Spirit Award Depletion, Capitulation
The 2012 Spirit Awards did the wrong thing today by giving four awards to the Big Oscar Inevitable known as The Artist — Best Feature, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Cinematography. The worst kowtow was giving Jean Dujardin its Best Actor prize instead of, say, A Better Life‘s Damien Bichir or Take Shelter‘s Michael Shannon. It wasn’t an indie thing to do — it was a “we want to be the Oscars too!” thing. Extremely bad form, dark day, etc.
Random Tweet #1: “Spirit Award for Best Actor goes to…Jean Dujardin? At the Spirits? People in the press tent going ‘eewww!” What a drag. Not Bichir?” Random Tweet #2: “Is it because I’m not drinking that the 2012 Spirit Awards are feeling so…I don’t know, rote and meh and under-energized & not-enoughy?” Random Tweet #3: “Not even light munchie food in Spirit Awards press cantina. No celery sticks, no carrots, no nothin’ — just empty, scarfed-up food boxes.” Random Tweet #4: “AT&T 3G is ridiculously slow in press tent. Too many people tweeting in too dense a space. No wifi for MacBook Pro and no celery sticks.”
(l. to r.) The Artist director-writer Michel Hazanavicius, costar Penelope Ann Miller, producer Thomas Langman during final press room q & a.
(l. to r.) Margin Call director J.C. Chandor, colleagues during press-room q & a.
(l. to r.) Best Documentary Spirit Award winners Alex Kotlowitz, Steve James, answering questions about The Interrupters.
Jeff. The fact that you childishly, irrationally persist in a hate campaign against a film that is neither badly made, nor cynically intended is really shameful. I was recommended your site by a major producer and my opinion of her has dropped at free fall speed. We understand that you don’t like the Artist but you come across like a bitchy Heather spreading hateful gossip about the pretty new girl at school who isn’t in the clique. Bad form indeed.
Yeah, why would the Independent Spirit Awards select a $15 million no-star black and white movie over, say, a baseball movie with Brad Pitt? Sellouts.
The Spirit Awards are just sick of being known as “the Wall” for Oscar campaigns where the winners turn out to be giving their concession speeches since they’ll get shut down the next night. They were becoming the Prince of Wales Trophy with people being cursed when they touched the award.
Good to see Steve James winning. Here’s footage of when the focus of The Interrupters met Elmo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iQcFWn5WzM
So now it’s every male actor lead who is better than Dujardin? Your contempt for this movie and everyone in it is reason enough for me to hope it sweeps every category it is nominated for. Thanks for giving me a reason to watch.
Unless Tree of Life pulled some miracle wins I couldn’t care less who won the Oscars. Now I hope The Artist sweeps just because. Sheesh, enough with the cry-babying already.
You’re all missing the MOST AWFUL THING here.
ONE AND A HALF HOURS FOR LUNCH? ***THEN*** you have to sit through a boring awards ceremony??
It’s like putting the wedding after the reception. GOOD GOD WHY?
SERIOUSLY, I’d eat and leave after coffee. “Ya’ll can tweet me who won.”
One thing is that they gave away the store to that clever (in the British back-handed complimentary sense of the word) little FRENCH film, for Chrissakes — but NO CELERY STICKS. This is it! I threw my badge to the gutters. Back to the tent no more, I say!!
Random Thought #1:Michelle Williams needs a new look. Soon.
Random Thought #2:Penelope Ann Miller sure is making hay out of her Artist gig.
Your right, Raygo. Penelope has been in the movie world’s Bermuda triangle since how long? Carlito’s Way in ’93?
Penelope Ann Miller is pretty charming for a 50something. It’s weird she’s been out of it so long. Also why wasn’t Dujardin there last night? He’s obviously got to be in town for tonight, right? Did he think the Independent Spirit was a French minority party?
After all these years, the Indy Spirit Awards still refuse to give an award for editing – but they give one to the cameraman. It’s disgusting.
While the director might be God – the editor is Jesus, they come down to Earth and save the film from being a sent to the hell of a space under the director’s bed. Editors are what make an indie film viewable instead of bloated affairs the feature every frame of film that the director must show us cause he shot it. The Indy Spirit Awards need to recognize that editors are as essential as the stars, writers, directors and cameraman on a low budget film.
I’m as tired of Jeff dogging on the Artist as anybody else here, but he still has a point when that movie takes the Best Cinematography award. Seriously?!? The Artist had the best cinematography of any movie made in 2011? That one does stink of bandwagoning.
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