Spirit Award Winners
Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 5:43PM by Nathaniel R
Get Out won Feature and Director at the Spirit Awards (but no other prizes)
The headline prizes
BEST FEATURE "Get Out"
BEST FEMALE LEAD Frances McDormand “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri”
BEST MALE LEAD Timothée Chalamet “Call Me by Your Name”
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE Allison Janney “I, Tonya”
BEST SUPPORTING MALE Sam Rockwell “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri”
BEST DIRECTOR Jordan Peele “Get Out”
BEST SCREENPLAY Greta Gerwig “Lady Bird”
It says a lot about the intrinsic problems of awards season and rampant conformity that even at the Spirits they aren't willing to budge from the Oscar frontrunners, except when they're forced to (Gary Oldman wasn't eligible here so we happily get one big Timothée win)...
But it seems crazy and sad that even here Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf can't win for Lady Bird! Spread the wealth a little, people, my god. If every single televised group is the same why are there so many televised groups?!?
More after the jump...
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Sayombhu Mukdeeprom “Call Me by Your Name”
BEST EDITING Tatiana S. Riegel “I, Tonya”
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM “A Fantastic Woman”
BEST DOCUMENTARY “Faces Places” Directors: Agnés Varda, JR Producer: Rosalie Varda
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (THEIR ENSEMBLE AWARD) – “Mudbound” Director: Dee Rees; Casting Directors: Billy Hopkins, Ashley Ingram; Ensemble Cast: Jonathan Banks, Mary J. Blige, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Rob Morgan, and Carey Mulligan
Their prizes for small or first films, grants, and emerging directors...
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – (FEATURES WITH BUDGET UNDER HALF MILLION) “Life and Nothing More” Writer/Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza; Producers: Amadeo Hernández Bueno, Alvaro Portanet Hernández, and Pedro Hernández Santos
PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD – Summer Shelton, Giulia Caruso & Ki Jin Kim, Ben LeClair
JEEP TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD– Jonathan Olshefski Director of “Quest”
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani “The Big Sick”
BONNIE AWARD (GRANT FOR FEMALE FILMMAKER) – Chloé Zhao
KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD -Justin Chon Director of “Gook”
BEST FIRST FEATURE “Ingrid Goes West” Director: Matt Spicer; Producers: Jared Ian Goldman, Adam Mirels, Robert Mirels, Aubrey Plaza, Tim White, Trevor White
Reader Comments (30)
Lady Bird did win for screenplay and it was an underdog in that category. That's not much but its something.
Am Ijust the only one who's starting to piss off by Rockwell and McDormand walking away with EVERY TROPHY? Even the Spirit Awards? Why couldn't they just handle the hardware to someone else. Like Ronan, Stuhlbarh, perhaps? Pick one. Whoever.
Best moment: The Varda
Best, "of course, he deserved this, fuck"!: Apichatpong's usual cinematographer for lensing the beaut of CMBYN.
Just a very curious question, Nat. Are awards bestowed to the best or is it about spreading the wealth, so we get a little excitement? it’s exciting to see Laurie or Saorsie or whoever or whatever, but doesn’t it defeat the purpose of choosing what is really best?
McDormands "bad attitude", pajamas and slippers clothing were funny a decade ago. Stop it, Frances!
Sorry for the typos. These awards had a chance to go in different ways this year. It annoys me a little, the way the Critics Choice ANNOYS me to no end. Trying to predict the Oscars every damm year. Getthefuckoutofhere.
But it seems crazy and sad that even here Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf can't win for Lady Bird! Spread the wealth a little, people, my god. If every single televised group is the same why are there so many televised groups?!?
Sorry, Nat. I hadn't read that! So we share the annoyance, tho!
Different groups SHOULD have different opinions on the best. (We certainly seem to here at TFE) And yet, here we were again.
This is the least I have been interested in an Oscar telecast in a long, long time.
I feel like every year it's the same, why is everyone all of a sudden complaining about it?
This year its been worst. There's normally at least some variation in winners between the multiple ceremonies, not this year
Nikki --- to some extent, yes, but it is actually worse this year. Usually there is at least one category with some small variations, sometimes two categories (and the Globes sometimes go their own way in particular). This year the same 4 people have won every televised prize which is very uncommon, there being NO variation (until tonight I mean when Oldman wasnt nominated because he wasn't eligible... the only variation came down to a technicality!).
goodbar -- i understand this complaint but it still doesn't wash. People, in real life, have different opinions about what is "best"... you can see that anywhere you look when people discuss the nominees. So why do awards bodies consistently have the same opinion. It doesn't make sense unless people, when it comes time to vote, are just lazy conformists and they want to get behind "the winner," assuming who the winner will be.
"It says a lot about the intrinsic problems of awards season and rampant conformity that even at the Spirits they aren't willing to budge from the Oscar frontrunners"
The Indie Spirits have rarely rarely diverged from Oscar. It feels extra boring cause the same people also won at BAFTA, SAG, BFCA and Globes which is not that common.
Looking at their history, whenever an eventual Oscar winner is nominated alongside a Oscar nominee (future loser), the eventual winner always wins out. The only two times they didn't was when Mickey Rourke beat Sean Penn in 2008 and Penn himself beat Nicolas Cage in 1995. Would've been nice to see Ronan or Metcalf upset here but it wasn't likely.
Which definitely makes me raise my eyebrows to the Gerwig win over Peele and McDonagh in screenplay. Could it be foreshadowing a spoiler tomorrow?
