Thank you, Sapphire

[beckmcdowell]

Did anyone else notice that Geoffrey Fletcher failed to mention Sapphire in his Oscar acceptance speech? I know he was nervous, but there was a DECENT chance it would happen and he had LOTS of time to prepare. His adaptation of her work is brilliant - no argument - but it's her original story, Push, that is riveting, gut-twisting, raw, and inspiring. How long would it have taken to say, “And thank you, Sapphire, for your incredible story”? (Four seconds; I just timed it.) I hope the bloggers, entertainment writers, and general public will take time today to acknowledge her courage and talent. Thank you, Sapphire, for writing such a moving story years ago that would one day become the movie Precious!

[Ishta]

I don't know; he could have done a bad job, and the film wouldn't have been nominated. It was probably a great book to begin with, (I haven't read it, but it's on my ever-growing list), but it's the screenplay adaptation that gets nominated.

Maybe I'm just still irritated by having to hear "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire" all the time, and therefore unable to be truly objective. I'd think that wrangling it so that no-one can talk about the movie without mentioning your name should be enough thanks and credit; no-one will ever NOT know that Sapphire wrote the original book. Not that I don't think an author should get credit where credit is due, but to force that kind of title onto a movie is clunky and unnecessary. Ugh.

[FK7]

Maybe I'm just still irritated by having to hear "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire"

Ditto. If every time a movie based on a book had to include the tag line "2012: Based on the baloney research of Mr. X" or "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Based on the Novel by J.K. Rowling", it gets frickin' annoying. I didn't read the book, I have no interest in another family drama of an abused child. I heard great things about the movie, and like Robert McKee and other such legends say (incl. just about every single noteworthy blog), screenplay writings and novel writing are not alike at all.

He was nervous, he forgot, but her name is in the frickin' title of the movie. Everyone knows who wrote it (not to mention the horrible clichéd pen name... Sapphire? Sounds like a cheap stripper name. What's wrong with Ramona Lofton?) She got half a million dollars when she published the novel in 1995, and has sold millions of copies. I think she can rest happily without worrying too much about someone forgetting to mention her name at the Oscars, if she even does.