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Writers Guild taps "Enron" for documentary award

Posted on: Thursday, 2 February 2006, 19:50 CST

By Jesse Hiestand

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The writer/director of "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" is the second winner of the Writers Guild of America's award for best documentary writing, the union said Wednesday.

Alex Gibney, who also has been nominated for a documentary feature Academy Award, was set to receive the honor from actor James Woods during a ceremony in Hollywood in Wednesday evening.

"Enron" beat a field that included the matchmaker film "Cowboy del Amor," the political thriller "The Fall of Fujimori," the blockbuster nature study "March of the Penguins" and the mayoral saga "Street Fight."

In addition to "Enron," "Street Fight" and "Penguins" also were nominated this week for an Academy Award. The two other Oscar contenders are "Darwin's Nightmare" and "Murderball."

Gibney wrote, directed and produced his documentary about Enron, based on the book "The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron" by Peter Elkind and Bethany McLean. By coincidence, the fraud trial of former Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling got under way this week in Houston.

Gibney is producing "Possibilities," a film about Herbie Hancock, and "The Ten Commandments," a series of 10 hour-long films on each of the different commandments. Steven Soderbergh is executive producer on the latter.

The WGA's documentary award was awarded for the first time last year to Morgan Spurlock for "Super Size Me."

The guild has been working to organize nonfiction writing, most recently by establishing a first-ever contract for low-budget documentaries just two weeks ago.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Source: REUTERS

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