News

Catherine McCormack has joined Colin Firth in Sky and Peacock’s upcoming limited series “Lockerbie,” about the 1988 flight disaster in which 259 passengers and crew members were killed.

The “Slow Horses” actor will play Jane Swire, the wife of Dr. Jim Swire (Firth). The Swires lost their daughter, Flora, in the terror attack on Pan Am Flight 103 and have been searching for justice ever since.

Sky and Peacock have also announced the rest of the cast, which includes Sam Troughton (“Chernobyl”) as Murray Guthrie, Mark Bonnar (“Napoleon”) as Roderick McGill, Andy Nyman (“A Small Light”) as Edwin Bollier, Ardalan Esmaili (“Opponent”) as Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Selwa Jghalef (“Layers”) as Aisha.

“In the wake of the disaster and his daughter Flora’s death, Dr. Jim Swire is nominated spokesperson for the U.K. victims’ families, who have united to demand truth and justice,” the show’s official description states. “Traveling across continents and political divides,...

Catherine McCormack (Slow Horses, Temple) has joined Sky and Peacock original limited series Lockerbie to star opposite Colin Firth.

McCormack will play the role of Jane Swire, wife of Dr. Jim Swire who will be played by Academy Award- and BAFTA-winning star Firth (The King’s Speech, A Single Man, The Staircase). The couple lost daughter Flora in the terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988. The five-part series will explore their search for justice ever since.

Also joining the cast are Sam Troughton (Chernobyl) as Murray Guthrie, Mark Bonnar (Napoleon, Guilt) as Roderick McGill, Andy Nyman (A Small Light, Judy) as Edwin Bollier, Ardalan Esmaili (Opponent) as Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, and Selwa Jghalef (Layers) as Aisha.

In the attack, a Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit was destroyed by a bomb 38 minutes after take-off while flying over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members. Parts...

It is the first scripted co-commission from Sky and sister company Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service.

Irish filmmakers Jim and Kirsten Sheridan will write a five-part TV series called Lockerbie based on the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 for UK pay-tv broadcaster Sky and Universal’s streaming platform Peacock.

The story is based on the fight for justice of Dr Jim Swire and his wife Jane, whose daughter Flora was killed in the terrorist atrocty.

The five-part series is a co-production between Gareth Neame’s UK outfit Carnival Pictures, Universal Content Productions (UCP...

Exclusive: Sky and Peacock are behind a drama based on the notorious 1988 Lockerbie disaster from Academy Award-nominated writers Jim Sheridan and Kirsten Sheridan, Deadline can reveal.

Airing next year, Lockerbie will be based on the search for justice by Dr Jim Swire and his wife Jane who lost their daughter Flora in the air disaster, which killed all 259 passengers and crew on board when it exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, 38 minutes after take off. A further 11 residents lost their lives when the plane came down.

Swire led a campaign for truth and justice and went on a journey that included meeting Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi and successive British Prime Ministers before Libyan national Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted 13 years later. He was released on compassionate grounds in 2009. The series is based on Swire and Peter Biddulph’s book about thee disaster.

The five-parter comes from UCP, Sky Studios and Universal International Studios’ Carnival Films,...

The film is written and directed by Nathalie Biancheri.

Irish actor Barry Keoghan, whose credits include The Killing Of A Sacred Deer, American Animals, and the Emmy-nominated series Chernobyl, is in talks to star in Nathalie Biancheri’s Wolf, a high-concept arthouse drama about a boy who believes he is a wolf.

It is being produced by Ireland’s Feline Films with Polish outfit Lava Films.

Wolf will be the third feature by Irish writer-director Biancheri following her documentary I Was Here, co-directed with Ola Jankowska, which debuted at Cph: Dox earlier this year, and the drama Nocturnal, starring Sadie Frost and Cosmo Jarvis,...

The film is written and directed by Nathalie Biancheri.

Irish actor Barry Keoghan, whose credits includeThe Killing of a Sacred Deer, American Animals, and the Emmy-nominated series Chernobyl , is in talks to star in Nathalie Biancheri’s Wolf, a high-concept arthouse drama about a boy who believes he is a wolf. It is being produced by Ireland’s Parallel Films with Polish outfit Lava Films.

Wolf will be the third feature by Irish writer-director Biancheri following her documentary I Was Here, co-directed with Ola Jankowska, which debuted at Cph: Dox earlier this year, and the drama Nocturnal, starring Sadie Frost and Cosmo Jarvis,...

