Salesianum grad celebrates Oscar nomination for 'A Star Is Born' with cookies
Ryan CormierHow did "A Star Is Born" screenwriter and Salesianum School graduate Will Fetters celebrate his first Academy Award nomination?
Did he and his wife Amanda get a babysitter for their three children and leave their Studio City, California home for a swanky dinner in Los Angeles?
Not quite.
They defrosted some cookie dough balls from Christmas, baked cookies and watched the latest episode of "True Detective" on HBO with big smiles on their faces.
"That was our wild and crazy celebration," says Fetters, 37, who co-wrote the film with its star and director Bradley Cooper, along with writer Eric Roth.
Fetters was home when the nominations were announced at 5:20 a.m. PST, sleeping past his alarm by a few minutes because he had been up late with their 5-1/2-month-old son Everett.
By the time he turned on the television, actors Tracee Ellis Ross and Kumail Nanjiani were in the midst of announcing his category: best adapted screenplay.
"It was quite dramatic," he says.
The television was on mute as to not wake everyone and he saw three nominees already listed.
And since a couple of them were somewhat unexpected, Fetters girded himself for bad news.
"The inner Philadelphia sports fan in me was just ready for the gut punch," he says. "And it didn't come."
When "A Star Is Born" was announced as the fifth and final nominee, he saw his name on the screen and had a one-man celebration.
"It was pretty cool. I didn't wake my wife because she was with the baby so it was just me and I did a little fist pump," says Fetters, a University of Delaware graduate who majored in finance and political science during his time in Newark.
He then texted with his sisters and went back to sleep.
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Once the nomination became a reality, he realized how much the moment meant to him.
"When I was living in Delaware as a kid, I used to watch the Oscars every year with my parents. It was really meaningful," he says. "I worked really hard on that film over a long time and I was just smiling all day."
Fetters, Cooper and Roth will face off against four other nominees: "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" (Joel and Ethan Coen), "BlacKkKlansman" (Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel and Kevin Willmott), "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" (Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty) and "If Beale Street Could Talk" (Barry Jenkins).
In total, "A Star Is Born" was nominated in eight categories for this year's Oscars including best picture, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor and best cinematography.
Only "The Favourite" and "Roma" were nominated in more categories, snagging 10 each.
Fetters fielded a wave of texts and calls from friends and family all day long, including one from University of Delaware political science professor James Magee who encouraged Fetters' writing when he taught him in his 2001 constitutional law class.
Fetters has not yet spoken to Cooper about their Oscar nomination successes, but will be seeing him in a couple of weeks at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Fetters, who has written three other Hollywood films since 2010 ("Remember Me," "The Lucky One" and "The Best of Me"), will be at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Feb. 24 for the Academy Awards ceremony.
He already has a team of babysitters — one of his sisters and his assistant — lined up for Everett, 21-month-old daughter Collins and 5-1/2-year-old son Whitman.
"We'll have all hands on deck," he says.
Fetters' mother, Judy, who still lives in Brandywine Hundred with his father Bill, says she is still "numb" from the nomination.
"I'm so happy because I know how hard he works. I've seen the sacrifices that he's made," she says. "Needless to say, this is ridiculous. I woke up to flowers on my kitchen table this morning from one of my best friends."
She hasn't locked in exact plans to watch the telecast, but she will undoubtedly be watching.
"We might go to my family's house and have someone else do the cooking because I'll be a nervous wreck at that point," she says with a laugh. "We'll be watching every second."
Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).
IF YOU WATCH
WHAT: 91st Academy Awards
WHEN: February 24, 8 p.m.
WHERE: ABC
ACADEMY AWARDS BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY NOMINEES
"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" — Joel and Ethan Coen
"BlacKkKlansman" — Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel and Kevin Willmott
"Can You Ever Forgive Me?" — Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
"If Beale Street Could Talk" — Barry Jenkins
"A Star Is Born" — Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters and Eric Roth