And while the Oscars have been beset by criticism for a second straight year of all-white acting nominees, the Spirits boasted five nonwhite nominees out of 20 – and three of them won. Only one best-picture nominee is up for the Spirit Awards’ top honor: the newspaper drama “Spotlight”.
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The acting winners at Saturday’s Spirit awards provided a stark contrast to the Academy Award’s all-white list of acting nominees.
Spotlight stole the show today at the Film Independent Spirit Awards by being named best feature and picking up another four awards.
The first award of the televised presentation, Best Supporting Male, went to Idris Elba, who brought his Beasts of No Nation co-star Abraham Attah onstage. Unlike the Directors Guild Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, also given out in the weeks prior to the Oscars, Oscar prognosticators do not use the results of the Independent Spirit Awards in their attempts to handicap who, and what, will win those all-important gold statuettes Sunday.
In one of the most popular announcements, transgender actress Mya Taylor won for best supporting actress for the transgender drama “Tangerine” for her role as sex worker Alexandra.
The Mark Ruffalo-starrer also bagged the best screenplay, best editing and best ensemble prizes. McCarthy had introduced both the cast and the Globe journalists during the presentation of the previously announced Robert Altman cast award.
Other winners included Ed Lachman, who won Best Cinematography for Carol, and Emma Donoghue landed the Best First Screenplay award for Room.
He said: “I am not here on my own, I supported Abraham”.
Take a look at their parody of one of this year’s best films Room below.
The irreverent and breezy Spirit Awards, held in a tent on the Santa Monica beach, stood apart from the Oscars in other ways, too.
He did not address the controversy, but speaking after his Independent Spirit win, he said: “I am so more proud of being a producer on this film, it wasn’t about my performance, it was about us as a team”.
The 31st Independent Spirt Awards took place this Saturday, February 27 with the fiendishly talented and hilarious Kate McKinnon & Kumail Nanjiani co-hosting the event.
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“McKinnon also quipped, “‘Carol” is the most compelling story about someone leaving gloves behind since “The People Vs. OJ Simpson”.
