Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Indie Spirit Nominations

The Independent Spirit Award Nominations were announced yesterday, with Ballast, Frozen River and Rachel Getting Married leading the pack with six noms apiece. The nominees for the main categories were:

Best Feature:
Ballast
Frozen River
Rachel Getting Married
Wendy and Lucy
The Wrestler

Best Director:
Ramin Bahrani - Chop Shop
Jonathan Demme - Rachel Getting Married
Lance Hammer - Ballast
Courtney Hunt - Frozen River
Tom McCarthy - The Visitor

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:
Penelope 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
Jim Myron Ross - Ballast
Haaz Sleiman - The Visitor

Best Screenplay:
Sangre De Mi Sangre
Savage Grace
Sugar
Synecdoche, New York
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Notable omissions include no Best Picture nod for The Visitor, no Best Female for Julianne Moore in Savage Grace, no Best Director for Darren Aronofsky for The Wrestler, and no Best Supporting for Josh Brolin in Milk. The biggest surprise, however, were the lack of Best Picture and Director nods for Milk, especially since Gus van Sant gets nominated for almost every movie he does. I suppose the people who decide the nominations could have felt the film would already receive attention by the Academy, and it didn't need the extra help. Although you would think that the indie community would have wanted to make a statement against Prop 8, by using the film. I don't know.

No comments: