A Mighty Spirit Nod for Jolie

Tue., Nov. 27, 2007 10:03 AM PST by Joal Ryan

Welcome to awards-show season, Angelina Jolie.

Jolie earned her pass to the red carpet with a Spirit Award nomination Tuesday for her turn in the real-life tale A Mighty Heart.

Fellow Oscar winners Cate Blanchett, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Marisa Tomei likewise pulled in nominations from the independent-film-honoring show. The unveiling of the nods represented one of the first rounds in Hollywood's annual trophy-distribution tournament.

I'm Not There, the trippy Bob Dylan biopic featuring several stars riffing on the music legend, led all Spirit Award contenders with four nominations, including ones for Blanchett, costar Marcus Carl Franklin and director Todd Haynes. The film was assured of going home with at least one mantelpiece when it was outright named the first recipient of the Robert Altman Award, honoring the ensemble comprised of a film's director, cast and casting director.

One of five films nominated for Best Feature, I'm Not There will vie for top honors against: the Jolie-led A Mighty Heart, about journalist Mariane Pearl's search for her Wall Street Journal reporter husband who was abducted and beheaded by terrorists; The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the true story of the paralyzed magazine editor who dictated a book with his unparalyzed left eye; Juno, the quirky comedy about a teenage pregnancy; and Paranoid Park, Gus Van Sant's skateboard murder drama.

Blanchett is nominated in the Best Supporting Female category, while her counterpart Franklin is in the Best Supporting Male race. Hoffman is in the Best Male Lead field for the sibling comedy-drama The Savages. Like Blanchett, Tomei is a Best Supporting Female nom, up for the crime thriller Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.

Jolie, considered an Oscar contender, is the biggest name in the Best Female Lead race. Her competition: Sienna Miller, up for Interview; Ellen Page, the young star of Juno; Parker Posey, for Broken English; and Tang Wei, for Ang Lee's NC-17-rated Lust, Caution.

In the Best Male Lead category, Hoffman will square off against Don Cheadle, for jawing on the radio in Talk to Me; Frank Langella, for authoring a writer in Starting Out in the Evening; Tony Leung, for Lust, Caution; and Pedro Castaneda, for the Spanish-language farmworker drama August Evening. None are currently considered locks for Oscar nominations.

In addition to Franklin, the Best Supporting Male field shapes up like this: Talk to Me's Chiwetel Ejiofor; Great World of Sound's Kene Holliday; The Namesake's Irrfan Khan; and Rescue Dawn's Steve Zahn. In something of a surprise, Holliday's old Matlock boss, Andy Griffith, who drew some of the best reviews of his long career for Waitress, was stiffed a tip.

Griffith wasn't the only Waitress staffer shut out—star Keri Russell likewise drew a blank. Its late writer-director, Adrienne Shelly, was nominated as a screenwriter but not as a director, and her film, which has grossed an indie-best $19.1 million, was passed over for Best Feature.

The Best Supporting Female category is dotted with some of the biggest names. In addition to Blanchett and Tomei, Jennifer Jason Leigh is up for the comedy Margot at the Wedding. Also in contention: Rocket Science's Anna Kendrick and Four Sheets to the Wind's Tamara Podemski.

The director's race pits Haynes against Tamara Jenkins (The Savages), Jason Reitman (Juno), Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) and Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park). Van Sant was a favorite at Cannes; Schnabel is an early Oscar favorite.

Actress turned multihyphenate Julie Delpy scored a nod for Best First Feature for her, well, first feature, 2 Days in Paris.

For the purposes of the Spirit Awards, an independent film is a film that costs less than $20 million to produce. To put it another way: Transformers wasn't snubbed; it wasn't eligible.

The 2008 Spirit Awards are set to be presented in Santa Monica, California, on Feb. 23, the day before the 80th Annual Academy Awards.

Complete list of nominees:

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