5 Oscar-nominated screenwriters tell the stories behind their films' endings

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As compelling as any movie might be, it won’t fully succeed unless it sticks the landing.The Envelope spoke to the writers of five of this year’s Oscar-nominated screenplays to discover the secrets behind their note-perfect endings.(Warning: Spoilers ahead for “Sentimental Value,” “Train Dreams,” “Bugonia,” “It Was Just an Accident” and “Blue Moon.”)This drama’s final sequence — in which we realize that Renate Reinsve’s Nora has reconciled with her estranged father, Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), when we see her on set starring in his new film — came to writers Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt by accident.

In 2022, while reviewing behind-the-scenes footage from Trier’s 2011 movie “Oslo, August 31st,” they noticed how Trier was closely consulting with actor Anders Danielsen Lie after that film’s emotional finale.“We watched the last take and how everyone reacted when that shot was finished.It was so moving,” recalls Vogt.

“Joachim and Anders Danielsen Lie were just talking — and then the crew started putting away stuff.It was a beautiful moment.

I said to Joachim, ‘Couldn’t that be our ending?’”“Sentimental Value’s” final shot, which similarly shows Nora and Gustav conversing, neatly tied together the movie’s themes of family, fiction and forgiveness.As Trier explains, “[Gustav] just says, ‘Perfect.’ In art, it can all be perfect.

There’s nothing more to say between them.”Director and co-writer Clint Bentley filmed the ending of Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella, in which Joel Edgerton’s solitary Robert visits a carnival, encountering a strange wolf-boy.But as Bentley started assembling the picture, he realized that “Train Dreams” reached a more emotional crescendo earlier, when Robert goes up in a biplane, crucial memories suddenly flooding through him.

“It was like, ‘Oh, the movie’s over,’” Bent...