Indie Spirits have also served as early premonitions of frontrunners that weren't meant to win. Clooney for The Descendants, Dafoe this year. So it's a little noticed stat but one I kept my eye on. Three Billboards didn't even get in here, and no BP winner that's been eligible here has missed a nomination. So definitely a few things to keep in mind, even if every year new stats are broken.
^^ The above stat doesn't hold as well since so many winners were ineligible but it still holds, up until 1985. Which is officially longer now than the director or SAG stat. Or arguably the editing one since that one was broken in 2014.
Alex D -- i still think the editing stat is important. BIRDMAN being an exception doesn't seem like an exception really since the movie was meant to appear as a continuous shot and thus no editing (or very little really) it was all viewed as a directorial feat.
@NATHANIEL R Yeah, different things. I also don't think Three Billboards is hurt that much by lack of McDonagh, just funny the way things go. I myself am betting on The Shape of Water, followed by Get Out and then 3Bs.
It feels off, at least for me, that these locked winners leave me at "I don't mind" rather than a lot of enthusiasm. Usually one of these I'm totally down for and it's not working for me this year. It is weird that everyone is, say, going for Frances McDormand in Three Billboards. It's a great performance, but so is Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird. It's showy, but no one has a flashier role (handled very well) than Margot Robbie in I, Tonya. All the categories can break down like that where there's an obvious winner.
It's one thing when the awards all circle a performance that really does nothing for me (Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour) because different people have different opinions. It's quite another when the category is stacked with incredible performances and no one else is winning unless that film isn't eligible. I get Daniel Kaluuya not winning (it is a horror film performance, no matter how good, and those are rarely acknowledged for their acting), but Timothee Chalomet only winning if Gary Oldman is eligible is bizarre. You really can't convince me that many more people prefer Darkest Hour to Call Me By Your Name.
I voted against Oscar-type and nothing. This was my ballot.
Best Picture: Lady Bird
Director: Sean Baker, Florida Project
Actor: Timothee Chalomet, CMBYN
Actress: Soairse Ronan, Lady Bird
Support Actor: Willem Dafoe, Florida Project
Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Screenplay: Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
First Everything: Ingrid Goes West
I never get nothin'!
Here's the thing about the Oscars tomorrow.... the acting categories and Best Director are set. And while those are BIG AWARDS, people don't seem to realize that all of the other categories are pretty much up in the air INCLUDING Best Picture. So there is still some excitement to be had I think. Or am I just being naive? We'll see.
Eli - our ballots were amazingly close, except I voted for Florida Prject for Best Picture and Harris Dickinson and Margot Robbie for Actor and Actress. One thing though, Willem Dafoe was disappointingly not even nominated here. I voted for Barry Keoghan. I was so happy Ingrid Goes West actually won Best 1st Film!
Yes, it seems kinda disappointing tt the Indie chooses to go w the same acting trio, but at least their choice o Best Feature, Director, Screenplay, Actor, etc r wonderful divergents!
I only hope now tt thr will b an upset in one or two of the acting categories, specifically Best Actress n Best Supp Actress! Fingers X!
I'm depressed that even the Spirit Awards just follow the trend and shower the same people with more and more prizes ..... I'm so glad for Timothée though, who's flying above the competition !
I really thought at least Metcalfe could get some love here. I guess i won't watch the Academy Awards from the first time in fifteen years. Here in France it airs from 2am to 6am but it will be too frustrating to get through the night without ONE single acting surprise.
People, forget the acting upsets. It's not gonna happen. If you want surprises, go to the other open categories like Foreign Language Film, Documental, Picture, original Screenplay. It's just simple futile and hopeless waiting for the acting snubs. It's becoming too predictable and boring every year, even when there's "competition".
I have a sneaky feeling Oldman won't win.
In the 90's they went way out with their nominees then in about 2005 ish they started predicting more and more,so when it used to be whoever won BA at the Spirits lost the Oscar now it's predicting them.
I can't believe that every Group thought that those 2 supporting performances were the best above all else Hunter,Blige,Manville,Chau and Metcalfe have a right to be peed off and the supporting men too.
I wouldn't nominate any of the predicted winners this year.
Ryan T -- I totally agree. Everything else really seems sort of possible for upsets.
I think the bad thing about the four actors who have been sucking up all the prizes is that all four have really showy roles and all have a lot of industry respect. So many people I know who have seen Three Billboards are blown away by McDormand even when they dislike the movie. A lot of these same people saw Lady Bird and even if they liked the movie they sort of shrugged off the nuanced performance from Ronan. It’s a little sad, but art is subjective and maybe there is just too much of a majority in all these voting groups that feel the same.
Even though I voted in the Spirit Awards, I didn't go with the consensus. I voted based on what I thought was the best in each category regardless of whether they were even Oscar nominated.
" Get Out" is better written than directed- I also question some of the casting choices- the white brother is too obviously a racist psycho who was brought in from the set of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"
Ken: You're right. I voted for Armie. My heart is just used to putting Willem there...
@Eli
With the exception of the Florida Project ( did not think award worthy ), your ballot is just like mine.
Wait...Get Out is considered independent. I'm sure it had a small budget, but it also had a major distributor in Universal Pictures.
I have to love how people perceive this as "Get Out" winning Oscars... at all.
"Get Out" won Picture, where "Three Billboards" wasn't nominated.
It won Director, where Guillermo del Toro wasn't nominated.
In Screenplay, though, where it was supposed to be the strongest contender... it lost to Lady Bird.
Meaning, Oscar might be 3B-del Toro-Lady Bird/3b in those categories.