'The Artist' Racks Up a Whole Lot of Independent Spirit Nominations

Tuesday, 29 November 2011 09:19 Written by Jordan DeSaulnier

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'The Artist' Racks Up a Whole Lot of Independent Spirit Nominations

We're a full three months out from the 2012 Academy Awards, but it would seem that it's never too early to get awards season underway. With that in mind, Film Independent has announced their full list of nominations for next year's Independent Spirit Awards, which naturally award excellence in independently-financed film. As ever, the 27th annual Spirit Awards take place the day before the Oscars, this year on February 25th. While the Academy Awards take place in the Kodak Theater, The Independent Spirit Awards are held in a giant complex of tents on the beach in Santa Monica, where many famous people shiver their asses off every year. That, my friends, is an example of why this awards show is cooler than the Oscars.

The nominations this year have some surprises, but the big nominees are roughly what you might expect. Michel Hazanavicius' ode to silent film, The Artist, has the most nominations with five, including Best Feature, while Alexander Payne's The Descendants follows with four. While Shailene Woodley secured a nomination for supporting female, George Clooney notably didn't get a nomination for male lead. Happy to see no shortage of love for Drive. Speaking of which, the supporting male category is a rumblefest, with Albert Brooks rightly getting in on the action, last year's winner John Hawkes in there too and John C. Reilly as a wild card. Though I'd love to see Corey Stoll get some recognition for his Hemingway in Midnight in Paris, Christopher Plummer will almost certainly and deservedly win for Beginners, a film that has plenty of nominations itself.

Anyways, here are the nominees:

Best Feature
50/50
Beginners
Drive
Take Shelter
The Artist
The Descendants

Best Director
Mike Mills, Beginners
Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive
Jeff Nichols, Take Shelter
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants

Best Male Lead
Demian Bichir, A Better Life
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Ryan Gosling, Drive
Woody Harrelson, Rampart
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter

Best Female Lead
Lauren Ambrose, Think of Me
Rachel Harris, Natural Selection
Adepero Oduye, Pariah
Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Best Supporting Male
Albert Brooks, Drive
John Hawkes, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
John C. Reilly, Cedar Rapids
Corey Stoll, Midnight in Paris

Best Supporting Female
Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter
Anjelica Huston, 50/50
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Harmony Santana, Gun Hill Road
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

John Cassavetes Award (Films produced for under $500,000)
Bellflower
Circumstance
Hello Lonesome
Pariah
The Dynamiter

Best Documentary
An African Selection
Bill Cunningham New York
The Interrupters
The Redemption of General Butt Naked
We Were Here

Best Cinematography
Joel Hodge, Bellflower
Benjamin Kasulke, The Off Hours
Darius Khondji, Midnight in Paris
Guillaume Shiffman, The Artist
Jeffrey Waldron, The Dynamiter

Best First Feature
Another Earth
In The Family
Margin Call
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Natural Selection

Best First Screenplay
Mike Cahill & Brit Marling, Another Earth
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
Patrick DeWitt, Terri
Phil Johnston, Cedar Rapids
Will Reiser, 50/50

Best Screenplay
Joseph Cedar, Footnote
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Tom McCarthy, Win Win
Mike Mills, Beginners
Alexander Payne, The Descendants

Best Foreign Film
A Separation
Melancholia
Shame
The Kid With a Bike
Tyrannosaur

Robert Altman Award (Outstanding Ensemble Cast)
Margin Call