Universal Pictures isn’t exactly pushing Steven Zaillian‘s screenplay for American Gangster in the Best Original Screenplay category — the decision on these matters is made by the Writers Guild — but the trade ads will reflect this nonetheless, which will blow off any notions that the film is largely based upon Mark Jacobson‘s New York magazine article “The Return of Superfly.”

Likewise, Warner Independent is pushing Paul Haggis‘s script for In the Valley of Elah as a candidate for Best Original screenplay, which will blow off any notions that the film is largely based on Mark Boal’s Playboy magazine piece called “Death and Dishonor” that came out in 2005.

The view seems to be that the scripts for these films involved a lot more dimension, intrigue and detail than was provided by the initial magazine pieces, hence the claims of originality. (Original observation from Kris Tapley‘s Red Carpet District blog on 10.29 and New York magazine’s “Vulture” column on 10.31.)