Predict the Spirit Awards here
This year, there isn’t a lot of distinction between the Spirit Awards and the Oscars. This, because the industry mostly turned its back on big studio fare earmarked for the Oscar race, from the mixed to poorly reviewed Unbroken, Interstellar, and Into the Woods to the well reviewed Gone Girl, Foxcatcher and Nightcrawler. They mostly stuck to the independents, making this one of the weirdest Oscar races I’ve ever seen.
Essentially, you’re looking at another Birdman and Boyhood showdown, with Selma the likely upset in the major categories. The Spirit Awards do tend to vote for more popular films than you’d think they would, as they went for Silver Linings Playbook over Beasts of the Southern Wild, for instance. Last year they went for 12 Years a Slave, which many believed meant it wouldn’t then go on to win the Best Picture Oscar. There is less and less difference between the two these days because Oscar voters are stubborn about evolving the way the big budget film industry is.
Most of our readers by a very wide margin think Boyhood will prevail. That was the thinking at the Gothams as well when the first really weird thing about the year happened when Birdman won there. I have a feeling it’s going to be Birdman, myself. I just think it’s the kind of movie that crowd is going to like best. But it’s a toss-up, truly. I hope I am wrong because if they pass up a chance to award Richard Linklater I just don’t know how I will cope with that.
Spirit award voters aren’t critics and they aren’t industry professionals as much as they are MOVIE FANS. That can sometimes translate to “most popular” wins the day. If it were me I’d vote for Selma and Ava DuVernay without thinking twice about it. I just don’t know how this group will go – if they did reward Selma that would be the bigger news story the next day.
2015 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS
BEST FEATURE
“Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
“Boyhood” — Predicted winner
“Love Is Strange”
“Selma”
“Whiplash”
DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle “Whiplash”
Ava DuVernay “Selma”
Alejandro G. Iñárritu “Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Richard Linklater “Boyhood”, Predicted winner
David Zellner “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter”
SCREENPLAY
Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski “Big Eyes”
J.C. Chandor “A Most Violent Year”
Dan Gilroy “Nightcrawler” – Predicted winner
Jim Jarmusch “Only Lovers Left Alive”
Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias “Love Is Strange”
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
“Dear White People” Director-producer: Justin Simien
“Nightcrawler” Director: Dan Gilroy — Predicted winner, Stone, AwardsDaily readers
“Obvious Child” Director: Gillian Robespierre
“She’s Lost Control” Director-producer: Anja Marquardt
FEMALE LEAD
Marion Cotillard “The Immigrant”
Rinko Kikuchi “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter”
Julianne Moore “Still Alice” – Predicted winner, Stone, AwardsDaily readers
Jenny Slate “Obvious Child”
Tilda Swinton “Only Lovers Left Alive”
MALE LEAD
André Benjamin “Jimi: All Is by My Side”
Jake Gyllenhaal “Nightcrawler”
Michael Keaton “Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Predicted winner Stone
John Lithgow “Love Is Strange”
David Oyelowo “Selma”
SUPPORTING FEMALE
Patricia Arquette “Boyhood” — Predicted winner
Jessica Chastain “A Most Violent Year”
Carmen Ejogo “Selma”
Andrea Suarez Paz “Stand Clear of the Closing Doors”
Emma Stone “Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
SUPPORTING MALE
Riz Ahmed “Nightcrawler”
Ethan Hawke Boyhood
Alfred Molina “Love Is Strange”
Edward Norton “Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
J.K. Simmons Whiplash — predicted winner
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Darius Khondji “The Immigrant”
Emmanuel Lubezki “Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” — Predicted winner
Sean Porter “It Felt Like Love”
Lyle Vincent “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”
Bradford Young “Selma”
EDITING
Sandra Adair “Boyhood” — Predicted winner
Tom Cross “Whiplash”
John Gilroy “Nightcrawler”
Ron Patane “A Most Violent Year”
Adam Wingard “The Guest”
DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)
“20,000 Days on Earth” Directors: Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard
“CitizenFour” Director-producer: Laura Poitras – predicted winner
“Stray Dog” Director: Debra Granik
“The Salt of the Earth” Directors: Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and Wim Wenders
“Virunga” Director-producer: Orlando von Einsiedel
INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
“Force Majeure” (Sweden) Director: Ruben Östlund
“Ida” (Poland) Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
“Leviathan (Russia) Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Mommy (Canada) Director: Xavier Dolan
Norte, the End of History (Philippines) Director: Lav Diaz
Under the Skin (United Kingdom) Director: Jonathan Glazer – predicted winner
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Craig Kennedy gives his “Should Wins” instead of predictions, because: idealist
Pic: Selma
Director: DuVernay – Selma
Screenplay: Jarmusch – Only Lovers Left Alive
First Feature: Amirpour – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
First Screenplay: Simien – Dear White People
Cassavetes: Blue Ruin
Female Lead: Swinton – Only Lovers Left Alive
Male Lead: Oyelowo – Selma
Female Supporting: Arquette – Boyhood
Male Supporting: Norton – Birdman
Cinematography: Khondji – The Immigrant
Editing: Cross – Whiplash
Doc: Stray Dog
International: Ida
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Ryan Adams shows us the choices he chose on his his actual ballot, because he ponied up the $99 to become a voting member this year, because “Spirit award voters aren’t critics and they aren’t industry professionals as much as they are MOVIE FANS.” …also, for the nice packet of screeners. [- says Ryan Adams]
BEST FEATURE
“Boyhood”
DIRECTOR
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
SCREENPLAY
Dan Gilroy, “Nightcrawler”
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”, Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
FIRST SCREENPLAY
Justin Simien, “Dear White People”
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
“Blue Ruin”
FEMALE LEAD
Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”
MALE LEAD
Jake Gyllenhaal, “Nightcrawler”
SUPPORTING FEMALE
Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
SUPPORTING MALE
Alfred Molina, “Love Is Strange”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Lyle Vincent, “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”
EDITING
Sandra Adair, “Boyhood”
DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)
“Virunga”
INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
“Force Majeure”
