Austen) - DirectorCurtis HansonStarsKevin SpaceyRussell CroweGuy PearceAs corruption grows in 1950s Los Angeles, three policemen - one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy - investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice.Year: 1997
Screenwriter(s): Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland
Source: novel by James Ellroy
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *The Wings of the Dove (novel by Henry James); *Wag the Dog (novel American Hero by Larry Beinhart); *Donnie Brasco (memoir Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia by Joseph D. Pistone and Richard Woodley); *The Sweet Hereafter (novel by Russell Banks) - DirectorBill CondonStarsIan McKellenBrendan FraserLynn RedgraveThe last days of Frankenstein (1931) director James Whale are explored.Year: 1998
Screenwriter(s): Bill Condon
Source: novel Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Out of Sight (novel by Elmore Leonard); *The Thin Red Line (novel by James Jones); *Primary Colors (novel by Joe Klein); *A Simple Plan (novel by Scott Smith) - DirectorMichael MannStarsRussell CroweAl PacinoChristopher PlummerA research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco.Year: 1999
Screenwriter(s): Michael Mann and Eric Roth
Source: newspaper article The Man Who Knew Too Much by Marie Brenner
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: *The Green Mile (novel by Stephen King); Fight Club (novel by Chuck Palahniuk); *Election (novel by Tom Perrotta); *The Talented Mr. Ripley (novel by Patricia Highsmith) - DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsMichael DouglasBenicio Del ToroCatherine Zeta-JonesA conservative judge is appointed by the President to spearhead America's escalating war against drugs, only to discover that his teenage daughter is a crack addict. Two DEA agents protect an informant. A jailed drug baron's wife attempts to carry on the family business.Year: 2000
Screenwriter(s): Stephen Gaghan
Source: teleplay Traffik, written by Simon Moore and directed by Alastair Reid
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (novel by Wang Dulu); *O Brother, Where Art Thou? (epic poem The Odyssey by Homer); *Wonder Boys (novel by Michael Chabon); *Chocolat (novel by Joanne Harris) - DirectorPeter JacksonStarsElijah WoodIan McKellenOrlando BloomA meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.Year: 2001
Screenwriter(s): Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson
Source: novels The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: **A Beautiful Mind (book by Sylvia Nasar); *Shrek (picture book Shrek! by William Steig); Black Hawk Down (book by Mark Bowden); *In the Bedroom (short story Killing by Andre Dubus) - DirectorSpike JonzeStarsNicolas CageMeryl StreepChris CooperA lovelorn screenwriter becomes desperate as he tries and fails to adapt 'The Orchid Thief' by Susan Orlean for the screen.Year: 2002
Screenwriter(s): Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman
Source: book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (novel The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien); *The Hours (novel by Michael Cunningham); *About a Boy (novel by Nick Hornby); *Chicago (musical play by Fred Ebb and John Kander) - DirectorPeter JacksonStarsElijah WoodViggo MortensenIan McKellenGandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.Year: 2003
Screenwriter(s): Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson
Source: novels The Two Towers and The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *American Splendor (comic book series written by Harvey Pekar and illustrated by various artists and graphic novel Our Cancer Year written by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner and illustrated by Frank Stack); *Seabiscuit (book Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand); *Mystic River (novel by Dennis Lehane); Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (novels Master and Commander and The Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brien) - DirectorAlexander PayneStarsPaul GiamattiThomas Haden ChurchVirginia MadsenTwo men reaching middle age with not much to show but disappointment embark on a week-long road trip through California's wine country, just as one is about to take a trip down the aisle.Year: 2004
Screenwriter(s): Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
Source: novel by Rex Pickett
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Before Sunset (characters from 1995 film Before Sunrise, written by Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan and directed by Richard Linklater); *Million Dollar Baby (book Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner by F.X. Toole); Mean Girls (book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman); *Finding Neverland (play The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee) - DirectorAng LeeStarsJake GyllenhaalHeath LedgerMichelle WilliamsEnnis and Jack are two shepherds who develop a sexual and emotional relationship. Their relationship becomes complicated when both of them get married to their respective girlfriends.Year: 2005
Screenwriter(s): Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana
Source: short story by Annie Proulx
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Capote (book by Gerald Clarke); *A History of Violence (graphic novel written by John Wagner and illustrated by Vince Locke); *The Constant Gardener (novel by John le Carre); *Munich (book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by George Jonas) - DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsLeonardo DiCaprioMatt DamonJack NicholsonAn undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston.Year: 2006
Screenwriter(s): William Monahan
Source: 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, written by Alan Mak and Felix Chong and directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Little Children (novel by Tom Perrotta); *Children of Men (novel The Children of Men by P.D. James); Casino Royale (novel by Ian Fleming); Thank You for Smoking (novel by Christopher Buckley) - DirectorEthan CoenJoel CoenStarsTommy Lee JonesJavier BardemJosh BrolinViolence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong and over two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.Year: 2007
Screenwriter(s): Joel and Ethan Coen
Source: novel by Cormac McCarthy
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *There Will Be Blood (novel Oil! by Sinclair Lewis); *Atonement (novel by Ian McEwan); Zodiac (book by Robert Graysmith); *The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (book by Jean-Dominique Bauby) - DirectorDanny BoyleLoveleen TandanStarsDev PatelFreida PintoSaurabh ShuklaA teenager from the slums of Mumbai becomes a contestant on the show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati?' When interrogated under suspicion of cheating, he revisits his past, revealing how he had all the answers.Year: 2008
Screenwriter(s): Simon Beaufoy
Source: novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: The Dark Knight (comic book series character Batman created by Bob Kane and 2005 film Batman Begins, written by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan and directed by Christopher Nolan); *Doubt (play Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley); Revolutionary Road (novel by Richard Yates); *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald) - DirectorJason ReitmanStarsGeorge ClooneyVera FarmigaAnna KendrickRyan's job is to travel around the country firing off people. When his boss hires Natalie, who proposes firing people via video conference, he tries to convince her that her method is a mistake.Year: 2009
Screenwriter(s): Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Source: novel by Walter Kirn
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: **Precious (novel Push by Sapphire); *An Education (autobiographical magazine article by Lynn Barber); *District 9 (short film Alive in Joburg written and directed by Neill Blomkamp); Julie & Julia (autobiography My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme, blog The Julie/Julia Project, and memoir Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell (later retitled Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously)) - DirectorDavid FincherStarsJesse EisenbergAndrew GarfieldJustin TimberlakeAs Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.Year: 2010
Screenwriter(s): Aaron Sorkin
Source: book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; Yes
Nominees: *Toy Story 3 (characters from 1995 film Toy Story, written by John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Joe Ranft, Joss Whedon, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow and directed by John Lasseter and 1999 film Toy Story 2, written by John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Ash Bannon, Andrew Stanton, Rita Hsiao, Doug Chamberlin, and Chris Webb and directed by John Lasseter); The Town (novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan); *True Grit (novel by Charles Portis); Never Let Me Go (novel by Kazuo Ishiguro) - DirectorBennett MillerStarsBrad PittRobin WrightJonah HillOakland A's general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.Year: 2011
Screenwriter(s): Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin
Source: book Moneyball: The Art of Winning and Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and if so, did it win?: Yes; No
Nominees: *Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre); The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (novel by Stieg Larsson); Drive (novel by James Sallis); *Hugo (novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick)