Gotham Nominations: "The Favourite" and "First Reformed" Lead
Thursday, October 18, 2018 at 12:10PM by Nathaniel R
It's the first official awards announcement of the season! The Gotham Awards, the East Coast's answer to the Independent Spirit Awards, have announced their nominations with the palace intrigue tragicomedy The Favourite and the existential heavy drama of First Reformed sharing the lead with 3 matching honors each: Best Feature, Best Screenplay, and one acting citation (a special ensemble prize for the former and Ethan Hawke for the latter). One assumes that they'd have both been nominated for director, too, but one of the quirks of Gotham is that they don't have a Director category, only a category for brand new directors and we love the nominees there, especially Bo Burnham for Eighth Grade and Ari Aster for Hereditary.
Other films receiving much needed good news since they were released before the fall glut and needed awards bodies to be reminded of them over the next few months: Leave No Trace, The Wife, Sorry to Bother You, and The Rider. The complete nominations and a few more comments after the jump...
Best Feature
- First Reformed
- The Favorite
- Madeline’s Madeline
- If Beale Street Could Talk
- The Rider
The Gotham Awards almost always have two future Best Picture nominees on their list so this is great news for If Beale Street Could Talk which seems to be one of the 'cusp' films that might or might not at the Oscars. (The most Oscar correlation they've ever had in the current Best Picture era was in 2014 when Birdman, Boyhood and Budapest Hotel all repeated their nominations at the Oscars and Birdman repeated its win, too. The least they've had was in 2012 when none of their nominees went on to Best Picture citations with AMPAS)
Best Documentary
- Bisbee ‘17
- Hale County This Morning, This Evening
- Minding the Gap
- Shirkers
- Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
- Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade
- Ari Aster, Hereditary
- Boots Riley, Sorry to Bother You
- Crystal Moselle, Skate Kitchen
- Jennifer Fox, The Tale
Best Screenplay
- Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, The Favorite
- Cory Finley, Thoroughbreds
- Paul Schrader, First Reformed
- Tamara Jenkins, Private Life
- Andrew Bujalski, Support the Girls
Very disappointed not to see Eighth Grade on this particular list.
Best Actor
They don't have supporting categories at the Gothams so it's fun to see both Driver and Grant, who we assume our threats for Supporting Actor at the Oscars, both in the mix.
- Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
- Ben Foster, Leave No Trace
- Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
- Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
- Lakeith Stanfield, Sorry to Bother You
Best Actress
- Glenn Close, The Wife
- Toni Collette, Hereditary
- Kathryn Hahn, Private Life
- Regina Hall, Support the Girls
- Michelle Pfeiffer, Where is Kyra?
What a choice list. Pleasantly surprised to see our beloved Pfeiffer in the list (though surely it cost Melissa McCarthy -- as you'll note that her co-star made it over in best actor) and of course this is very good news for Toni Colette. I haven't yet seen Support the Girls but it's a thrill to see Regina Hall honored somewhere since she's so underappreciated. Though some of the peculiarities and inconsistencies of support at the Gotham Awards are due to the fact that it's a juried nomination system (the committee includes film critics, festival programmers, and film curators and so on) so generally you get more electic shortlists that way.
Special Jury Award For Ensemble Performance
- The Favorite - Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz
Usually I object to ensemble prizes for very small casts but this film is special in this regard so I applaud the choice. I hope it's also nominated for SAG when the list will be wider and include Joe Alwyn and especially Nicholas Hoult, who are also justright in the film.
Breakthrough Actor
- Thomasin Harcourt, Leave No Trace
- Helena Howard, Madeline’s Madeline
- Kiki Layne, If Beale Street Could Talk
- Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade
- Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
Fans of Leave No Trace will be very happy about the Harcourt nomination which was not a given. It's another reminder to me that I really must catch up with this movie.
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
I honestly can't express how much I love Big Mouth. My favorite characters are Missy (Jenny Slate) and Hormone Monstress (Maya Rudolph) but really it's all wonderful.
- Alias Grace
- Big Mouth
- The End of the F***ing World
- Killing Eve
- Pose
- Sharp Objects
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
Since we haven't yet heard of any of these -- we're terrible at keeping up with webseries -- here are links where you can watch them if you so choose!
- 195 Lewis - about queer black polyamorous women
- Cleaner Daze - about addiction and recovery
- Distance -about long distance relationships
- The F Word - about foster care
- She’s the Ticket - about women running for office
Reader Comments (50)
The Ethan Hawke band wagon just got a head start,rooting for him like no one else this year.
