2008 Film Independent’s Spirit Award Winners
2008 Film Independent’s Spirit Award Winners
The 2008 Film Independent’s Spirit Awards have come and gone, with the quirky comedy “Juno” winning the prize for best feature at the Santa Monica ceremony.
The movie’s star, Ellen Page, also earned the best lead actress statuette, while writer Diablo Cody took home the award for best first screenplay.
Other Spirit Award winners included Philip Seymour Hoffman, who took the prize for best lead actor for his work in “The Savages,” along with Cate Blanchett, who picked up the statuette for best supporting actress for playing music icon Bob Dylan in “I’m Not There.”
The complete list of 2008 Film Independent’s Spirit Award winners is as follows:
Best Feature
‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’
‘I’m Not There’
WINNER: ‘Juno’
‘A Mighty Heart’
‘Paranoid Park’
Best Director
Todd Haynes, ‘I’m Not There’
Tamara Jenkins, ‘The Savages’
Jason Reitman, ‘Juno’
WINNER: Julian Schnabel, ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’
Gus Van Sant, ‘Paranoid Park’
Best Male Lead
Pedro Castaneda, ‘August Evening’
Don Cheadle, ‘Talk to Me’
WINNER: Philip Seymour Hoffman, ‘The Savages’
Tony Leung, ‘Lust, Caution’
Frank Langella, ‘Starting Out in the Evening’
Best Female Lead
Angelina Jolie, ‘A Mighty Heart’
Sienna Miller, ‘Interview’
WINNER: Ellen Page, ‘Juno’
Parker Posey, ‘Broken English’
Tang Wei, ‘Lust, Caution’
Best Supporting Male
WINNER: Chiwetel Ejiofor, ‘Talk to Me’
Marcus Carl Franklin, ‘I’m Not There’
Kene Holliday, ‘Great World of Sound’
Irfan Khan, ‘The Namesake’
Steve Zahn, ‘Rescue Dawn’
Best Supporting Female
WINNER: Cate Blanchett, ‘I’m Not There’
Anna Kendrick, ‘Rocket Science’
Jennifer Jason Leigh, ‘Margot at the Wedding’
Tamara Podemski, ‘Four Sheets to the Wind’
Marisa Tomei, ‘Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’
Best Screenplay
Ronald Harwood, ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’
WINNER: Tamara Jenkins, ‘The Savages’
Fred Parnes & Andrew Wagner, ‘Starting Out in the Evening’
Adrienne Shelly, ‘Waitress’
Mike White, ‘Year of the Dog’
Best Cinematography
‘The Savages’
WINNER: ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’
‘Vanaja’
‘Youth Without Youth’
‘Lust, Caution’
Best Foreign Film
‘4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 3 Days’ (Romania)
‘The Band’s Visit’ (Israel)
‘Lady Chatterley’ (France)
WINNER: ‘Once’ (Ireland)
‘Persepolis’ (France)
Best Documentary
WINNER: ‘Crazy Love’
‘Lake of Fire’
‘Manufactured Landscapes’
‘The Monastery’
‘The Prisoner Or: How I Planned To Kill Tony Blair’
Best First Feature
‘2 Days in Paris’
‘Great World of Sound’
WINNER: ‘The Lookout’
‘Rocket Science’
‘Vanaja’
Best First Screenplay
Jeffrey Blitz, ‘Rocket Science’
Zoe Cassavetes, ‘Broken English’
WINNER: Diablo Cody, ‘Juno’
Kelly Masterson, ‘Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’
John Orloff, ‘A Mighty Heart’
Robert Altman Award ‘I’m Not There’
Director: Todd Haynes
Casting Director: Laura Rosenthal
Ensemble Cast: Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Marcus Carl Franklin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bruce Greenwood, David Cross, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams
John Cassavetes Award
WINNER: ‘August Evening’
‘Owl and the Sparrow’
‘The Pool’
‘Quiet City’
‘Shotgun Stories’
IFC Truer Than Fiction Award
WINNER: Laura Dunn, Director of ‘The Unforeseen’
Gary Hustwit, Director of ‘Helvetica’
John Maringouin, Director of ‘Running Stumbled’
IFC/Acura Someone to Watch Award
WINNER: Ramin Bahrani, Director of ‘Chop Shop’
Lee Isaac Chung, Director of ‘Munyurangabo’
Ronnie Bronstein, Director of ‘Frownland’
Axium Producers Award
Anne Clements, Producer of ‘Ping Pong Playa’ and ‘Quinceañera’
Alexis Ferris, Producer of ‘Cthulhu’ and ‘Police Beat’
WINNER: Neil Kopp, Producer of ‘Paranoid Park’ and ‘Old Joy’
To see the entire gallery from the 2008 Film Independent’s Spirit Awards (February 23) - !
