Lone Survivor? Llewyn Davis sure isn’t

Well, we sure didn’t expect to ever have that as our lead-in image this season, but the Writers Guild of America managed to fling us a surprise today by nominating the Mark Wahlberg action flick Lone Survivor in their Best Adapted Screenplay category. The film, with screenplay written by director Peter Berg hasn’t showed up anywhere else before, and to be frank, we don’t expect it to do so after today. But is will always have the WGA.

In more important developments, Dallas Buyers Club did better than expected, while Inside Llewyn Davis disappointed. Wait, didn’t we have this conversation yesterday? For the second day in a row, Matthew McConaughey’s grabbed a nomination against expectations, while the Coens missed another one, and this time with a guild that has always been kind to them. The role reversal seems complete: Dallas seems now virtually sure of a Best Picture nomination come January 16th, while Inside Llewyn Davis‘ chances look slimmer by the way.

It was also another good day for Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine, which nabbed another guild nomination, and is in a much better position than two days ago. Will Woody return to the Kodak? Well, not in person of course, but his film just might. Elsewhere, everything that was expected showed up, except the film AwardsWatch expected to be there, The Spectacular Now. In its place, we got Lone Survivor. Really?

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
American Hustle, Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine, Written by Woody Allen
Dallas Buyers Club, Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack
Her, Written by Spike Jonze
Nebraska, Written by Bob Nelson

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
August: Osage County, Screenplay by Tracy Letts
Before Midnight, Written by Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke
Captain Phillips, Screenplay by Billy Ray
Lone Survivor, Written by Peter Berg
The Wolf of Wall Street, Screenplay by Terence Winter