So happy for you. I hope Kyra opens in Europe soon.
Let's see if all the critics who voted for Dafoe last year jump on the Hawke wagon.
I can pull a David Lynch and campaign for First Reformed with a cow. If I had money I'd pay for FYC ads. THIS MOVIE IS A MASTERPIECE!
Nathaniel, if you ever interview Schrader, you could ask how much he loves Mean Girls. Can't wait for his movie with Rachel McAdams.
Nominating Driver in BlacKkKlansman... is a choice.
Support the Girls is great. Over and over again we see the same types of women leading independent films, but I'd like to see more films about women like Regina Hall's character. I'm really happy she got a nomination, as it will lead more people to watch her film.
I'm glad for the support for First Reformed as well. The critical community should go all out for this movie.
The director nod for Jennifer Fox and the love for Private Life made me very happy. Both in my top 10 for the year so far.
Why no one is talking about
GLENN CLOSE AND MICHELLE PFEIFFER NOMINATED ON THE SAME CATEGORY? *O*
For the first time in forever, I feel like I've seen most of these films. And what a great set of nominees. Particularly chuffed for:
- First Reformed and Hawke
- The Rider in Feature
- Minding the Gap in Documentary
- Eighth Grade and Fisher
- Toni Collette
- Regina Hall
- Private Life screenplay and Hahn
- Foster and Harcourt in Leave No Trace
- Close and Pfeiffer of course
"Nominating Driver in BlacKkKlansman... is a choice."
A very strange choice.
Yalitza Aparicio nomination in Breakthrough Actor really raises the question of how did Roma miss out on nominations for Feature and (to a lesser degree from what I’ve heard) Screenplay
The Rider nominated for Best Film! 2 nominations for Leave No Trace! Yalitza Aparicio! Glenn Close! Adam Driver! Toni Collette! Not a fan of First Reformed, but the glass is more than half full, I say.
An ominous sign for McCarthy...
Toni Collette officially has some love this season and I couldn't be happier. I need as many "we're so sorry Oscar won't recognize your brilliance" prizes as possible.
Also, Won't You Be My Neighbor? remains the best thing I have seen all year. I hope it sweeps all doc prizes right up through the Oscar.
Great lineup of nominated films -- well done Gotham!
- a Proustian madeleine to Madeline's Madeline
- the trio of Yalitza Aparicio, Helena Howard and Thomasin Harcourt
- First Reformed and Paul Schrader
- the return of Marquise de Merteuil and Madame de Tourvel
- If Beale Street Could Talk
- the surefire love for Toni Collette
loved these
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Is this a case of honoring a supporting performance in Lead because they don't so supporting? or is he truly a Lead?
The more likely supporting actor winner to me is Grant and not Sam Eliott as some have suggested,it's a real film stealing role,gay,drunk,one liners,gr8 leading lady chemistry,30 odd yr career,never recognized for his acting,it's all there.
There you go, Ethan Hawke/First Reformed skeptics. :)
Bet it won't make Best Picture, but seriously - Best Actor and Screenplay are pretty much on lock at this point.
Nice to see The Rider here. What a heartbreaking movie.
markgordonuk
Grant seems to be that solid nominee that never wins.
Sharp objects! Yes!
One thing Grant has going for him is that everybody likes him. And he's worked with more people (and Academy voters) than you remember.
Except for POSE, which I haven't seen, the Breakthrough Series Long Form are all awesome nominees. Glad I'm not a voter since they all present something very special and I would have a tough time choosing. I wish Alias Grace got more attention though, as the lead performance was sublime.
Rob & Ryan - but he does give the best performance in the film so...
Evangelina - Grant has worked with everyone yeah. He’s also really fun to talk to and nice so he’ll be a hit on the circuit
ME — you know that I’m a stickler about category fraud. Grant is legitimately supporting. He’s not in big chunks of the movie and it’s not about him at all — still a good sized part though
I checked out Support the Girls. Though the themes are timely, I found it fairly bland and don’t understand the enthusiasm at awarding Regina Hall for it.
Excited for Pfeiffer—maybe the Spirits will remember her now?
Unfortunately that Drama Actress Globe race seems impenetrable. I assume your whole first tier of predictions will end up there—unless McCarthy or Colman go comedy. And even then, Kidman's in the wings with Ronan, Aparicio, Swank, Mulligan, Collette, etc.
