If there's one thing that can upstage Film Independent's 2008 Spirit Awards, it's a seemingly irrefutable baby bump gracing the midsection of nominee Angelina Jolie.
And if there's two things that can upstage the Spirit Awards, it's Brangelina's aforementioned bump and a torrential downpour, which threatened, at least briefly, the afternoon's red carpet proceedings.
Fortunately, not even the opening of the skies managed to put a damper on the notoriously laid-back awards show, this year hosted by the rather appropriately named Rainn Wilson and, as always, taking place in a massive makeshift tent on the beach in Santa Monica.
As expected going into the awards show, Juno, the little indie that not only could but undeniably has, walked away the biggest winner of the ceremony, taking home three major nods, including the top prize for Best Feature.
The highly stylized teen pregnancy flick, which, at over $150 million, was the highest-grossing and arguably most mainstream nominee of the bunch—and which, along with I'm Not There, led all nominees going into the awards show with four nods—also earned independent kudos for Ellen Page, who was named Best Lead Actress, and stripper-turned-awards-magnet Diablo Cody, who earned the Best First Screenplay award.
Page was quick to give props—or, as it were, blame—to the edgy scribe for the film's success.
"This is so, so special, but this is pretty much all Diablo Cody's fault," Page, who beat out Jolie, Sienna Miller, Parker Posey and Tang Wei for the award, said. "She wrote one of the best screenplays I have ever read and created a teenage female lead I feel like we've never seen before."
For her part, when Cody took to the podium to accept her prize from Juno costar Jason Bateman, who was quick to joke that her inevitable win was "a total fix," she took time out not only to praise the director and cast but to wax on about the utter coolness of the moment.
"This is the coolest award in the coolest category," she said. "There is nothing like writing a first screenplay."
Cool is indeed the word not only for Cody's piece of hardware, but for the ceremony as a whole, which may take place just a day before the more staid Oscars but is light-years away in terms of overall vibe.
"Greetings indie weirdos," Wilson said at the show's open. "Here come the first motherf--kers to present the first motherf--king award."
Not exactly banter viewers would expect to hit the teleprompter at the Academy Awards.
Oscar viewers can also forget about host Jon Stewart pilfering any ideas for a ceremony sign-off from Wilson: "Congratulations to all the winners," was the indie emcee's take. "Philip Seymour Hoffman, prepare to die."
Wilson, at least, was a man of his word: Shortly after delivering the closing lines, he jumped off the stage and began wrestling—albeit, in turn, getting quite pummeled by—the actor.
Hoffman, good sport that he is (later on in the night, presenter Dustin Hoffman referred to him as the illegitimate love child of he and the night's Honorary Chair Javier Bardem and consequently kept referring to him as "son"), no doubt took the bit(s) in more stride than he otherwise may have, thanks to a major win.
During the evening, Hoffman managed to walk away with the award for Best Male Lead for his role in The Savages. He previously took home the award two years ago for Capote and went on, the following day, to take home the Oscar.
His acting win this time around was one of two for the film, the other coming courtesy of Tamara Jenkins, who won the award for Best Screenplay.
In addition to The Savages, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and the Bob Dylan-channeling I'm Not There were the only other films to nab multiple wins from the Spirit Awards.
The latter film not only won a pregnant Cate Blanchett the Best Supporting Actress award, but earned the ensemble cast, which included the late Heath Ledger, and director Todd Haynes the first ever Robert Altman Award.
"It's kind of cruel to make a pregnant lady waddle that far," Blanchett said after making her way to the not very nearby podium. She went on to thank her fellow castmates and, in particular, Ledger.
"We didn't share any scenes together," she said of her fellow Aussie before going on to dedicate the award to "one of the most beautiful independent spirits of all, Heath Ledger. This is for him."
The writer-director, Haynes, also made mention of the costar when accepting the Robert Altman Award.
"We all loved him so dearly," he said. "I have no doubt he would have made an astounding director."
Two years ago, Ledger was a Spirit Award nominee for his role in Brokeback Mountain but ultimately lost the Best Male Lead award to Hoffman.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, meanwhile, earned a Best Director nod for Julian Schnabel, who this time mercifully made it through his speech sans drunken heckling, and the award for Best Cinematography.
Rounding out the major winners at this year's awards were Chiwetel Ejiofor, who won the Best Supporting Actor award for his role in Talk to Me but unfortunately was not present to pick up the prize as he's finishing up a run in Othello in London's West End, and the Irish-made romantic musical Once, which took home the award for Best Foreign Language Film.
"This is amazing to start making little films for a hundred grand with your mates in Dublin and not have any permits or money…or food," Once writer-director John Carney said. "I guess that's independent filmmaking."
Here's the complete list of winners for the 2008 Film Independent Spirit Awards:
- Best Feature: Juno
- Best Male Lead: Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages
- Best Female Lead: Ellen Page, Juno
- Best Supporting Male: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Talk to Me
- Best Supporting Female: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
- Best Director: Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- Best Cinematographer: Janusz Kaminski, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- Best Screenplay: Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
- Best First Feature: The Lookout
- Best First Screenplay: Diablo Cody, Juno
- Best Foreign Film: Once (Ireland)
- Best Documentary: Crazy Love
- John Cassavetes Award: August Evening
- Robert Altman Award: I'm Not There
- Acura Someone to Watch Award: Ramin Bahrani, director, Chop Shop
- Piaget Producers Award: Neil Kopp, producer, Paranoid Park and Old Joy
- IFC Truer Than Fiction Award: Laura Dunn, director, The Unforeseen