Film Independent’s Spirit Awards – Demme’s Rachel for Oscar?
Film Independent announced the nominations for the 24th annual Independent Spirit Awards today, and Oscar-hopeful Rachel Getting Married got a lot of attention. The film tied smaller indies including the Melissa Leo-starrer Frozen River and my favorite film so far this year Ballast (a film that I’m sure you won’t hear about in the Oscar race) with 6 nominations. You can see all the nominees here.
What does this mean for the Demme picture? Well, the bad news is it may be this year’s Half Nelson or I’m Not There, films embraced by the film aficionados, but hardly bankable indies like Little Miss Sunshine or Juno. The good news is there isn’t a Juno or Little Miss Sunshine in the bunch this year. Given the Spirit Awards’ penchant for rewarding films that make a splash, the acclaimed, star-powered Rachel (starring Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger) is the frontrunner for the top prize. (I’ll be rooting for Ballast.)
Aronofsky’s The Wrestler and the Michelle Williams-starrer Wendy and Lucy joined the three films mentioned above in the Best Feature category. UntilThe Wrestler becomes some sort of contender (we’ve been waiting for months now), Rachel‘s buzz and a few Spirit Awards may help in its battle to break into the Oscar race.
I’m holding back on predicting Rachel for now, but god knows I need to replace Australia in my Best Picture predictions.
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