Early Review of the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer
An early review of Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski’s Speed Racer has popped up over at AICN and the anonymous reviewer reports that the film might not be rated G after all. He’s saying PG-13.
“No, as it stands there is cursing in it, which shocked my roommate and I because we heard that they were gunning for the G rating as well. They say “ass” about 3 or 4 times, “shit” at least once, and Spritle flips off another character. Not sure if that’s all going to be edited out, but one or two scenes, it seemed impossible to do so, as it would change a lot. But I’m sure that they will figure out something, maybe alternate takes of the same scenes. I just don’t understand why they would include them if they planned on going for a G eventually anyways.”
The guy goes on to say he’s not a big fan of the directors (latter two Matrixes sucked et al.) and wasn’t expecting much from the lysergic life-as-cartoon style seen in the trailer. He expresses mild shock at how unfinished the film’s special effects are (it’s due in May), but overall, says it should play gangbusters and expects the finished result to be “jawdropping.” And no, he doesn’t sound like a plant to me.
“It’s hoaky, corny, and completely defies reality, sure. But it is done so well that it truly was entertaining. Exactly what a family summer movie should be. The race sequences are some of the most kinetic and intense that I have ever seen (even when it is just shitty cartoon pre-vis renderings flying around on the tracks). The action was so intense and crazy in parts that seriously it made the Matrix movies seem like you’re watching a Gus Van Sant art film.”
One scene that sounds particularly inspired…
“Then immediately we flash back to Speed as a kid trying to take a test in grade school, but he just cant seem to concentrate, all he can think about is racing, so he pretends to race through the test. We literally see his imagination come to life as he races a childishly drawn race car past other crudely drawn race cars.”
Hear Sean Penn as Harvey Milk
Jeremy Hooper sent me a link to this video footage from the Castro Street San Francisco set of Gus Van Sant’s Milk, mostly all store fronts we’ve seen before. But about 2:25 in you get to hear some of Sean Penn’s performance as Harvey Milk. Emile Hirsch also appears flaboyantly playing his character of Cleve Jones later on. It’s worth checking out,.
Check out more of our Milk in San Francisco coverage:
- Gus Van Sant’s Milk Set Photos
- First Look: Sean Penn as Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s Milk
- First Look: Emile Hirsch in Gus Van Sant’s Milk
- Hundreds of Extras March on Castro for Gus Van Sant’s Milk
Movie Trailer: Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth
The movie trailer for Youth Without Youth, Francis Ford Coppola’s first new film in 10-years, is now online. Coppola adapted, produced and directed the movie based on the 1976 novel by Romanian-born religious historian Mircea Eliade.
The short teaser trailer looks interesting, but doesn’t really show much, or at least it doesn’t show much in terms of narrative story. And that worries me quite a bit since I have heard that it is somewhat personal and experimental. It has been widely reported that the film was inspired by his daughter Sofia, and shot with a low $5 million budget film last winter in Romania using a Sony High Definition camera. The movie has been screened in front of friends and fellow directors including: Martin Scorsese, Dennis Hopper, Andy Garcia, Matt Dillon, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Spike Jonze, John Singleton, the Hughes Brothers, Alfonso Cuarón, and Gus Van Sant attended the screening. It has been said that overall the film is “Good, but very difficult.”
The movie stars Tim Roth as a 70-year-old who is struck by lightning and suddenly gets younger and more brilliant. The film co-stars Alexandra Maria Lara and Bruno Ganz, and Matt Damon makes a cameo appearance. Coppola’s last time behind the camera was 1997’s Rainmaker which also starred Damon.