As superhero fans know all too well, the Academy Awards often turn their noses up at the comic book movie genre, with relatively few Marvel and DC productions having been nominated for Oscars, especially the non-technical ones, let alone having won them. This year, though, Logan is joining the select club as the X-Men pic has earned itself a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Fans of the movie – which many call one of the best superhero films ever – are obviously overjoyed, as are its cast and crew. Case in point: Logan himself, Hugh Jackman, took to Twitter to share his thoughts on the news, posting a glowing congratulations to writer/director James Mangold, who shares the nomination with co-writers Scott Frank and Michael Green.
The actor’s Tweet reads as follows:
“If Hollywood kept statistics for the most assists in nominations/awards … @mang0ld would be the league leader. Today, he finally got the recognition he deserves. Congrats brother!”
As you probably know, Logan was intended as the final bow for Jackman’s Wolverine, after a whopping 17 years of tearing bad guys apart with his claws. It’s gratifying to know that, though he wasn’t honoured for his (outstanding) performance in the production, he was still gifted with a final movie that was so good the Academy had to sit up and pay attention to it.
It’s also interesting to look back on how Jackman’s trilogy of standalone Wolverine films have improved so much with each installment. 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a terrible mess of a movie and is pretty much hated by all. 2013’s The Wolverine was a considerable improvement but still had some issues. 2017’s Logan, on the other hand, is critically acclaimed and bagged itself an Oscar nom.
We wish Mangold and his co-writers all the best in what’s definitely a tough category. Logan’s screenplay is up against some mighty competition in Mudbound, Call Me By Your Name, The Disaster Artist and Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game. Whatever happens, though, we offer up a well deserved congratulations to Logan for breaking through the superhero movie glass ceiling. Or should we call it an adamantium ceiling?