The film is written and directed by Nathalie Biancheri.

Irish actor Barry Keoghan, whose credits includeThe Killing of a Sacred Deer, American Animals, and the Emmy-nominated series Chernobyl , is in talks to star in Nathalie Biancheri’s Wolf, a high-concept arthouse drama about a boy who believes he is a wolf. It is being produced by Ireland’s Parallel Films with Polish outfit Lava Films.

Wolf will be the third feature by Irish writer-director Biancheri following her documentary I Was Here, co-directed with Ola Jankowska, which debuted at Cph: Dox earlier this year, and the drama Nocturnal, starring Sadie Frost and Cosmo Jarvis,...

The Irish Film Board backs production funding for the directoral debut from the Intermission and Boy A writer.

The directional debut from writer Mark O’Rowe (Intermission, Boy A) is among a number of projects backed by the Irish Film Board in its latest round of funding decisions.

O’Rowe will direct his own screenplay for relationship drama The Delinquent Season, which has been granted $707,220 (€650,000) in production funding. Parallel Films will produce.

The Delinquent Season received the largest single commitment from the Ifb in one of several projects backed by the board for production funding.

They include The Man Who Invented Christmas which will be directed by Barhat Nalluri (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day) and scripted by Susan Coyne, which was given funding of $163,200 (€150,000). Parallel Films is producing.

Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest film The Killing of a Sacred Deer, which recently wrapped filming in Cincinnati and stars Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman, was awarded...

The new promotional organisation will kick off later this month with the first in an annual festival roadshow in Los Angeles and New York.

The flagship event will kick off with the Isa/La Festival on September 25 in Los Angeles at the USC School Of Cinematic Arts, while the Isa/NY Festival launches on October 2 in New York at Nyu’s Cantor Film Center.

The slate will include the Us Premiere of Frank Berry’s teen drama I Used to Live Here, the West Coast premiere of Daisy Asquith’s After The Dance, Screen La Star Of Tomorrow Gerard Barrett’s Sundance entry Glassland and the Us premiere of Traders (pictured) by Rachel Moriarty and Peter Murphy.

The Los Angeles programme will include the panel Stories From The Field: Three Irish Film Directors In Hollywood with directors Ruairi Robinson, Ciaran Foy and Gary Shore, as well as masterclasses from screenwriter Naomi Sheridan in Los Angeles and [link...

The 2002 film In America earned writer-director Jim Sheridan an Oscar nomination for his script, which he co-wrote with his daughters Naomi Sheridan and Kirsten Sheridan. The film was inspired by Sheridan’s own family. Now Sheridan will now be able to pull even more from his own experiences, as the film will be turned into a series at HBO.

As Deadline first reported, Sheridan and his daughters have signed on to adapt the film—and their lives—into an HBO series being produced by Fox TV Studios. The Sheridan trio will all serve as executive producers on the project, though...

Exclusive: Wme has signed rising helmer Gary Shore and his ArtCastle label. Shore directed the upcoming Universal Pictures film Dracula Untold. With producer Jonathan Loughran (The F Word), Shore operates ArtCastle from Los Angeles and Dublin. The filmmaker first got notice here after Loughran circulated his trailer Cup Of Tears, going viral with it. That led to a bidding battle and a deal with Working Title to develop a feature version, which in turn led to a three-picture deal with Universal for ArtCastle that started Dracula Untold. The bloodsucker stars Luke Evans, Dominic Cooper and Sarah Gadon and will be released in October. The company’s goal is to develop film and TV for Shore to direct and produce, as they continue to be a catalyst in financing and producing films that will shoot in Ireland. Among the projects ArtCastle is percolating: 38, an action thriller scripted by In America‘s Naomi Sheridan; The Ranger,...

Tff 2012, presented by American Express®, today announced the lineup for the 2012 Tribeca Talks® panel series. This year's programs include the returning Tribeca Talks: Directors Series, Tribeca Talks: After the Movie, Tribeca Talks: Industry, Tribeca Talks: Pen to Paper, hosted by Barnes and Noble, and the Tribeca/Espn Sports Film Festival panel. A new series was also announced: Beyond the Screens: Globalize Your Thinking is sponsored by OppenheimerFunds. The 2012 Tribeca Talks series is open to the public, with events happening throughout the Tff window (April 18 to 29). Participants attached to the panels are some of the most influential and prolific directors, actors and industry leaders, including Academy Award®-winning actors Robert De Niro and Susan Sarandon; writer-director-producer Judd Apatow; Academy Award®-nominated director Jim Sheridan and his daughter, Academy Award®-nominated screenwriter Naomi Sheridan; actors Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Lili Taylor, Christian Slater, and Crispin Glover; industry leaders from Espn and more.

