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A new chapter in cinema: why books are big at the 2016 Oscars

Written By Unknown on Sunday, February 28, 2016 | 3:15 AM

Film adaptations of Brooklyn, The Martian, The Revenant and Room are among the best picture nominees at this year’s Academy Awards as Hollywood shows its bookish side

Everyone knows about the Oscar effect when it comes to cinema box office, but what about the impact on books? This year texts in both fiction and non-fiction have proved particularly valuable to the awards race. Of the nine best picture nominees to be announced this Sunday, four are based on novels and one – The Big Short – on a celebrated account of the 2008 financial crisis.

Pleasingly, the novels that form the core of the best picture list emanate from a wide variety of books. The most obviously literary is Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn, winner of the Costa and longlisted for the Man Booker. A study of an Irish emigrée to New York in the 1950s who returns to the home country after the death of her sister, Brooklyn provides a powerhouse role for Saoirse Ronan, who is a strong contender for the best actress award. Room, written by Irish-Canadian novelist Emma Donoghue and loosely inspired by the Josef Fritzl kidnapping case, was a Man Booker shortlistee, and has provided another stellar female role, this time for Brie Larson as a woman confined in a small room with her young son.

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