You all know that I am a big fan of Jane Campion and Bright Star.  I’m not hiding it at all.  Here is a woman who made a really great movie after her last movie In the Cut got a devastating reception from all circles.  She took some time, regrouped and came back with Bright Star.  Jane Campion is singular because she is the only woman to have won a Palme D’Or at Cannes.  Just that fact should elevates her to a level of respect that seems to be missing from the conversation around Bright Star.

If Bright Star weren’t a good movie that would be another story.

But Bright Star has a passionate following — among men and women– and it has afforded us the opportunity to see a true visionary at work.  That’s one of the things I admire most about the film.   Her vision is so clear and we all know that is not always the case in film.

In the publicity for the film Jane has been very vocal about how Andrew Motion’s biography of John Keats inspired her to write the film.  But keep in mind that it was a biography of Keats and we all know the film is about the relationship between Keats and Fanny Brawne.

So it kind of came as a surprise especially to the folks at Apparition (the film’s distributor) who had already begun a campaign for best original screenplay, when this week the film was classified as an adapted screenplay.

Nobody knows why the Academy felt that it was adapted and there is no recourse. The Wrap which covered the decision wrote:

Although Campion makes use of Keats’ poetry and letters, the writer-director did not adapt any existing material, because there is none that tells the story of Keats and Brawne in any depth.

So how can a story that does not exist be adapted?

One big problem with the decision is the inconsistency.  How can they treated Milk as an original screenplay and not Bright Star?  Clearly, Dustin Lance Black culled his information from biographies and documentaries and he was even able to interview people who knew Harvey Milk.

All five of the films nominated for adapted screenplay last year began as other sources.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — was a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Doubt — was  a play written by John Patrick Shanley

Frost/Nixon — was a play written by Peter Morgan

The Reader –was a novel written by Bernhard Schlink

Slumdog Millionaire — was a novel by Vikas Swarup

You can look back at other years and see the same pattern.

So why did the Academy do this to Campion?   Will this screw her out of a chance for another Oscar nomination (she won the original screenplay Oscar for The Piano)?  Campion believes the script is original and did not put it forward for the USC Scripter Award which is only for adapted screenplays.

This smells really bad.

Academy Rules ‘Bright Star’ Adapted, Not Original (The Wrap)

• Filed Under:  
• Entertainment, Film

• Tags:
• Women Directors
• Women Writers

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