This year's Golden Globe nominees for Best Motion Picture Screenplay are a diverse bunch. Seasoned veterans teamed up with novice writers this year to bring you stories set from Paris to Hawaii addressing topics such as sports and politics -- and even brought us back to the glamour of the Hollywood silent era. Yet while these acclaimed screenwriters are honored this year with a nomination, have they written equally worthy films in the past? Let's take a look at this year's screenwriting nominees and their older films that you should check out as well. The 69th Annual Golden Globes Awards Telecast airs Sunday, January 15th 8pm/7c on NBC.
Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne, and Jim Rash for The Descendants
The Script: Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, The Descendants addresses a workaholic (George Clooney) attempting to reconnect with his daughters after his wife is put in a coma. Running the gamut of emotions from grief to humor, the film is being praised for its realism.
Watch This Too: Election. Faxon and Rash are relatively new to the writing side of things, their only credit being a TV movie called Adopted. Alexander Payne, on the other hand, brought us this gem of a comedy and cult favorite about high school politics starring Matthew Broderick and a pitch-perfect Reese Witherspoon.
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon for The Ides of March
The Script: Willimon teamed up with Clooney and Heslov to turn his play Farragut North into the political drama of the year.
Watch This Too: Good Night, and Good Luck. Clooney and Heslov's 2005 portrayal of broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow's attack on Senator McCarthy in the early 1950s was shot in black and white and contains some of the finest dialogue this century, including Murrow's historical speeches.
Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris
The Script: Allen turns to magical realism for this romantic comedy about a man who travels to Paris with his fiancé and her parents. The film has been earning Allen some of the best reviews of his career.
Watch This Too: Scoop. While Allen is famous for his auteur work like Annie Hall or Manhattan, this little 2006 comedy starring Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson packs similar charm and magic.
Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
The Script: In 1927 Hollywood, a silent film star and a dancer prepare for the inevitable arrival of "talkies." Black and white and completely silent, The Artist is the little French film that could, earning critical acclaim and talk of a Best Picture Oscar.
Watch This Too: OSS 117: Lost in Rio and OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies. Hazanavicius is clearly a fan of genre films and the bygone days of cinema, and these two comedic thrillers parody the spy films of the 1960s.
Stan Chervin, Aaron Sorkin, and Steve Zaillian for Moneyball
The Script: Inspired by Moneyball: The Art of Winning and Unfair Game by Michael Lewis (the author of The Blind Side), these three nominees turned a book about the finances and politics of baseball into a fast paced and witty dramedy.
Watch This Too: The Social Network. Moneyball is Chevrin's first foray into screenwriting, but Zaillian and Sorkin have the chops to pave his way. Similar to the "Not-really-about-Baseball" mood of Moneyball, check out Sorkin's "Not-really-about-Facebook" Globe winner from last year.
