In a very competitive race, Cord Jefferson won his first Academy Award in the Adapted Screenplay category for the dramedy “American Fiction.” Based on the 2001 novel “Erasure“ by Percival Everett, “Fiction” overcame a slew of worthy nominees such as Christopher Nolan‘s screenplay for “Oppenheimer,” Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach‘s bizarrely categorized script for “Barbie,” and Tony McNamara’s adaptation of “Poor Things” to take the prize. Jefferson also earned a nomination for Best Picture as a producer of the Amazon MGM Studios release.
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Over the course of the long awards season, Jefferson saw “American Fiction” come out of nowhere to win the People’s Choice Award at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival following its world premiere in September. He also won the 2024 BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay. Jefferson is currently nominated for a WGA Award for “Fiction” and earned a PGA Award nomination for Theatrical Motion Picture and a DGA Award nomination for First Time Feature Film.
Besides Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay, “Fiction” also landed Oscar nominations for Best Actor (Jeffrey Wright), Best Supporting Actor (Sterling K. Brown), and Original Score (Laura Karpman).
Before directing his feature debut, Jefferson established a critically acclaimed career in television. He won WGA Awards for “Succession’s” first season and “Watchmen” in the same year. Jefferson is also a Primetime Emmy Award winner for “Watchmen,” so, yes, he’s technically halfway to EGOT. His other television credits include “Master of None,” “The Good Place,” and “Station Eleven.”
“American Fiction” is available on digital download sites. Considering it was released in December, is strangely not available for Prime Video members to stream at this time.