Even the rainy weather could not put a damper on the exuberance on display at the 33rd Film Independent Spirit Awards held Saturday, March 3 in a tent next to the Santa Monica Pier and broadcast live on IFC and Facebook Watch.
The indie darlings of awards season, just about every one of them – got their due with statuettes at the celebration, which honors artists-driven films with budgets under $20 million that embody diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision.
Get Out reigned, as it won the Spirit Award for Best Feature and Best Director for Jordan Peele.
Hosted for the second year by comedians Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, the ceremonies started off with some scathing jokes aimed at some of the men accused of sexual misconduct in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, including Kevin Spacey, Mario Batali, Brett Ratner, Louis C.K. and Woody Allen, before they moved on to razzing some of the contending movies including Get Out, I, Tonya, Lady Bird and. Call Me by Your Name.
“Jordan, you ruined being white for us. Women and people of color – what have you left for us? Everything,” Kroll said.
The hosts joked about Call Me by Your Name, saying the film’s Armie Hammer makes Jon Hamm—who was a presenter later in the show– look like Tony Bologna. “It should really be called Fuck Me by Act Two,” Mulaney said.
Call Me by Your Name was one of the big winners, for Best Male Lead, Timothée Chalamet, and Best Cinematography. Other Spirit Awards kudos: I, Tonya, which won Best Supporting Female (Allison Janney) and Best Editing; Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which took Best Female Lead and Best Supporting Male for Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell; Lady Bird, whose Greta Gerwig won Best Screenplay; Ingrid Goes West, which won Best First Feature; The Big Sick, which took Best First Screenplay for Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani; Life and Nothing More, which won the John Cassavetes Award; Faces Places which was awarded Best Documentary and A Fantastic Woman, which won Best International Film.
The director’s prize to Peele was presented by Spike Lee and the feature award to Get Out was presented by Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman.
Backstage, Peele got real about his film that was years in the making, but filmed in 23 days. “This was a scrappy movie we had to make. I had to put my heart and soul into it. I cried just about every night because it was so draining, and I got up every morning and brushed that off and I got it together and realized that this is the best time of my life,” he said and added that meeting some of his heroes is one of the biggest takeaways of his awards season.
Continuing her winning streak, Three Billboards’ Frances McDormand peppered her acceptance speech with a few choice f-words. “This awards season goes on for fucking ever,” she said, and reminisced about the days when the Spirit Awards were more like a beach party. “You could come in your pajamas and then go to [beach fast food stand] Hot Dog on a Stick. If that was still the case, think about all the money we’d have left over to make independent films.”
“I’ve never played anyone this dark,” Allison Janney said about portraying Tonya Harding’s mother as she accepted the supporting actress trophy. “I guess I want to play more evil, dark characters. To feel that her methods were justified to give her daughter a better life was important to understanding her character and is something I took from my own parents. But I was excited by the makeup and hair people and the work they did to make me into the character.”
One of the highlights of the ceremonies was Andy Samberg dressed as a 1980s version of actor Judd Nelson singing a hit song from that era, Simple Minds’ 1985 “Don’t You Forget about Me.” But the Samberg/Nelson singer replaced the lyrics to the song with names of people including Saoirse Ronan, Jordan Peele, Kumail Nanjiani, Greta Gerwig and yes, Robert Pattinson, warning them not to forget about their independent film roots as they inevitably move on to bigger budget projects.
Another highlight was the appearance of 89-year-old Agnès Varda and her collaborator on Faces Places, the artist JR, who took the best documentary prize for their film, produced by Varda’s daughter Rosalie. Several times during awards season, and notably at the Academy Awards nominees luncheon, JR toted a cardboard cutout of Varda.
The Robert Altman Award is given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast. This year, it was Mudbound director Dee Rees who received the award, along with casting directors Billy Hopkins and Ashley Ingram as well as cast members Jonathan Banks, Mary J. Blige, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Rob Morgan and Carey Mulligan.
(Several of the big winners, including Janney, McDormand, Rockwell and the Chilean film A Fantastic Woman went on to take home Oscars the day after the Independent Spirit Awards. Peele took an Oscar for his Get Out original screenplay, the first African-American to win in that category.)
Here is a complete list of the winners:
Best Feature:
Get Out (Universal Pictures)
Producers: Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr., Sean McKittrick, Jordan Peele
Best Director:
Jordan Peele, Get Out (Universal Pictures)
Best Screenplay:
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird (A24)
Best First Feature:
Ingrid Goes West (NEON)
Director: Matt Spicer
Producers: Jared Ian Goldman, Adam Mirels, Robert Mirels, Aubrey Plaza,
Tim White, Trevor White
Best First Screenplay:
Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick (Amazon Studios)
John Cassavetes Award (For best feature made under $500,000):
Life and Nothing More (CFI Releasing)
Writer/Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza
Producers: Amadeo Hernández Bueno, Alvaro Portanet Hernández,
Pedro Hernández Santos
Best Supporting Female:
Allison Janney, I, Tonya (NEON)
Best Supporting Male:
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Fox Searchlight)
Best Female Lead:
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
(Fox Searchlight)
Best Male Lead:
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name (Sony Pictures Classics)
Robert Altman Award:
Mudbound (Netflix)
Director: Dee Rees
Casting Directors: Billy Hopkins, Ashley Ingram
Ensemble Cast: Jonathan Banks, Mary J. Blige, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Rob Morgan, Carey Mulligan
Best Cinematography:
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Call Me by Your Name (Sony Pictures Classics)
Best Editing:
Tatiana S. Riegel, I, Tonya (NEON)
Best International Film:
A Fantastic Woman (Chile – Sony Pictures Classics)
Director: Sebastián Lelio
Best Documentary:
Faces Places (Cohen Media Group)
Directors: Agnés Varda, JR
Producer: Rosalie Varda
