'Silver Linings Playbook' dominates 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards
David O. Russell's Oscar nominee wins four, including Best Feature
"Silver Linings Playbook" star Jennifer Lawrence accepts the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead.
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In a normal year I would have been working on an interesting blood-Jameson content on the beach of Santa Monica today. Film Independent's Spirit Awards are, after all, the great stretch of the legs at the tail end of the season with the big Sunday showdown on the horizon. It's a good party, even if it still seems to be chasing what "independent filmmaking" is in this day and age. (I don't know that they've caught it.)
Nevertheless, it's a good bridesmaid roll call for films like "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and "Silver Linigns Playbook" to have their day while Oscar's heavies go at it the following day. But there is the rare occasion, like a Harvey Weinstein player last year, that dominates both ceremonies and feels like synergy, if for a moment. Could that play out again?
This year, alas, I was trying to catch a ray of that Southern California sunshine (it was an annoyingly nice day over there) via Twitter from my rain-drizzled New York hovel. That distance from the lion's den, by the way, has been an interesting and illuminating experience this year.
The show will air tonight on IFC at 10pm ET. If you'd like to stay spoiler free (though I guess the headline pretty much took care of that), hold off and watch at home. Otherwise, follow along with today's winner announcements and on-going commentary below. But before that, a little pre-game fun from Roadside Attractions:
First #SpiritAwards winner of the day: Prometheus! twitter.com/roadsidetweets…
— Roadside Attractions (@roadsidetweets) February 23, 2013
Moving on to the actual ceremony…
Related
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'Silver Linings Playbook,' 'Moonrise Kingdom' lead Indie Spirit noms
'Beasts,' 'Bernie,' and 'Keep the Lights On' round out top category
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David O. Russell says Jennifer Lawrence's Skype audition won her 'Silver Linings' role
Plus: Robert De Niro's reverential professionalism
Best First Screenplay: Derek Connolly, "Safety Not Guaranteed"
Comments: Vindication for the Indiana Film Journalists Association! "Beasts of the Southern Wild" isn't the only film lasting the big bad breadth of the season since Sundance. Apparently Connolly was wasted during his speech. And was ultimately escorted out the tent by security. When you have tubs of Jameson on the table...
Best First Film: Stephen Chbosky, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"
Comments: Despite the fact, that, you know, it's not his first feature. Way to track that research down, guys. Nevertheless, this was a stellar film that should have gone farther this season. I kind of wish I had been louder about it myself.
Best Supporting Male: Matthew McConaughey, "Magic Mike"
Comments: And expect to be hearing plenty more from him around this time next year. Between "Mud," "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "The Dallas Buyers Club," with plenty of goodwill from performances like this one, "Killer Joe" and "The Paperboy" from 2012, he's bound to set serious sail, right? "I had to drop my drawers to win an award," he said. Too true...
Piaget Producers Award: Mynette Louie
Chaz and Roger Ebert Fellowship: "Mr. SOUL!"
Robert Altman Award: "Starlet"
Comments: Gotta say, I never saw this one. But I'm intrigued. Also a nominee for the John Cassavetes Award.
Best International Film: "Amour"
Comments: Naturally. The question remains what it's able to pull down tomorrow night. And intriguingly, the Best Foreign Language Film category may not be one of them. We'll see how it plays out.
woohoo i get best of foreign film at the spirit awards!!1! up until 2day i always thort they was prizes 4 the bst ghosts lol #spiritawards
— Michael Haneke (@Michael_Haneke) February 23, 2013
CONTINUE READING "'Silver Linings Playbook' dominates 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards
Related Events
2012-2013 OSCAR PREDICTIONS
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Makeup And Hairstyling
Best Original Score
Best Original Song
Best Production Design
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects
Best Animated Feature Film
Best Documentary Feature
Best Foreign Language Film
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupSan FranCinema
February 23, 2013 at 8:44PM EST Reply to CommentJohn Hawkes! Best news of the day.
MJS
February 23, 2013 at 9:27PM EST Reply to CommentThat's surprising. The best film probably won but Beasts of the Southern Wild seems a bit more... independently spirited.
The Dude
February 23, 2013 at 10:42PM EST Reply to CommentLOL at @Haneke.
And it's hard to take an independent award seriously when it's awarding so mainstream features such as SLP, regardless of the quality of the picture in question.
Paul Outlaw
February 24, 2013 at 4:50AM EST Reply to CommentFor what is worth, since the year 2000, winning the Best Actress award here has (as Kris suggested) been the kiss of death for nine of eleven Oscar nominees. (Charlize Theron and Natalie Portman won both awards.)
HoustonRufus
February 24, 2013 at 1:17PM EST Reply to CommentSigh. Nothing I'm going to say hasn't been said elsewhere and better, but it really depresses me that a film like Silver Linings can dominate the Spirits. What is the point of handing out these awards if they are only going to honor the film most likely to win the oscar, which will almost certainly happen to be the film with the biggest budget? In this case, a budget that should have disqualified it from contention from the start.
I'm a big fan of Beasts. It's in my top 5 of the year. I happen to think it's a better film than SLP. That notwithstanding, being able to award Beasts would have also done alot more to inspire independent film makers than a movie with big time movie stars, directed by a big time director, and put on by a studio with big time dollars.
Edwin If I'm not mistaken, there's a budget limit that decides eligibility for the Spirits, and that's basically all they go by. "Silver Linings Playbook" is really more of a low-budget studio film than a true indie film, but that's how it goes. Also, I'm pretty sure they don't have an actual committee that votes on the winners. There's some kind of membership that anyone can join (I think it's based on donations?), and that's what decides the winners.
February 24, 2013 at 6:41PM ESTNote: I could be wrong about everything I just said. That's just what I remember hearing at one point. However, that would explain the success of "Silver Linings Playbook" last night.
Edwin
February 24, 2013 at 6:48PM EST Reply to CommentGiven that Bradley Cooper lost to a non-Oscar nominee, I'd say "Silver Linings Playbook" actually lost one of the awards it was expected to win at the Spirits, so while it would be hyperbole to say it underperformed (Picture, Director, Actress, and Screenplay is still a sweep), I don't think the love was quite as strong as some people are making it out to be.
Having said that, I've actually just recently been getting this strange feeling that "Silver Linings Playbook" could crash the Oscars, despite its not-as-good-as-expected precursor run. Watch it win Director, Actress, and Supporting Actor. Coupled with the expected Adapted Screenplay and Editing wins for "Argo," that would make for a VERY tense moment just before the announcement of Best Picture.