The Oscars are almost here, and many people are wondering how to watch the nominated movies. While some were inescapable (such as Barbie or Oppenheimer), others are most difficult to track, such as “Anatomy of a Fall. Among the most interesting films to be competing this year is “American Fiction,” starring Jeffrey Wright.
“American Fiction” is Cord Jefferson’s debut as director, and he scored big time, earning five Oscar nominations—including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Original Score.
The film is an adaptation of Percival Everett’s novel, Erasure, and it follows Wright as a Black novelist and professor who, frustrated with the publishing industry, writes a story about a Black character filled with stereotypes under a pseudonym with the intention of poking fun at people’s ignorance… However, the book becomes a bestseller.
Is ‘American Fiction’ available to watch at home?
“American Fiction” premiered in theaters on December 15 and it’s still available in cinemas. However, if you wish to watch it at home, you can buy it for $14.99 on Apple TV, Prime Video, and Vudu.
The film, which had a reported budget of less than $10 million, went on to gross $22.4 million at the box office. Apart from its five Oscar nominations, the movie won for Best Adapted Screenplay at the BAFTAs.
During the Writers’ Roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, Jefferson, who before wrote for TV shows such as Good Place, Watchmen and Succession, said that he wanted to make the film because he felt the book was written “specifically” for him.
He said that he identified with “the themes of what it means to be a writer of color, the restrictions people put on your life and the sort of stories you can tell because of your identity, that’s stuff that I thought about since I was a journalist.”
Is ‘American Fiction’ streaming soon?
The movie was made by MGM Studios, which usually releases its content on Prime Video. However, the streaming date for “American Fiction” hasn’t been revealed yet.
Who else is in the cast of American Fiction?
Jeffrey Wright plays Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, and Jefferson has revealed that he always thought of the actor for the role because when he was reading the novel, he read it with Wright’s voice in mind. The supporting cast includes: Sterling K. Brown, Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz, and Issa Rae.