An Awards Night in New York
Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at 3:33PM 
Award events where the winners have already been announced have a particular way about them. The speeches are mostly prepared before, and the winners - or their publicists and the people behind their movies - have a say in who gets to present them with the award. Last night the New York Film Critics Circle presented their 2019 awards and here are some of the presenter / winner pairings and why perhaps they’ve been chosen.
Yahya Abdul Mateen / Lupita Nyong’o…. He played her dad in flashbacks in Us
Claire Denis / Mati Diop …. Diop was in Denis’ 35 Shots of Rum...
Adam Sandler / Josh and Benny Safdie … He’s the star of their movie
Ethan Hawke / Antonio Banderas …. Last year’s best actor presenting to this year’s winner
Alec Baldwin / Joe Pesci …. Baldwin was in Scorsese’s The Departed and is another famous New York actor
Ben Stiller / Parasite….. Curious, no discernable connection
And of course BFFs Reese Witherspoon / Laura Dern…. We all know of their heavily documented-on-instagram friendship
Brad Pitt presented best screenplay to Quentin Tarantino and gave the quip that most attendees shared on twitter “He’s the only guy I know who needs cocaine to stop talking.” One legendary New York auteur, Spike Lee, presented the best picture award to aother legendary New York auteur, Martin Scorsese. He did that invoking a New York institution that they both attended, NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Netflix was thanked a lot from the stage since the streamer is behind many of the night's winners, from Diop to Dern to Scorsese.
The funniest intro though might have been Sandler’s when giving best director to Josh and Benny Safdie. Here’s what he said, per Deadline:
How do you tell the Safdie brothers apart? Well, Josh looks like a yeshiva student who might shoot you, and Benny looks like a friendly dentist.
And another moment that apparently killed in the room was when Bong Joon-ho quoted a line from Raging Bull “Did you fuck my wife?” to The Irishman crew, Scorsese, Pesci and Robert De Niro.
As a reminder, here's the full list of winners announced last month:
Best Picture: The Irishman
Best Director: Benny and Josh Safdie, Uncut Gems
Best Actor: Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Best Actress: Lupita Nyong'o, Us
Best Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Best Supporting Actor: Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern, Marriage Story and Little Women
Best Animated Film: I Lost My Body
Best Cinematography: Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Best First Film: Atlantics
Best Foreign Language Film: Parasite
Best Nonfiction Film: Honeyland
Special Award 1: Indie Collect
Special Award 2: Randy Newman
Reader Comments (10)
Might Bong Joon-ho be the coolest person working in all of film right now?? I bet actors are dying to work for him!
And let's be happy there was no appearance from Armond White.
Denis and Diop! (Who both SHOULD 1000% be the Best Director Oscar lineup)
Antonio and Ethan, because both deserve(d) to sweep all the way to the Oscars. And it is adorable that the first comment on the Instagram page linking to their photo is from Juliette Binoche, who says, "I live [sic] you both."
Once again the NYFCC proves themselves to be the finest awards giving organization. They make the best choices EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR.
Let's hope Hawke presenting Banderas is not a bad omen.
If they made the best choices they wouldn't haven awarded Tarantino.
Lupita looks so gorge in tt lime satin dress!! ♥
Let's hope she n Banderas can get the last spot come Jan 13!! ✌ crossed!!
Banderas and Hawke, but I am so partial to this...
Denis and Diop!