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The bikeriders shifts gears: From original to adapted screenplay
A new contender in the adapted screenplay category
Focus Features’ drama, The Bikeriders, directed and written by Jeff Nichols, is making waves in the awards circuit. Initially positioned as an original screenplay, the film will now compete for the Academy Award in the best adapted screenplay category. This shift comes despite the film’s roots in Danny Lyon’s iconic photobook, which initially inspired the narrative.
Star-studded cast and festival acclaim
The movie boasts a stellar cast, including Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Tom Hardy. It premiered at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival, receiving rave reviews even amidst the ongoing Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild strikes. Originally slated for a December 1, 2023 release by 20th Century Studios, the film’s launch was delayed. Focus Features later acquired the project and released it in June.
A deep dive into the biker culture
The Bikeriders offers a fictionalized account of a Midwestern motorcycle club, drawing from Lyon’s photographs and interviews with Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club members between 1963 and 1967. The narrative spans over a decade, providing an in-depth look into the lives of the club’s members. Despite its reclassification, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) still considers it an original screenplay, and it will compete for a nomination in the upcoming WGA Awards.
Oscar ambitions and technical excellence
In addition to the adapted screenplay category, Focus Features is submitting the film for several other prestigious Oscar categories, including best picture, best actor for Butler, best actress for Comer, and best supporting actor for Hardy. Nichols’ longtime collaborators are also in contention, with Adam Stone for cinematography, Julie Monroe for editing, Chad Keith for production design, and Erin Benach for costume design.
Crafting a complex narrative
“This is the most complex script I’ve ever written,” Nichols shared in a 2023 interview. ”What I love is narrative structure. It’s a book of photographs with interviews and anecdotes, and I placed those throughout the script. If that falls into one category or another, so be it. I’m proud that I took something without a full narrative structure and created one. To take words and images and evoke a sense of nostalgia, a time and place, is difficult.”
The Academy’s role in classification
The Academy’s Writers Branch committee determines which films qualify for each category, independent of WGA rulings. This practice has led to notable shifts in screenplay classifications over the years. For instance, in 2016, the Academy reclassified Moonlight from original to adapted even though the play it was based on had not been published. More recently, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach’s Barbie script was moved to adapted despite an appeal from the filmmakers due to the existence of 47 previous Barbie movies.
Nichols’ history with category shifts
Nichols has faced similar category reassignments before. His 2016 biographical drama Loving, which followed the true story of Richard and Mildred Loving’s historic fight for interracial marriage rights, was campaigned as an original screenplay. However, the Academy shifted it to the adapted category despite Nichols citing the documentary The Loving Story by Nancy Buirski as source material. It wasn’t subsequently nominated, but star Ruth Negga did garner a nomination for best actress.
Other films facing reclassification
Other films this season are also expected to experience category shifts. Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language musical Emilia Pérez may go from original to adapted screenplay. Audiard developed the film’s screenplay from what was initially intended to be an opera libretto in four acts. The title character was inspired by a chapter from Boris Razon’s 2018 novel Écoute.
The ongoing debate: Original vs. adapted
This reclassification debate is not new. The Writers Branch hasn’t always shown consistency in this area. For example, Stephen Gaghan’s Syriana (2005), based on Robert Baer’s memoir See No Evil, was moved from adapted to original because of significant deviations from the book. However, Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood (2007) and Tony Kushner’s Lincoln (2012) remained in the adapted category despite their limited similarities to their respective source materials, Upton Sinclair’s Oil and Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals. And let’s not forget all sequels, even if based on an original film, have nearly always competed as adapted (i.e., Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight).
The future of screenplay classifications
As the awards season progresses, it will be interesting to see if more screenwriters are forced to navigate these category shifts. The evolving landscape of what constitutes an original versus an adapted screenplay continues to spark debate and intrigue within the industry.
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