USC Scripter Awards big on 'No Country'

[ALIASd]

Scripter Awards big on 'No Country'

Coen brothers win top prize at USC honors

By Derek Peters
Variety
Posted: Sun., Feb. 3, 2008, 8:45am PT

Industry vets rubbed elbows and clinked glasses with academia at the 20th annual Scripter Awards, presented by the Friends of USC Libraries Saturday night at the school's Doheny Memorial Library.
The minds behind "No Country for Old Men" won the award, which honors both the author and screenwriter of a film adaptation.

On the scribe side, Joel Coen briefly accepted the award, tipping his hat to the book's author Cormac McCarthy.

"We had the advantage of starting with a great novel from a great American writer," he said. Brother Ethan Coen was unable to attend.

McCarthy's award was accepted by "Chicago Hope" thesp and Scripter committee member Christine Lahti.

Selection committee chair and screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal said the Coen brothers' treatment brought McCarthy's book to life.

"Sometimes (an adaptation) rises to the height of perfection and provides insight and possibility that a reader alone would never come to. ... Such an adaptation is 'No Country for Old Men,'" she said.

http://www.variety.com/awardcentral_...ryid=1985&cs=1