‘The Lighthouse,’ ‘Uncut Gems’ Lead Spirit Awards Nominations

Dave McNary

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Horror story “The Lighthouse” and Adam Sandler’s crime thriller “Uncut Gems” led the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations with five each, while “Give Me Liberty” and “Honey Boy” took four apiece.

“Uncut Gems,” Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” Chinonye Chukwu’s “Clemency,” Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell” and Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” are up for best feature.

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Female lead nods went to Karen Allen for “Colewell,” Hong Chau for “Driveways,” Elisabeth Moss for “Her Smell,” Mary Kay Place for “Diane,” Alfre Woodard for “Clemency” and Renée Zellweger for “Judy.” Male lead noms were given to Chris Galust for “Give Me Liberty,” Kelvin Harrison Jr. for “Luce,” Robert Pattinson for “The Lighthouse,” Sandler for “Uncut Gems” and Matthias Schoenaerts for “The Mustang.”

Jennifer Lopez earned a supporting female nomination for “Hustlers,” as did Zhao Shuzhen for her role as the family matriarch in “The Farewell.” Co-stars Noah Jupe and Shia LaBeouf received supporting male nods for “Honey Boy,” which recounts LaBeouf’s upbringing as a child star.

Olivia Wilde took a nomination for first feature for directing the coming-of-age comedy “Booksmart.” Spike Lee nabbed a nod in the category for producing the sci-fier “See You Yesterday.”

Director nominations went to Robert Eggers for “The Lighthouse,” Alma Har’el for “Honey Boy,” Julius Onah for “Luce,” brothers Benny and Josh Safdie for “Uncut Gems,” and Lorene Scafaria for “Hustlers.”

The nominations announcement included the selection of “Marriage Story” as the winner of the Robert Altman Award, honoring director Noah Baumbach, casting directors Douglas Aibel and Francine Maisler and the cast: Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson who portray a couple in the midst of a divorce along with Alan Alda, Laura Dern, Julie Hagerty, Ray Liotta, Azhy Roberston and Merritt Weaver. The Altman trophy makes the cast members ineligible for individual acting awards.

“Clemency,” “Hustlers,” “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” “Luce” and “The Third Wife” nabbed three nominations each. A24 has the most noms of any distributor with 18. Neon took 10, followed by Amazon with eight and Netflix with seven.

The four nominations for Music Box’s comedy “Give Me Liberty” were among the bigger surprises. The film, about a medical transport driver (played by Galust) who risks his job to shuttle a group of rowdy seniors and a Russian boxer to a funeral, premiered in May at the Cannes Film Festival. “Give Me Liberty” was released in July and has generated $609,000 at the worldwide box office.

Zazie Beetz and Natasha Lyonne announced the nominees for the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Thursday morning at The Line LA. Josh Welsh, president of Film Independent, said 45% of Spirit Awards directing and writing nominees are women and 30% are people of color.

The ceremony will be held in Santa Monica on Feb. 8 — the day before the Academy Awards.

Spirit Awards nominations are selected by a 50-member-plus committee and the awards are voted on by Film Independent’s 6,000-plus members. To be eligible, movies must be produced in the U.S. for less than $22.5 million.

“If Beale Street Could Talk” won the best feature film trophy this year and “Get Out” won in 2018. In the prior four years, “Moonlight,” “Spotlight,” “Birdman” and “12 Years a Slave” won both the Spirit Award and the Oscar for best picture.

Here are the 2020 Spirit Awards nominations:

Best Feature
A HIDDEN LIFE
CLEMENCY
THE FAREWELL
MARRIAGE STORY
UNCUT GEMS

Best Director
Robert Eggers – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Alma Har’el – HONEY BOY
Julius Onah – LUCE
Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – UNCUT GEMS
Lorene Scafaria – HUSTLERS

Best First Feature
BOOKSMART
THE CLIMB
DIANE
THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
THE MUSTANG
SEE YOU YESTERDAY

Best Female Lead
Karen Allen – COLEWELL
Hong Chau – DRIVEWAYS
Elisabeth Moss – HER SMELL
Mary Kay Place – DIANE
Alfre Woodard – CLEMENCY
Renée Zellweger – JUDY

Best Male Lead
Chris Galust – GIVE ME LIBERTY
Kelvin Harrison Jr. – LUCE
Robert Pattinson – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Adam Sandler – UNCUT GEMS
Matthias Schoenaerts – THE MUSTANG

Best Supporting Female
Jennifer Lopez – HUSTLERS
Taylor Russell – WAVES
Zhao Shuzhen – THE FAREWELL
Lauren “Lolo” Spencer – GIVE ME LIBERTY
Octavia Spencer – LUCE

Best Supporting Male
Willem Dafoe – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Noah Jupe – HONEY BOY
Shia LaBeouf – HONEY BOY
Jonathan Majors – THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
Wendell Pierce – BURNING CANE

Best Screenplay
Noah Baumbach – MARRIAGE STORY
Jason Begue, Shawn Snyder – TO DUST
Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – UNCUT GEMS
Chinonye Chukwu – CLEMENCY
Tarell Alvin Mccraney – HIGH FLYING BIRD

Best First Screenplay
Fredrica Bailey, Stefon Bristol – SEE YOU YESTERDAY
Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen – DRIVEWAYS
Bridget Savage Cole, Danielle Krudy – BLOW THE MAN DOWN
Jocelyn Deboer, Dawn Luebbe – GREENER GRASS
James Montague, Craig W. Sanger – THE VAST OF NIGHT

Best Cinematography
Todd Banhazl – HUSTLERS
Jarin Blaschke – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Natasha Braier – HONEY BOY
Chananun Chotrungroj – THE THIRD WIFE
Pawel Pogorzelski – MIDSOMMAR

Best Editing
Julie Béziau – THE THIRD WIFE
Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie – UNCUT GEMS
Tyler L. Cook – SWORD OF TRUST
Louise Ford – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Kirill Mikhanovsky – GIVE ME LIBERTY

John Cassavetes Award
BURNING CANE
COLEWELL
GIVE ME LIBERTY
PREMATURE
WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY

Robert Altman Award
“Marriage Story”

Best Documentary
AMERICAN FACTORY
APOLLO 11
FOR SAMA
HONEYLAND
ISLAND OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS

Best International Film
INVISIBLE LIFE, Brazil
LES MISERABLES, France
PARASITE, South Korea
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, France
RETABLO, Peru
THE SOUVENIR, United Kingdom

Piaget Producers Award
Mollye Asher
Krista Parris
Ryan Zacarias

Someone to Watch Award
Rashaad Ernesto Green – PREMATURE
Ash Mayfair – THE THIRD WIFE
Joe Talbot – THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO

Truer Than Fiction Award
Khalik Allah – BLACK MOTHER
Davy Rothbart – 17 BLOCKS
Nadia Shihab – JADDOLAND
Erick Stoll & Chase Whiteside – AMÉRICA

Annual Bonnie Award
Marielle Heller
Lulu Wang
Kelly Reichardt

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