This is the very beginning of the Oscar season with Film Independent announcing its Independent Spirit Award nominations along with the NY Film Critics Circle jumping in front of all the other critic groups including the National Board of Review, which was annually the group that jump-started the Oscar race.
Let’s start with the Spirit Awards. THE ARTIST received nominations for Best Feature, Director, Screenplay, Lead Actor, and Cinematography while TAKE SHELTER got notices in Best Feature, Director, Lead Actor, and Supporting Actress. Another big indie contender is BEGINNERS, nominated for Best Feature, Director, Screenplay, and Supporting Actor. Meanwhile both DRIVE and THE DESCENDANTS received nominated for Best Feature, Director, and one acting nomination each.
The full list of nominees:
Best Feature
50/50 – Producers: Evan Goldberg, Ben Karlin, Seth Rogen
Beginners – Producers: Miranda de Pencier, Lars Knudsen, Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Jay Van Hoy
Drive - Producers: Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, Adam Siegel
Take Shelter – Producers: Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin
The Artist - Producer: Thomas Langmann
The Descendants – Producers: 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 Screenplay
Joseph Cedar – Footnote
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Tom McCarthy – Win Win
Mike Mills – Beginners
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash – The Descendants
Best First Feature
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
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
John Cassavetes Award
Bellflower - Writer/Director: Evan Glodell, Producers: Evan Glodell, Vincent Grashaw
Circumstance - Writer/Director: Maryam Keshavarz, Producers: Karin Chien, Maryam Keshavarz, Melissa M. Lee
Hello Lonesome - Writer/Director/Producer: Adam Reid
Pariah – Writer/Director: Dee Rees, Producer: Nekisa Cooper
The Dynamiter – Writer: Brad Inglesby, Director: Matthew Gordon, Producers: Kevin Abrams, Matthew Gordon, Merilee Holt, Art Jones, Mike Jones, Nate Tuck, Amile Wilson
Best Female Lead
Lauren Ambrose - Think of Me
Rachael Harris - Natural Selection
Adepero Oduye - Pariah
Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn
Best Male Lead
Demián Bichir – A Better Life
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Ryan Gosling – Drive
Woody Harrelson - Rampart
Michael Shannon – Take Shelter
Best Supporting Female
Jessica Chastain – Take Shelter
Anjelica Huston - 50/50
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Harmony Santana - Gun Hill Road
Shailene Woodley – The Descendants
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 Cinematography
Joel Hodge - Bellflower
Benjamin Kasulke – The Off Hours
Darius Khondji – Midnight in Paris
Guillaume Schiffman – The Artist
Jeffrey Waldron – The Dynamiter
The NYFCC (New York Film Critics Circle) picked THE ARTIST as Film Of The Year, Michel Hazanvicius for Best Director, Brad Pitt for Lead Actor (MONEYBALL and TREE OF LIFE), and Meryl Streep for Lead Actress (THE IRON LADY).
THE ARTIST is clearly jumping out as the frontrunner of the 2011 Oscar season so far: a festival darling, leading Spirit award nominated film and NYFCC Film Of The Year. This might guarantee it Oscar nominations in major categories but the frontrunner status is not necessarily the position you want (see: THE SOCIAL NETWORK in 2010 and many films before it). For the moment Meryl Streep has the leg up and Brad Pitt might not be the frontrunner for Lead Actor but is surely in the discussion right now. The race takes its next step with the National Board of Review announcing on Thursday followed by a crazy flurry of announcements by critics groups, guilds and the Golden Globes in the first two weeks of December.
