Oscar night was good to Minnesota, as filmmakers with ties to the state swept the writing awards. Minneapolis natives Joel and Ethan Coen won Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture for No Country for Old Men. Minnesota writer Diablo Cody won Best Original Screenplay for Juno.
In their Oscar speech, one of the brothers noted that this was one of only two of their films that was based on previously published material. Joel Coen said, “I think whatever success we’ve had in this area has been entirely attributable to how selective we are. We’ve only adapted Homer and Cormac McCarthy.” The Coen Brother’s 2000 film Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? was based on Homer’s The Odyssey.
Cody’s screenplay for Juno takes place in Minnesota, where she resided for several years and wrote her memoir Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper. Her myspace page can be found here.