Read the Inspiration for These 2022 Oscar-Nominated Films
Nominations for the 94th annual Academy Awards, aka the Oscars, were announced this morning and, predictably, the literary world was well represented. Five of the ten nominees for Best Picture were adapted from novels, plays, or, in the case of Drive My Car, a short story. The films with the most nominations—The Power of the Dog (12) and Dune (10)—both began their creative lives as books. The winners will be announced at a ceremony on March 27 which gives you plenty of time to read the fabulous works that inspired some of these films.
Drive My Car
Based on: a short story by the same name in Men Without Women: Stories by Haruki Murakami
Across seven tales, Haruki Murakami brings his powers of observation to bear on the lives of men who, in their own ways, find themselves alone. Here are vanishing cats and smoky bars, lonely hearts and mysterious women, baseball and the Beatles, woven together to tell stories that speak to us all.
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ryusuke Hamaguchi & Takamasa Oe), and Best International Feature (Japan)
Dune
Based on: Dune by Frank Herbert
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for....
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Costume Design (Jacqueline West), Best Sound, Best Original Score (Hans Zimmer), Best Adapted Screenplay (Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts & Denis Villeneuve), Best Film Editing (Joe Walker), Best Makeup & Hair Styling, Best Cinematography (Greig Fraser), Best Production Design (Zsuzsanna Sipos & Patrice Vermette), and Best Visual Effects.
See also: Enter the Duniverse at the Library
The Lost Daughter
Based on: The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante
When Leda's daughters leave home to be with their father, she decides to take a trip to a small coastal town in Italy, but soon after she arrives memories from her unsettled past come back to haunt her.
Nominated for: Best Actress (Olivia Colman), Best Supporting Actress (Jessie Buckley), Best Adapted Screenplay (Maggie Gyllenhaal)
Nightmare Alley
Based on: Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham
Hanging around a traveling carnival, Stan Carlisle develops a mentalist act which gradually leads to his ruin.
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Costume Design (Luis Sequeira), Best Cinematography (Dan Lausten), and Best Production Design (Tamara Deverell & Shane Vieau)
The Power of the Dog
Based on: The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage
Follows the story of two brothers in 1920s Montana as their already-fragile relationship is impacted by the arrival of a woman and her young son.
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (Jane Campion), Best Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch), Best Supporting Actress (Kirsten Dunst), Best Supporting Actor (Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee), Best Sound, Best Original Score (Jonny Greenwood), Best Adapted Screenplay (Jane Campion), Best Film Editing (Peter Sciberras), Best Cinematography (Ari Wegner), and Best Production Design (Grant Major and Amber Richards)
Tick, Tick … Boom!
Based on: the stage musical Tick, Tick...Boom! by Jonathan Larson
Tick, Tick...Boom! tells the story of young Jonathan, a promising young composer on the eve of his 30th birthday. His girlfriend wants to get married and move out of the city (tick); his best friend is making big bucks on Madison Avenue (tick); and he's still waiting tables and trying to write the great American musical before time, and life, passes him by (BOOM!)
Nominated for: Best Actor (Andrew Garfield), Best Film Editing (Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum)
See also: Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick...Boom! in the Archives
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Based on: The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare
A Scottish nobleman murders the king in order to succeed to the throne. Tortured by his conscience and fearful of discovery, he becomes tangled in a web of treachery and deceit that ultimately spells his doom.
Nominated for: Best Actor (Denzel Washington), Best Cinematography (Bruno Delbonnel), and Best Production Design (Stefan Dechant and Nancy Haigh)
West Side Story
Based on: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet tells the story of two star-crossed lovers and the unhappy fate that befell them as a result of a long and bitter feud between their families.
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Supporting Actress (Ariana DeBose), Best Costume Design (Paul Tazewell), Best Sound, Best Cinematography (Janusz Kaminski), and Best Production Design (Rena DeAngelo and Adam Stockhausen)
Book summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.