Robert Zemeckis and his Imagemovers production company, along with Sony Pictures Animation, are going forward with an adaptation of Chuck Sambuchino’s novel How To Survive A Garden Gnome Attack. The film will be live action, while the garden gnomes will be CGI, and is a tale about a survival guide, which prepares homeowners on the off chance the lawn ornaments stage a home invasion. Chad Damiani and Jp Lavin have been hired to write the script. Zemeckis may end up directing it.

Just like it did with Spartacus‘ second season, which was ordered before the series had premiered, Starz announced they have renewed the drama for a third season ahead of the Jan. 27 debut of Season 2, Spartacus: Vengeance. Production on the yet-untitled third season is slated to begin in New Zealand in early 2012. Vengeance marks the debut of Liam McIntyre (who looks remarkably like Whitfield) in the title role of Spartacus,...

Whenever I hear a new Stephen King film adaptation is in on the way, I get a little confused. The excitement from how good it can be (The Shining, The Mist) and dread from how bad it can be (Dreamcatcher, Maximum Overdrive) make it almost impossible to gauge an appropriate level of anticipation. For better or worse, King’s 1995 novel Rose Madder is on its way to the big screen.

Since King himself called the Madder one of his “stiff, trying-too-hard novels” in his memoir (On Writing), I’m not going to be too optimistic about this one. The book is about a woman who flees to the big city to escape her abusive police officer husband. There, she trades her wedding ring for a painting that ends up being a portal into a fantasy land populated by a crazy woman, a huge labyrinth, an evil one-eyed bull, magic seeds,...

This Just In: Brett Rattner has resigned as producer of the Oscar telecast after his gay slur this weekend at a Q&A. So we don't even need to link you to Mark Harris's sharp opinion piece about why they should fire him. Good. Let us wash our hands of this one and move on... although I'm still more worried about him ruining Wicked for all time than ruining the Oscars for one year. The Oscars survive everything.

Coming Soon we're going to get a youth-centric fictional film about the adventures of the young Leonardo da Vinci.

Hollywood Reporter interviews the recipients of the upcoming honorary Oscars including Her Oprahness

Tom and Lorenzo object to this new pictorial of Chloe Moretz

Vgl Bruce Weber shoots Weekend star Tom Cullen (left). I think this is the most clothed I've ever seen a Weber shoot but beautiful pics. I hope Cullen...

Stephen King has always been big business for Hollywood, and that hasn't changed even as the writer cruises through his '60s. As of this story, there are something like a dozen film and television projects in the works based on his material. Stuff like The Dark Tower and Under the Dome have been generating most of the chatter, but there are also pending remakes such as Firestarter, Carrie, and Pet Sematary. But the King spree isn't sticking solely to the author's best-known books. According to a story in Variety, there's also an adaptation of King's novel Rose Madder in the works, and it's being written by In America writer Naomi Sheridan. Published back in 1995, Rose Madder centers on a woman who flees her cop husband after many years of abuse. Settling into a new city, she finds work, begins dating, and generally sets about trying to build a new...

There are numerous big screen Stephen King adaptations, from the really good (The Shining) to the really bad (unfortunately there are too many of these to list but here's one for you...Dreamcatcher) and the "Oh yea, he did write those didn't he?!" (The Shawshank Redemption , The Green Mile) in between. But somehow, King's Rose Madder has evaded the feature film treatment until now. Variety is reporting that Palomar Pictures and Grosvenor Park are working on an adaptation of the 1995 novel with screenwriter Naomi Sheridan, writer of In America and daughter of My Left Foot director Jim) scripting the project. No word on a director or any stars attached to the project but something tells me it won't be Mr. Sheridan after the flop that was Dream House (for the record, the director was very unhappy with the studio's final cut and wanted his name removed from the film). Madder,...

The latest on the proposed adaptations of Stephen King's Rose Madder and Under The Dome...

