The nominations for the 27th Film Independent’s Spirit Awards were announced this morning in Los Angeles, and both Jeff Nichols’ “Take Shelter” and Michel Hazanavicius’s “The Artist” (which few realized was eligible) led the pack with 5 nominations a piece.
The two films were joined in the best feature category alongside “50/50,” “Beginners,” “Drive,” and “The Descendants.” While that was a generally expected lineup (save “The Artist”), the nominations overall were quite surprising.
Beyond the unexpected presence of “The Artist,” the Spirits made some major snubs in the acting categories: George Clooney (“The Descendants”), Glenn Close (“Albert Nobbs”), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“50/50”), Owen Wilson (“Midnight in Paris”), Paul Giamatti (“Win Win”), Kenneth Branagh (“My Week With Marilyn’) and Felicity Jones (“Like Crazy”) were excluded in favor of a quite a few highly unexpected nominees. Most notably, Lauren Ambrose (“Think of Me”) and Rachael Harris (“Natural Selection”) were nominated the lead actress category over Close and Jones.
“Like Crazy” was snubbed altogether, while Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” – though nominated for supporting actor and cinematography – was completely shut out of the top categories.
Fox Searchlight was far and away the leader among distributors, taking in 14 nominations. Sony Pictures Classics followed with 9.
At the announcement, co-presenter Anthony Mackie added some levity to the proceedings, giving a tiny fist pump when “Half Nelson” co-star Gosling popped up on the nominee list. Afterwards, extolled the virtues of some of the other nominees.
“This year, I really enjoyed ‘The Artist,” ‘Take Shelter,’ and ‘Pariah,’” Mackie said. “They all have a real focus on storytelling, which is something that gets lost in all of today’s 3-D.”
Mackie’s announcing partner, Kate Beckinsale, was also quick to praise “The Artist,” citing its success as a key part of a varied field. “One of the things that I found great about it was that you couldn’t really generalize these films. We’re seeing these very left-field, high-far-reaching concepts.”
More commentary to come. Full nominations below.
The Nominees for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards:
Best Feature (Award given to the Producer)
50/50 – Ben Karlin, Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
Beginners – Miranda de Pencier, Lars Knudsen, Jan Van Hoy, Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech
Drive – Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, Adam Siegel
Take Shelter – Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin
The Artist – Thomas Langmann, Emmanuel Montamat
The Descendants – Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Mike Mills, Beginners
Jeff Nichols, Take Shelter
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive
Best First Feature (Award given to the director and producer)
Another Earth – Director: Mike Cahill; Producers: Mike Cahill, Hunter Gray, Brit Marling, Nicholas Shumaker
In The Family – Director: Patrick Wang; Producers: Robert Tonino, Andrew van den Houten, Patrick Wang
Margin Call – Director: J.C. Chandor; Producers: Robert Ogden Barnum, Michael Benaroya, Neal Dodson, Joe Jenckes, Corey Moosa, Zachary Quinto
Martha Marcy May Marlene – Director: Sean Durkin; Producers: Antonio Campos, Patrick Cunningham, Chris Maybach, Josh Mond
Natural Selection – Director: Robbie Pickering; Producers: Brion, Hambel, Paul Jensen
John Cassavetes Award
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
Bellflower – Writer/Director: Evan Glodell; Producers: Evan Glodell, Vincent Grashaw
Circumstance – Writer/Director: Maryam Kesahavarz; Producers: Karin Chien, Maryan Keshavarz, Melissa M. Lee
Hello Lonesome – Writer/Director/Producer: Adam Reid
Pariah – Writer/Director: Dee Rees; Producer: Nekisa Cooper
The Dynamiter – Writers: Matthew Gordon, Brad Ingelsby; Director: Matthew Gordon; Producers: Kevin Abrams, Matthew Gordon, Merilee Holt, Nate Tuck, Amile Wilson
Best Screenplay
Mike Mills, Beginners
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants
Joseph Cedar, Footnote
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Tom McCarthy, Win Win
Best First Screenplay
Mike Cahill & Brit Marling, Another Earth
Patrick deWitt, Terri
Phil Johnston, Cedar Rapids
Will Reiser, 50/50
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
Best Female Lead
Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Rachael Harris, Natural Selection
Adepero Oduye, Pariah
Lauren Ambrose, Think of Me
Best Male Lead
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
Woody Harrelson, Rampart
Ryan Gosling, Drive
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Demian Bichir, A Better Life
Best Supporting Female
Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter
Anjelica Huston, 50/50
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Harmony Santana, Gun Hill Road
Shailenne Woodley, The Descendants
Best Supporting Male
Albert Brooks, Drive
John Hawkes, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Corey Stoll, Midnight in Paris
John C. Reilly, Cedar Rapids
Best Cinematography
Joel Hodge, Bellflower
Darius Khondji, Midnight in Paris
Guillaume Schiffman, The Artist
Benjamin Kasulke, The Off-Hours
Jeffrey Waldron, The Dynamiter
Best Documentary (Award given to the director)
Jarreth Merz, An African Election
Richard Press, Bill Cunningham New York
Steve James, The Interrupters
David Weissman, We Were Here
Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion, The Redemption of General Butt Naked
Best Foreign Film (Award given to the director)
Asghar Farhadi, Separation
Lars Von Trier, Melancholia
Steve McQueen, Shame
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, The Kid With a Bike
Paddy Considine, Tyrannosaur
Robert Altman Award
(Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
Margin Call – Director: J.C. Chandor; Casting Directors: Tiffany Little Canfield, Bernard Telsey; Cast: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Aasif Mandvi, Ashley Williams
Piaget Producers Award
Chad Burris (Mosquito y Mari)
Sophia Lynn (Take Shelter)
Josh Bond (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
Someone to Watch Award
Simon Arthur (Silver Tongues)
Mark Jackson (Without)
Nicholas Ozeki (Mamitas)
Truer Than Fiction Award
Where Soldiers Come From
Hell and Back Again
Bombay Beach
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