December
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2009 Independent Spirit Award Nominations
We're in the thick of the award season now.
Today's Indie Spirits noms were largely predictable. (The biggest surprise was the inclusion of Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, which debuted at Toronto, but won't be released until 2009.) Some movies got a much-needed boost in the awards derby, while others didn't get helped at all. Waltz with Bashir was a surprising omission from foreign film. Elegy and Adam Resurrected came up empty-handed.
Slumdog Millionaire was deemed ineligible for best feature as a foreign film, but it is three-quarters in English, so didn't make it into the foreign category either. But the Fox Searchlight/Warner Bros. film doesn't need help from the Spirits anyway, and neither does Focus Features' Milk, which scored for four noms, including best actor Sean Penn and supporting actor James Franco, but not best feature or director. It's also odd that Fox Searchlight's The Wrestler landed best feature and actor (Mickey Rourke) but not director or writer.
Sony Pictures Classics led the fray with 18 noms and looked to make good on its goal to land best actress noms this year for Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) and Melissa Leo (Frozen River), and best supporting actress for Married's Debra Winger and Rosemary DeWitt. Laurent Cantet's The Class was among the foreign nominees.
IFC landed 11 noms for its plethora of year-end movies, including foreign entries Hunger and Gomorra. Overture's The Visitor scored a welcome nod for Richard Jenkins for best actor, as well as best director for Tom McCarthy.
Newcomer Oscilloscope scored noms for best feature (Wendy and Lucy) and best actress (Michelle Williams). This is what needs to happen for Williams to gain traction in the best actress race. And Lance Hammer's critic's fave Ballast scored amazing six noms even though he distributed the movie himself. Some films that have already been released theatrically will benefit from awards attention via DVD sales and Netflix rentals.
Charlie Kaufman (also winner of the Robert Altman award and nominated for best first feature) and Woody Allen got boosts for their original screenplays for Synecdoche, New York and Vicky Cristina Barcelona, respectively. Vicky Cristina's Penelope Cruz also added a notch to her belt for supporting actress.
Two popular docs on the Oscar short list grabbed additional attention with Spirit noms, Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World and Man on Wire, the story of Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the Twin Towers.
The full list of Indie Spirit nominees is on the jump.
(BY CATEGORY)
BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
* Executive Producers are not listed.
Ballast Producer: Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh
Frozen River Producers: Chip Hourihan, Heather Rae
Rachel Getting Married Producers: Jonathan Demme, Neda Armin, Marc Platt
Wendy and Lucy Producer: Larry Fessenden, Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani
The Wrestler Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin
BEST DIRECTOR
Ramin Bahrani Chop Shop
Jonathan Demme Rachel Getting Married
Lance Hammer Ballast
Courtney Hunt Frozen River
Tom McCarthy The Visitor
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
Afterschool Director: Antonio Campos
Producers: Sean Durkin, Josh Mond
Medicine for Melancholy Director: Barry Jenkins
Producer: Justin Barber
Sangre De Mi Sangre Director: Christopher Zalla
Producers: Per Melita, Benjamin Odell
Sleep Dealer Director: Alex Rivera
Producer: Anthony Bregman
Synecdoche, New York Director: Charlie Kaufman
Producers: Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Sidney Kimmel
BEST SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck Sugar
Charlie Kaufman Synecdoche, New York
Howard A. Rodman Savage Grace
Christopher Zalla Sangre De Mi Sangre
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
* Executive Producers are not listed.
In Search of a Midnight Kiss Writer/Director: Alex Holdridge
Producers: Seth Caplan, Scoot McNairy
Prince of Broadway Director: Sean Baker
Writers: Sean Baker, Darren Dean
Producer: Darren Dean
The Signal Writer/Directors: David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry
Producers: Jacob Gentry, Alexander Motlagh,
Take Out Writer/Director/Producers: Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou
Turn the River Writer/Director: Chris Eigeman
Producer: Ami Armstrong
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Dustin Lance Black Milk
Lance Hammer Ballast
Courtney Hunt Frozen River
Jonathan Levine The Wackness
Jenny Lumet Rachel Getting Married
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Summer Bishil Towelhead
Anne Hathaway Rachel Getting Married
Melissa Leo Frozen River
Tarra Riggs Ballast
Michelle Williams Wendy and Lucy
BEST MALE LEAD
Javier Bardem Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Richard Jenkins The Visitor
Sean Penn Milk
Jeremy Renner The Hurt Locker
Mickey Rourke The Wrestler
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Penélope Cruz Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Rosemarie DeWitt Rachel Getting Married
Rosie Perez The Take
Misty Upham Frozen River
Debra Winger Rachel Getting Married
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
James Franco Milk
Anthony Mackie The Hurt Locker
Charlie McDermott Frozen River
JimMyron Ross Ballast
Haaz Sleiman The Visitor
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Maryse Alberti The Wrestler
Lol Crawley Ballast
James Laxton Medicine for Melancholy
Harris Savides Milk
Michael Simmonds Chop Shop
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)
The Betrayal Director: Ellen Kuras & Thavisouk Phrasavath
Encounters at the End of the World Director: Werner Herzog
Man on Wire Director: James Marsh
The Order of Myths Director: Margaret Brown
Up the Yangtze Director: Yung Chang
BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)
The Class
(France) Director: Laurent Cantet
Gomorra
(Italy) Director: Matteo Garrone
Hunger
(UK/Ireland) Director: Steve McQueen
Secret of the Grain
(France) Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
Silent Light
(Mexico/France/Netherlands/Germany) Director: Carlos Reygadas
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
Synecdoche, New York Director: Charlie Kaufman
Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy
Ensemble Cast: Hope Davis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, Michelle Williams
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Not a lot of love for TWILIGHT, which will probably be the highest grossing indie film of the year. What's the matter, is Rob Pattinson finding the female voters at Indie Spirit resistant to his "charms"? Must not be a lot of "Twilight Moms" in the membership (heh-heh).
Posted by: Brian | December 03, 2008 at 12:20 PM