2 awards for ‘The Big Short’ up Adam McKay’s Oscar chances

The Oscar chances for Chicago-trained filmmaker Adam McKay got a boost and another boost this weekend with two prestigious awards.

McKay and Charles Randolph, his co-writer on “The Big Short,” won the adapted screenplay awards from both the Writers Guild of America on Saturday and the British Academy of Film Academy of Film and Television Arts on Sunday.

The honors follow a victory in the same category at last month’s Critics Choice Awards.

McKay, a former iO and Second City student and performer, is nominated for the adapted screenplay Oscar as well as the best director award at the Feb. 28 ceremony. After his previous directorial projects including “Talladega Nights” and the two “Anchorman” movies, McKay made a turn to the dramatic with “The Big Short,” which tells the true story of several financial seers who predicted the 2007-08 crash of the housing market.