Oscars flashback: Charlie Kaufman expresses ‘Eternal’ gratitude

Although there are original screenwriters aplenty in Hollywood, it’s hard to imagine anyone more truly sui generis than Charlie Kaufman. After all, he’s the guy who managed to earn two nominations for the same film, when his fictitious twin brother, Donald, was nominated as co-writer on “Adaptation,” a mind-bending 2002 film starring Nicolas Cage in dual roles.

So it seemed all but inevitable that one day Kaufman would take the stage at the Oscars — which is exactly what happened in 2005, when he scored his first (and so far only) golden statuette, this time in the original screenplay category.

‘Mind’ over matter

Kaufman had solo WGA writing credit for the film based on a story by director Michel Gondry, Pierre Bismuth and himself. A romantic bit of magical realism, the movie imagined what it would be like if humans could wipe clean some of their memories, with Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey playing onetime lovers who underwent the procedure to forget one another — or maybe not.

All three men took to the stage to accept their Oscars from presenter Samuel L. Jackson, becoming the first team of writers to win in the category since 1999, when “Shakespeare in Love” duo Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard were victorious. It was Kaufman’s third (or fourth, depending on how you look at it) nomination; in addition to his “Adaptation” twofer, he’d also been nominated for original screenplay on 1999’s “Being John Malkovich.” This was Gondry’s and Bismuth’s one and only nomination so far, but Kaufman would pick up an animated feature nomination for “Anomalisa,” a 2015 film he wrote and co-directed.

Taking the stage, Kaufman said he found the 30-second speech countdown clock “intimidating.” He then thanked the “people who worked so creatively on this movie” and gave special shoutouts to Winslet (who was in the audience, cheering him on) and Carrey. “And I’m supposed to wrap up now,” he noted; then someone in the audience shouted out at him. “No, I don’t want to take my time,” he answered back. “I want to get off the stage. So, thank you. Hi to my daughter, Anna.”

Fellow nominees

Terry George and Keir Pearson were nominated for writing “Hotel Rwanda.” George, who also directed the film, had previously been recognized for co-writing “In the Name of the Father” with director Jim Sheridan and would go on to win an Oscar in 2012 for the live-action short film “The Shore,” which he wrote and co-produced with his daughter, Oorlagh George. This was Pearson’s first and only nomination.

John Logan, who was competing for his work on “The Aviator,” would go on to receive recognition for writing “Hugo,” another film directed by Martin Scorsese, and was first nominated for the screenplay to Ridley Scott’s original “Gladiator” film, shared that recognition with co-writers David Franzoni and William Nicholson.

Mike Leigh, recently BAFTA-nominated for his work on “Hard Truths,” was nominated for “Vera Drake,” both as director and for the screenplay. He has received seven Oscar nominations to date, first for writing and directing 1996’s “Secrets & Lies,” followed by screenplay recognition for 1999’s “Topsy-Turvy.” He would go on to be nominated for 2008’s “Happy-Go-Lucky” and 2010’s “Another Year,” both times for his screenplay. He has yet to walk away with a little gold man.

Finally, the category included one animated film: “The Incredibles,” written by Brad Bird. He has five nominations, including two wins for animated film: He picked up his first Oscar earlier that night for “The Incredibles,” and would get a second win in that category in 2008 for “Ratatouille.” No animated film has ever won in the original screenplay category: All seven nominees from animated films in the category have been Pixar films, starting with the original “Toy Story” film released in 1995 and ending (thus far) with “Inside Out,” a 2015 film that spawned a sequel that has been nominated in this year’s animated feature category.