It seems Universal Pictures will be campaigning Steven Zaillian's screenplay for "American Gangster" in the original screenplay category this year at the Oscars.  But conventional wisdom had it that the script was based on Mark Jacobson's New York Magazine article "The Return of Superfly," which recounted the life and times of Frank Lucas (portrayed by Denzel Washington in the film).

The fact is there is actually no major mention of Detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe's cleaner-than-thou cop) in the article and that the screenplay was "not based on the article at all," according to somone close to the campaign.  "Articles in magazines or newspapers," he adds, "are oftentimes not enough for the [writers] branch or WGA to measure it as a 'based on.'"

The things we learn along the way.  Though I probably could have just been a little more observant at my screening of "Gangster" last month during the closing credits.

Also, a brief glance at a "For Your Consideration" ad for the film "In the Valley of Elah" shows that Warner Independent is going with the original screenplay rather than positioning it as adapted from the article Mark Boal wrote for Playboy in 2005.  Maybe there's something to this.

I called the guild to inquire about these designations and a representative (a rather snooty one, mind you -- but I guess there's a lot going on over there this week, huh?) said that there is indeed a gray area with magazine articles.  It's not like a novel or a play.  An article could be telling a story but have no narrative to speak of, and that's kind of the situation with "American Gangster."

I haven't read Boal's article, so I can't speak to that.