Stephen King adaptations, as many of you well know, have their moments, but not all of them tend to be good ones. Still, with a movie of The Stand on the way, there's still an appetite to bring his work to the screen. And two more projects have just moved forward, too.

The first is an adaptation of Rose Madder, which follows a woman who escapes from an abusive husband to the safety of a women’s refuge. Whilst there, she’s able to escape by travelling through a painting, but the threat of her husband finding her never seems far away.

Naomi Sheridan (In America) has written the script for the planned movie on this one, and Palomar Pictures hope to begin shooting the project within the next year and a half.

The...

It's looking increasingly unlikely that Ron Howard's "Dark Tower" gesamtkunstwerk will ever play anywhere outside the director's head, but fortunately, Stephen King has somewhere around 1,347 other works (a rough estimate) just aching to be adapted into another medium. Next up on the list? The author's 1995 novel "Rose Madder" and "Under the Dome" from 2009.

According to Variety, the film version of "Rose Madder" is set to go into production sometime in the next year and a half, and will be filmed from a script by Naomi Sheridan, best known for writing "In America" and being the daughter of that film's director, Jim Sheridan. The novel, which King himself once described as "stiff" and "trying-too-hard" follows a woman who is the victim of domestic abuse and ends up escaping into a painting.

Meanwhile, moves are also being made to bring "Under the Dome" to the small screen. We've known since this...

Palomar Pictures have announced they are developing a feature film adaptation of one of the better works of Stephen King's 90's efforts - "Rose Madder" reports Variety.

The story interweaves a gruellingly detailed take on spousal abuse with dark fantasy touches as it follows Rose McClendon, a woman who escapes her violently abusive police officer husband and goes on the run.

Setting up a new life at a women's shelter, she comes upon a painting into which she's able to travel inside of - a painting of a beautiful yet insane woman looking across a field at a labyrinth with a one-eyed bull-like beast inside it. Her husband however is a psychopathic bloodhound who ruthlessly sets out to track her down.

"In America" co-scribe Naomi Sheridan has penned the script adaptation and plans to shoot the film sometime in the next eighteen months.

We’ve been reporting on quite a few upcoming projects based on Stephen King stories. Warner Bros. is looking to create a big budget version of The Stand, Ron Howard is trying to adapt The Dark Tower series, Mick Garris just wrapped up a Bag of Bone miniseries, and it has just been announced that Palomar Pictures will be adapting Stephen King’s Rose Madder.

The 1995 novel tells the story of a woman who is in an abusive marriage and is able to turn into someone else by traveling into her painting. Naomi Sheridan (In America) has already written a screenplay and the project is expected to go into production within the next 18 months. For those that would like to learn more about Rose Madder, here is a longer plot synopsis:

“Roused by a single drop of blood on the bedsheet, Rosie Daniels wakes from fourteen years of a nightmare marriage and suddenly takes flight.

"Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof may have said it best when he tweeted, "Brian K. Vaughan adapting Stephen King's Under The Dome is pretty much the chocolate meets peanut butter of writing."

It's true: Deadline is reporting that former "Lost" writer and creator of such comic series as "Y: The Last Man" and "Ex Machina," Brian K. Vaughan, has just been hired by Showtime to adapt the massive Stephen King novel, "Under the Dome." Showtime and Dreamworks announced back in August that they were moving ahead with a potential drama series based the novel and that the search for a writer had begun.

Those familiar with Vaughan and his work should spot why Lindelof found the pairing of writer and subject such a perfect fit. Vaughan joined "Lost" as a writer during the show's third season and stayed on through the fifth. His work in comics, specifically "Y" and "Ex Machina,...

At the American Film Market (Afm), Palomar Pictures (Killer Elite, Brothers) has announced that it acquired the film rights to Stephen King's "Rose Madder" novel. The story of the book is based on a woman who's on the run from her abusive husband and is able to travel into a painting and return as someone else. It is being adapted for the big screen by Naomi Sheridan (In America), who is the daughter of director Jim Sheridan (Brothers, Dream Hou…...

