Ok, well it actually co-leads with “The Last Station”, each garnering 5 Spirit noms. Since I haven’t seen “Station” yet, I will reserve judgment on its award prospects, but at this point “Precious” has to be considered the early favorite to nab the Spirit for Best Picture. The other 3 Best Pic nominees include “Sin Nombre”, “Amreeka”, and the film I’m rooting for “500 Days of Summer”.
Don’t get me wrong, I think “Precious” is a wonderful, powerful film. And it deserves every award it will get. But it is also a film that has already earned over $32 million and is still in limited release (less than a 1000 screens!). By the time Oscar season picks up steam, and with the bevy of nominations “Precious” is sure to capture, we are looking at a potential $100M plus blockbuster (I’m assuming it follows a trajectory similar to last year’s “Slumdog Millionaire” and 2005’s “Brokeback Mountain”). Not too shabby for a film that Lions Gate acquired for a mere $5.5M.
Given the tremendous success of “Precious”, I’m going to root for one of my favorite films of 2009, “500 Days of Summer”. Now I’m not quite rooting for the underdog as any of the other 3 nominees would be much bigger underdogs than “500 Days of Summer”, which also has a legitimate shot of garnering one of the 10 nominations in this year’s newly expanded Academy Award Best Picture race. But I can’t help it, I love this film. It’s a feel good story about a couple breaking up. How often do those come along? Its funny, originally inventive and includes a dance number set to Hall and Oates “You Make My Dreams Come True.” Yes you read that correctly, and what more could you want? The film also should have been a much bigger hit at the box office (final US box office totals from its summer run were just over $32 million). If you missed this at the theaters (and lets face it based on those box office results, a lot of you did), you will have the chance to rectify the situation as “500 Days of Summer” arrives on DVD/Blu-Ray December 22 making it a perfect stocking stuffer.
Here’s a complete list of the 2010 Spirit Award Nominations and the ceremony itself will take place on March 5, the day before the Academy Awards:
BEST FEATURE
“(500) Days Of Summer” - Producers: Mason Novick, Jessica Tuchinsky, Mark Waters, Steven J. Wolfe
“Amreeka” - Producers: Paul Barkin, Christina Piovesan
“Precious” - Producers: Lee Daniels, Gary Magness, Sarah Siegel-Magness
“Sin Nombre” - Producer: Amy Kaufman
“The Last Station” - Producers: Bonnie Arnold, Chris Curling, Jens Meuer
BEST DIRECTOR
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen - “A Serious Man”
Lee Daniels - “Precious”
Cary Joji Fukunaga - “Sin Nombre”
James Gray - “Two Lovers”
Michael Hoffman - “The Last Station”
BEST SCREENPLAY
Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman - “The Messenger”
Michael Hoffman - “The Last Station”
Lee Toland Krieger - “The Vicious Kind”
Greg Mottola - “Adventureland”
Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber - “(500) Days Of Summer”
BEST FIRST FEATURE
“A Single Man” - Director: Tom Ford; Producers: Tom Ford, Andrew Miano, Robert Salerno, Chris Weitz
“Crazy Heart” - Director: Scott Cooper; Producers: T Bone Burnett, Judy Cairo, Rob Carliner, Scott Cooper, Robert Duvall
“Easier With Practice” - Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez; Producer: Cookie Carosella
“Paranormal Activity” - Director: Oren Peli; Producer: Jason Blum, Oren Peli
“The Messenger” - Director: Oren Moverman; Producers: Mark Gordon, Lawrence Inglee, Zach Miller
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Sophie Barthes - “Cold Souls”
Scott Cooper - “Crazy Heart”
Cherien Dabis - “Amreeka”
Geoffrey Fletcher - “Precious”
Tom Ford, David Scearce - “A Single Man”
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD - Given to the best feature made for under $500,000.
“Big Fan” - Writer/Director: Robert Siegel; Producers: Elan Bogarin, Jean Kouremetis
“Humpday” - Writer/Director/Producer: Lynn Shelton
“The New Year Parade” - Writer/Director: Tom Quinn; Producers: Steve Beal, Tom Quinn
“Treeless Mountain” - Writer/Director: So Yong Kim; Producers: Bradley Rust Gray, Ben Howe, So Yong Kim, Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy
“Zero Bridge” - Writer/Director: Tariq Tapa; Producers: Josee Lajoie, Hilal Ahmed Langoo, Tariq Tapa
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Maria Bello - “Downloading Nancy”
Nisreen Faour - “Amreeka”
Helen Mirren - “The Last Station”
Gwyneth Paltrow - “Two Lovers”
Gabourey Sidibe - “Precious”
BEST MALE LEAD
Jeff Bridges - “Crazy Heart”
Colin Firth - “A Single Man”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt - “(500) Days Of Summer”
Souléymane Sy Savané - “Goodbye Solo”
Adam Scott - “The Vicious Kind”
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Dina Korzun - “Cold Souls”
Mo’Nique - “Precious”
Samantha Morton - “The Messenger”
Natalie Press - “Fifty Dead Men Walking”
Mia Wasikowska - “That Evening Sun”
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Jemaine Clement - “Gentlemen Broncos”
Woody Harrelson - “The Messenger”
Christian McKay - “Me and Orson Welles”
Raymond McKinnon - “That Evening Sun”
Christopher Plummer - “The Last Station”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins - “A Serious Man”
Adriano Goldman - “Sin Nombre”
Anne Misawa - “Treeless Mountain”
Andrij Parekh - “Cold Souls”
Peter Zeitlinger - “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”
BEST DOCUMENTARY
“Anvil! The Story of Anvil” - Director: Sacha Gervasi
“Food, Inc.” - Director: Robert Kenner
“More Than A Game” - Director: Kristopher Belman
“October Country” - Directors: Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri
“Which Way Home” - Director: Rebecca Cammisa
BEST FOREIGN FILM
“A Prophet” - (France) Director: Jacques Audiard
“An Education” - (UK/France) Director: Lone Scherfig
“Everlasting Moments” - (Sweden) Director: Jan Troell
“Mother” - (South Korea) Director: Bong Joon-Ho
“The Maid” - (Chile) Director: Sebastián Silva
ACURA SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Kyle Patrick Alvarez - “Easier With Practice”
Asiel Norton - “Redland”
Tariq Tapa - “Zero Bridge”
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Natalia Almada - “El General”
Jessica Oreck - “Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo”
Bill Ross, Turner Ross - “45365”
PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Karin Chien - “The Exploding Girl,” “Santa Mesa”
Larry Fessenden - “I Sell the Dead,” “The House of the Devil”
Dia Sokol - “Beeswax,” “Nights & Weekends”
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD - (Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
“A Serious Man”
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Casting Directors: Ellen Chenoweth, Rachel Tenner
Ensemble Cast: Richard Kind, Sari Lennick, Jessica McManus, Fred Melamed, Michael Stuhlbarg, Aaron Wolff
