Connor Cable Hello everyone, welcome back to the mercer entertainment review, and I am back again with Daniel Tolbert talking again about the oscars, part 2! In part 2 we are talking about the adapted and original screenplay awards as well as best director and best picture, the finale. If you have not seen part 1, that one is all about the actors and actresses, so go ahead and go and watch that one. Now we are gonna start with adapted and original screenplay, and this is kind of interesting because it can be an indicator for who might win best picture. Nearly all of the nominees have been nominated (for best picture) as well, and that’s what is really cool about it this year. And they also split up screenplay into adapted and original, original meaning that the screenplay was written specifically for the film and not based on anything else, or at least the screenplay isn’t. And adapted means that it was based on a book, or another film, or a short story, what have you. So we are going to start with adapted screenplay, the nominees are “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” by Joel and Ethan Coen, “BlacKkKlansman” by Spike Lee, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, “If Beale Street Could Talk,” by Barry Jenkins, and “A Star is Born,” screenplay by Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, and Will Fetters, based on the other variations of “A Star is Born” over the years obviously. So what are your thoughts, who do you think should win, and who do you think will win?

Daniel Tolbert: I am leaning heavily towards “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” I would love to see the Coen brothers get another Oscar out of this year. I do not think they will just because of how little attention the movie itself got, as a netflix release…

Connor Cable: Have the Coen brothers won a screenplay award before? They did for “No Country For Old Men” a while back…

Daniel Tolbert: I am pretty sure they have won at least one screenplay award before… but I love the Coen brothers, I have seen essentially all of their movies, I think I may have missed on or two here or there, but the second I heard it came out I went to watch it, I have watched it three or four times, every time I go back to watch it I get something new out of it, there is just so much that they put into this screenplay. I would like to see them win, but I do not think they will though. For adapted, I would have to give the nod towards, “If Beale Street Could Talk” or “BlacKkKlansman” being on top of either of those. I am not entirely sure which one is going to top, I think it just kind of depends on the voting body this year, if either one or any one of those win this year I would be ok with that.

Connor Cable: Yeah the adapted category is weaker than original. “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” would be a great one to win but I think it will be, like you said, “BlacKkKlansman” or “If Beale Street Could Talk.” I don’t think it will be “Can You Ever Forgive Me,” that one doesn’t have enough of the flash, the shock value, it is not really being talked about all that much. And then again, A Star is Born, I said in the last episode, it just keeps coming in second place in every single award. It might get it, it will definitely win the music awards, but I don’t think it’s got it for screenplay. It will either be “If Beale Street Could Talk” or “BlacKkKlansman. And quite frankly, Spike Lee definitely deserves…

Daniel Tolbert: He definitely deserves something this year…

Connor Cable: He deserves it. I don’t know if it will win best picture, but he deserves something…

Daniel Tolbert: We’ll get into him later too…

Connor Cable: Yes we can talk about Spike Lee in a little bit. But my vote for who will win, is “BlacKkKlansman.” Moving on to original screenplay, this one is heavy, this one is stacked. So we’ve got “The Favourite,” “First Reformed,” “Green Book,” “Roma,” and “Vice.” Four of those are nominated for best picture I believe… yes, everything except for “First Reformed” was nominated for best picture. So, it could go any way, they are all very very strong nominees. What are your thoughts?

Daniel Tolbert: Uh, this is a rough one for me, I think…

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