2012 Indie Spirits Noms: Artist leads Drive, Beginners, Take Shelter and MMMM with Five Noms

Fresh off a big double win at the Gothams (where it won Best Feature and Best Ensemble), Mike Mills’ Beginners has nabbed four nominations for the 27th Indie Spirit Awards tying with three other Best Feature hopefuls in Jeff Nichol’s Take Shelter, The Descendants and Cannes preemed, Drive. However the four were outmatched by Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist which garnered five noms in Best Feature, Best Director, Best Male Lead, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography categories. Martha Marcy May Marlene grabbed four noms as well if you add the Upcoming Producer award along with the three noms in the Best First Feature, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor categories.

Among the notable nominees worth mentioning and that raised some eyebrows, we have Lauren Ambrose’s perf in TIFF shown “Think Of Me” and Rachel Harris’ bit in the SXSW preemed “Natural Selection” that landed Best Female Lead nods but we think this is Elizabeth Olsen’s time to shine (contrary to what occured at the Gothams.) Pariah which received a nom in the category as well is perhaps the frontrunner in the John Cassavettes Award section — which include fellow Sundance titles “Bellflower” and
“Circumstance” along with barely known titles of “Hello Lonesome” and “The Dynamiter“. In the Best Cinematography cate, worth noting are the noms of Joel Hodge – “Bellflower” and Benjamin Kasulke – “The Off Hours“.

And finally we have my favorite three awards of the night. The Truer Than Fiction Award signals the next gen of docu filmmakers worth watching out for in Heather Courtney, Danfung Dennis and Alma Har’El. The Piaget Producers Award displays up-and-comer producers – we have Chad Burris, Sophia Lin and Borderline Film’s Josh Mond (MMMM). And the Someone To Watch category includes one of my favorite discoveries of the year in Mark Jackson (Without) he’ll go up against Simon Arthur (Silver Tongues) and Nicholas Ozeki (Mamitas). The only winner so far was Margin Call which picked up the Best Ensemble award. Here’s the complete noms list.

Best Feature
“50/50”
“Beginners”
“Drive”
“Take Shelter”
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”

Best Director
Mike Mills – “Beginners”
Nicolas Winding Refn – “Drive”
Jeff Nichols – “Take Shelter”
Michel Hazanavicius – “The Artist”
Alexander Payne – “The Descendants”

Best First Feature
“Another Earth”
“In The Family”
“Margin Call”
“Martha Marcy May Marlene”
“Natural Selection”

Best Male Lead
Demian Bichir – “A Better Life”
Jean Dujardin – “The Artist”
Ryan Gosling – “Drive”
Woody Harrelson – “Rampart”
Michael Shannon – “Take Shelter”

Best Female Lead
Lauren Ambrose – “Think Of Me”
Rachel Harris – “Natural Selection”
Adepero Oduye – “Pariah”
Elizabeth Olsen – “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Michelle Williams – “My Week With Marilyn”

Best Supporting Male
Albert Brooks – “Drive”
John Hawkes – “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Christopher Plummer – “Beginners”
John C. Reilly – “Cedar Rapids”
Corey Stoll – “Midnight In Paris”

Best Supporting Female
Jessica Chastain – “Take Shelter”
Angelica Huston – “50/50”
Janet McTeer – “Albert Nobbs”
Harmony Santana – “Gun Hill Road”
Shaileen Woodley – “The Descendants”

John Cassavettes Award
“Bellflower”
“Circumstance”
“Hello Lonesome”
“Pariah”
“The Dynamiter

Best Documentary
“An African Election”
“Bill Cunningham New York”
“The Interrupters”
“The Redemption of General Butt Naked”
“We Were Here”

Best International Film
“A Separation”
“Melancholia”
“Shame”
“The Kid With A Bike”
“Tyrannosaur”

Best Cinematography
Joel Hodge – “Bellflower”
Benjamin Kasulke – “The Off Hours”
Darius Khondji – “Midnight In Paris”
Guillaume Schiffman “The Artist”
Jeffrey Waldron – “The Dynamiter”

Best Screenplay
Joseph Cedar – “Footnote”
Michel Hazanivicius – “The Artist”
Tom McCarthy – “Win Win”
Mike Mills – “Beginners”
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash – “The Descendants”

Best First Screenplay
Mike Cahill & Brit Marling – “Another Earth”
J.C. Chandor – “Margin Call”
Patreck DeWitt – “Terri”
Phil Johnston – “Cedar Rapids”
Will Reiser – “50/50”

Truer Than Fiction Award
Heather Courtney
Danfung Dennis
Alma Har’El

Piaget Producers Award
Chad Burris
Sophia Lin
Josh Mond

Someone To Watch
Simon Arthur
Mark Jackson
Nicholas Ozeki