It's partly why I'm so mystified by the Julia Roberts buzz. In this year?
It would be a nice career capper for him.
Toni Collette & the Leave no Trace duo. I like Ethan Hawke but completely missed the point of First Reformed. Foster > Hawke this year imo.
Thrilled to see The Rider here. My favorite movie of the year so far. Bummed by the lack of Alex Wolff, given the nods for Ari Aster and Toni Collette. And am totally here for an awards season that becomes, in part, an appreciation of the career of Richard E. Grant.
The best performance in Blackkklansmen is Corey Hawkins, and he only one scene. The Driver nomination is laughable.
The best performance in Blackkklansmen is Corey Hawkins, and he only has one scene. The Driver nomination is laughable.
Go,go go go, Thomasin McKenzie!!!! If somehow "Leave No Trace" manages to sell a category fraud for her... maybe she breaks Best Supporting Actress. What a performance!
Friendly reminder that a certain Jennifer Lawrence got her first surprise actress nomination and big break in a little seen movie by Debra Granik. Thomasin’s performance is monumental and Leave No Trace is a much better movie. Very exciting.
So happy that SUPPORT THE GIRLS and LEAVE NO TRACE got double noms each. Both will likely be in my top ten of the year. FIRST REFORMED potentially, too. Haven't seen many of these yet though.
You MUST see Leave No Trace. I've seen it twice and it's my favorite of the year so far.
the gothams are suffering from a severe case of premature acclamation - it's freakin' mid october
I hope First Reformed breaks through to Oscar. I've watched it three times already and it's a keeper; so perfectly attuned to 2018 all while wearing Schrader's influences on its sleeve.
Meanwhile, I really don't get the love for Adam Driver in BlacKkKlansman. He's okay but the role is far from his most interesting or challenging role. Are critics and prognosticators making up for missing Paterson?
Need to see Support the Girls.
PFEIFFER SO DESERVING ❤️
Michelle Pfeiffer is brilliant in Where Is Kyra?
"Best Actor and Screenplay are pretty much on lock at this point."
It's literally October after one set of nominees.
Glenn and Michelle.... omg omg omg *gay gasp*
Let's hope the Indie Spirits are taking note
I'm seeing Beale Street followed by Support the Girls tomorrow and this leaves me even more excited for them.
Choosing to award Adam Driver over John David Washington is utterly bizarre.
Yeah, it's way too early for this.
As far as Roma, it's a directorial achievement more than a screenplay or acting achievement, but they don't recognize directors here so...
Nathaniel how have you not seen SUPPORT THE GIRLS yet???? See it!!! Hall is great, Haley Lu Richardson is GREAT, but my best in show is Shayna McHayle, who I adored. Any way you go though it's stuffed with fun actressing.
The Documentary category is impressive - one great (MINDING THE GAP) and two vey good (BISBEE '17 and WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOUR?) make me want to track down the other two.
But I can't for the life of me fathom how Crystal Mozelle got a nomination for SKATE KITCHEN. That movie was so badly directed it was embarrassing to watch (I did actually walk out after an hour at Melbourne Film Festival). I hope it doesn't crop up anywhere else over the next couple of months.
What an eclectic group of nominees (even for Gotham)! As for Adam Driver’s performance, I liked it but Corey Hawkins left a Beatrice Straight-sized hole in BlacKkKlansman that galvanized me more than anything he did. I hope he gets recognition somewhere down the line. So happy for Regina Hall! Agree w/ everyone who also sang Haley Lu Richardson and Shayna McHale’s praises.
I guess the huge "snub" is the total absense of Wildlife (Not even Mulligan). If this film misses ISA noms forget the Oscar hopeful amd add this to the long list of Jake Gyllenhaal's failed awards campaigns.
Anyway great for Collette and Hereditary. Nice to see a full variety in documental and TV noms
Now that I think about it, Ned Beatty is the more apt Network comparison for what Hawkins achieves.
Alex Wolff should've been nominated in breakthrough, and Hereditary in Best Picture.
But I also enjoy Gotham's nominations because unlike the Spirit Awards, even when I'm not fully content with their choices, I can't argue that they are definitely honoring independent cinema.
This may be Paul Schrader's last chance to go all the way to the Oscars. He wasn't even nominated for the screenplays for "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull!" Yes, as Suzanne says, the critical community needs to show that this film MUST be a part of the conversation including Best Picture, Original Screenplay and Director awards, maybe even Supporting Actress.