One of the Stephen King novels to elude the forces of film adaptation has been Rose Madder, which combines phantasmagoric fantasy and spousal abuse in a way that is very characteristically King, and seemingly rather difficult to put on the screen. That is changing now, as the 1995 novel is part of a trio of film projects announced at the American Film Market by Palomar Pictures (Brothers, Killer Elite) and Gosvenor Park. The companies will team to remake French heist movie Joseph and the Girl, Norwegian film Elling, and to bring Rose Madder to the screen. Variety [1] says that Naomi Sheridan (co-writer of In America and daughter of director Jim Sheridan) has scripted Rose Madder and that the film is targeted to shoot within the next year and half. Rose Madder follows a woman who leaves her evilly abusive husband after years of being beaten. She sets up a new life...

Almost every Stephen King novel that has ever been written has gotten or will eventually get a feature film or TV adaptation. The guys stories are just so awesome why wouldn't anyone want to develop them into something we can watch and enjoy. It's great to see that King's 1995 book Rose Madder is finally going to get it's shot. This story has had a hell of a time trying to get to the big screen because of how odd the story is, but Palomar Pictures has taken it upon themselves to take on the challenge as part of a three-film deal with Grosvenor Park.

Rose Madder is a combination of several different elements, it's domestic saga, part fairytale and part Greek myth. The story involves a woman trying to escape from her abusively violent husband. She ends up getting a painting that she can go inside. Once she enters the...

Stephen King fans may rejoice or despair at the news that two more of the old fella's novels are being adapted into a new supernatural TV show and a feature movie. Deadline have reported that King's novel 'Under the Dome', written in 2009, is set to be turned into a TV series for Showtime. The DreamWorks Television production will be penned by 'Lost' writer and producer Brian K. Vaughan. In addition to this news the word on the street, well from Variety anyway, is that Stephen King's novel 'Rose Madder' is set to be turned into a feature. The movie is being ramped up by the new partnership between Palomar Pictures and Grosvenor Park who intend on making a 3 picture deal (one of which will include 'Rose Madder'). The adaption will will be penned by 'In America' scribe Naomi Sheridan....

At the American Film Market, Palomar Pictures (Killer Elite, Brothers) has announced that it acquired film rights to Stephen King's "Rose Madder" fantasy novel. The story is based on a woman who's on the run from her abusive husband and is able to travel into a painting and return as someone else. It is being adapted for the big screen by Naomi Sheridan (In America), who is the daughter of director Jim Sheridan (Brothers, Dream House, In America). A director or cast has yet to be announced, but the plan is to begin filming within the next eighteen months.

Two more adaptations are on the way in various forms from the mind of one of the horror genre's most prolific and respected authors, the great Stephen King, and we've got the scoop on both of 'em for you right here in one space! Dig it!

According to Deadline "Lost" writer Brian K. Vaughan has been tapped to pen Showtime’s drama series adaptation of Stephen King’s 2009 novel Under the Dome from DreamWorks Television.

The supernatural thriller revolves around locals at a Maine vacation spot who battle one another when a force field suddenly surrounds their town and cuts them off from the rest of the world. DreamWorks’ Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider originally secured the rights to King’s novel shortly after it was published in November 2009.

In other King related news Variety is also reporting that in a major indie financing deal, Joni Sighvattson's Palomar Pictures (Killer Elite,...

Stephen King is an interesting writer in the sense that some of his work goes on to inspire renown films, ('The Shining,' 'Pet Sematary') whereas some of it ends up in cheaply put together straight-to video fare. ('Dolan's Cadillac') How much recognition his work has is usually a good indicator of which size screen it will be appearing on. Variety reports that the film adaptation of King's novel, 'Rose Madder' is occurring as part of a three picture deal between Palomar Pictures and Grosvenor Park. Sorry, the other two films: 'Joseph and the Girl' and 'Elliot' have nothing to do with King. For more on those, head over to Variety. As for King's 'Rose Madder,' here's the synopsis via his official website:  "Rosie Daniels flees from her husband, Norman after fourteen years in an abusive marriage. During one bout of violence, Norman caused...

After an extensive search, comic book ("Y: The Last Man," "Ex Machina") and "Lost" writer Brian K. Vaughan has been tapped to pen Showtimes drama series adaptation of Stephen Kings 2009 novel "Under the Dome", from DreamWorks Television, says Deadline. The supernatural thriller revolves around locals at a Maine vacation spot who battle one another when a force field suddenly surrounds their town and cuts them off from the rest of the world. In other news, Joni Sighvattson's Palomar Pictures (Killer Elite, Brothers) has launched a partnership with Grosvenor Park on a package of three films -- one being an adaptation of Stephen King's 1995 fantasy novel "Rose Madder". Naomi Sheridan (In America) penned the screenplay that's based on a woman who's on the run from her abusive husband and is able to travel into a painting.

