PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON There Will Be Blood

Anderson is the first to admit his adaptation of the 1927 novel Oil! is loose - he invented many of the situations in the film using the first 100 pages of the book as the inspiration. The result is a highly original adapted screenplay.

WHAT SCREEN SAID 'This vivid, sprawling parable about greed and moral corrosion will ride to the box office largely on Daniel Day Lewis' volcanic performance.' David D'Arcy

ETHAN COEN AND JOEL COEN No Country For Old Men
Cormac McCarthy's novel of good battling evil in southern Texas got a strict and faithful adaptation courtesy of the Coens, who masterfully put McCarthy's elegiac rhythms and melancholy to film.

WHAT SCREEN SAID 'Adapting the novel to the screen, the Coens tip the balance towards the narrative conventions of a chase thriller and slightly away from the moral battleground that lent the book such power.' Allan Hunter

CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON Atonement
Hampton certainly wrote the best adaptation of an Ian McEwan novel to date, if not one of the great novel adaptations of recent years, adeptly re-imagining the elusive third act of the book.

WHAT SCREEN SAID 'Atonement has been adapted with immense sensitivity by Hampton. The complex, fractured narrative is handled with elegance and fluidity. It carries the weight and intelligence of the story with ease.' Allan Hunter

RONALD HARWOOD The Diving Bell And The Butterfly

A previous Oscar winner for adapting The Pianist for the screen, Harwood takes one of those unfilmable books and makes it work as cinema thanks to the bold internal dialogue he creates for the paralysed lead character.

WHAT SCREEN SAID 'Told with humour and humanity, Diving Bell cannot fail to touch any audience. It allows the viewer to wonder how they might respond in such circumstances.' Allan Hunter

SARAHPOLLEY Away From Her

Polley wrote a spare, simple screenplay for her debut film, based on the short story The Bear Came Over The Mountain by Alice Munro, which draws the enduring relationship between a sixtysomething couple before Alzheimer's throws them into disarray.

WHAT SCREEN SAID 'A lovingly wrought and heartfelt exploration of the end of a complicated relationship.' Denis Seguin