There are relatively few novels by Stephen King yet to be filmed, and of those, most have been optioned and are languishing in development hell. Not so Rose Madder, which is so odd that nobody had seemed to want to go near it... until now. The brave souls at production company Palomar Pictures have just picked up Rose Madder as part of a three-film* deal with Grosvenor Park.King's fantastical 1995 story is part domestic saga, part fairytale and part Greek myth. It involves a woman on the run from her violent husband, who acquires a painting that she can actually go inside. Once through the looking glass she encounters the insane Rose Madder, and undertakes a quest to face down a minotaur in its labyrinth. And then it's back to the real world, where our heroine finds she may be inheriting Rose Madder's mental health issues. And there's some business with a magic tree.

There are a few Stephen King novels I never expected to reach the screen. "Rose Madder" was one of them, because honestly, I never thought it was one of his best works. Then again, that hasn't stopped a lot of King adaptations, now has it? Alas, the 1995 tome is being developed for the screen by Palomar Pictures. The production outfit has hired Naomi Sheridan to write the script. Her only other screenwriting credit to date is In America , which her father, Jim Sheridan ( My Left Foot ) directed in 2002. Perhaps she can elevate the material... The novel told of Rose Daniels, a woman on the run from her abusive husband who discovers she can enter the realm of one of her oil paintings and return as someone else.

After earning Oscar nominations earlier this year for their collaboration on In America, filmmaker Jim Sheridan and his daughter Naomi Sheridan have set their sights on the small screen. The Sheridans have cut a deal with NBC and Paramount Network TV to develop a drama series about a large Irish family struggling to run a restaurant in the United States, reps for NBC and Paramount confirmed. Naomi Sheridan is set to write the pilot script and executive produce the project alongside her father, who might also direct the pilot if his schedule permits.

Smaller films from specialty film companies dominated the nominees for original screenplay Thursday in the 56th annual Writers Guild Awards, while several of the year's larger releases, including The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Cold Mountain, featured prominently among the best adapted screenplays. Original screenplay nominees are Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges and Guljit Bindra for Fox Searchlight Pictures' Bend It Like Beckham, a lighthearted look at women's competitive soccer; Steven Knight for Miramax Films' Dirty Pretty Things, a gritty immigrant story; Jim Sheridan and daughters Naomi Sheridan and Kirsten Sheridan for Fox Searchlight's In America, an intimate portrait of a family struggling with the loss of a child; Sofia Coppola for Focus Features' much-honored Lost in Translation; and Tom McCarthy for Miramax's moody drama The Station Agent. Adapted screenplay nominees are Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman for HBO Films/Fine Line Features' American Splendor, based on the comic book series by Harvey Pekar and novel by Pekar and Joyce Brabner; Anthony Minghella for Miramax Films' Civil War-era drama Cold Mountain, based on the novel by Charles Frazier; Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson for New Line Cinema's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien; Brian Helgeland for Warner Bros. Pictures' Mystic River, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane; and Gary Ross for Universal Pictures' Seabiscuit, based on the book by Laura Hillenbrand.

Smaller films from specialty film companies dominated the nominees Thursday for original screenplay at the 56th annual Writers Guild Awards, while adapted screenplays were nominated from several of the year's bigger releases including The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Cold Mountain. Nominated for original screenplay were Gurinder Chadha, Paul Berges and Guljit Bindra for Fox Searchlight Pictures' Bend It Like Beckham, Steven Knight for Miramax Films' Dirty Pretty Things, Jim Sheridan and daughters Naomi Sheridan and Kirsten Sheridan for Fox Searchlight Pictures' In America, Sofia Coppola for Focus Features' Lost in Translation, and Tom McCarthy for Miramax Films' The Station Agent. Adapted screenplay nominees were: Robert Pulcini and Shari Berman for HBO Films/Fine Line Features' American Splendor, based on the comic book series by Harvey Pekar and novel by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner; Anthony Minghella for Miramax Films' Cold Mountain, based on the novel by Charles Frazier; Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson for New Line Cinema's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien; Brian Helgeland for Warner Bros. Pictures' Mystic River, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane; and Gary Ross for Universal Pictures' Seabiscuit based on the book by Laura Hillenbrand.