Precious, Summer, Gwyneth Up for Indie Oscars

Oprah-backed Precious and Brit-packed The Last Station each score five noms to lead pack at indie-honoring Spirit Awards

Well isn't that Precious.

The nominations are in, and if last night's Gotham Awards didn't signal the start of the ever-lengthening awards show season, this morning's naming of nominees for the 25th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards surely did.

Leading the pack is a film that will no doubt rack up the column inches between now and the Oscars, as the Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry-backed Precious scored a leading five nominations, tying for the most potential pieces of hardware with the Brit-packed The Last Station.

Both are up for Best Feature, and will vie against hipster favorite (500) Days of Summer, Amreeka and Sin Nombre for the night's top honor.

As expected, Precious star Gabourey Sidibe scored a nod for Best Actress, while Mo'Nique nabbed a Supporting Actress nomination as her mean mama. As per usual, the leading lady categories—as with the men's—are star-studded powerhouses, as Hollywood's finest were once again rewarded for their low-budget slumming.

Competing against Sidibe are The Last Station's Helen Mirren, Downloading Nancy's Maria Bello, Amreeka's Nisreen Faour and Two Lovers' Gwyneth Paltrow (her infamous bearded costar was mysteriously missing from the honor's list).

On the men's side, Summer's besotted beau Joseph Gordon-Levitt scored a nod (sadly the quirky object of his affection, Zooey Deschanel, did not), as did Crazy Heart's Jeff Bridges, A Single Man's Colin Firth, The Vicious Kind's Adam Scott and Goodbye Solo's Souleymane Sy Savane.

Teleprompters, get your phonetic spelling ready.

Meanwhile, if you like your Independent Spirit Awards with a bit more kookiness, look no further than the eclectic list of Supporting Actor nominees.

Leading the pack is Flight of the Conchords star Jemaine Clement, up now for his role in Gentlemen Broncos, The Messenger's Woody Harrelson, The Last Station's Christopher Plummer, and Christian McKay, the titular filmmaker to Zac Efron's "me" in Me and Orson Welles.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the notoriously laid-back ceremony, and it hasn't made it out of its quarterlife crisis change-free. This year, the awards show will be held March 5, a Friday night, rather than its usual time on the afternoon of the Saturday before the Oscars.

The location, too, has been tweaked. Whereas the bash is usually held in a tent on the Santa Monica beach, this time around the indie kings and queens will gather in downtown Los Angeles—albeit still in a tent, just on a rooftop instead of on sand.

Here's the complete list of nominees for the 2010 Film Independent Spirit Awards:

Best Feature

• 500 Days of Summer

• Amreeka

• Precious

• Sin Nombre

• The Last Station

Best Director

• Joel and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man

• Lee Daniels, Precious

• Cary Joji Fukunaga, Sin Nombre

• James Gray, Two Lovers

• Michael Hoffman, The Last Station

Best Male Lead

• Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

• Colin Firth, A Single Man

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer

• Souleymane Sy Savane, Goodbye Solo

• Adam Scott, The Vicious Kind

Best Female Lead

• Maria Bello, Downloading Nancy

• Nisreen Faour, Amreeka

• Helen Mirren, The Last Station

• Gwyneth Paltrow, Two Lovers

• Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

Best Supporting Male

• Jemaine Clement, Gentlemen Broncos

• Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

• Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles

• Raymond McKinnon, That Evening Son

• Christopher Plummer, The Last Station

Best Supporting Female

• Mo'Nique, Precious

• Dina Korzun, Cold Souls

• Samantha Morton, The Messenger

• Natalie Press, Fifty Dead Men Walking

• Mia Wasikowska, That Evening Sun

First Feature

• A Single Man

• Crazy Heart

• Easier With Practice

• The Messenger

• Paranormal Activity

Best Screenplay

• Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, The Messenger

• Michael Hoffman, The Last Station

• Lee Toland Krieger, The Vicious Kind

• Greg Mottola, Adventureland

• Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer

Best First Screenplay

• Sophie Barthes, Cold Souls

• Scott Cooper, Crazy Heart

• Cheien Dabis, Amreeka

• Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious

• Tom Ford and David Scearce, A Single Man

Best Cinematography

• A Serious Man

• Sin Nombre

• Treeless Mountain

• Cold Souls

• Bad Lietuenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Best Documentary

• Anvil! The Story of Anvil

• Food, Inc.

• More Than a Game

• October Country

• Which Way Home

Best Foreign Film

• A Prophet (France)

• An Education (U.K./France)

• Everlasting Moments (Sweden)

• Mother (South Korea)

• The Maid (Chile)

John Cassavetes Award

• Big Fan

• Humpday

• The New Year Parade

• Treeless Mountain

• Zero Bridge

Acura Someone to Watch Award

• Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Easier With Practice

• Asiel Norton, Redland

• Tariq Tapa, Zero Bridge

Truer Than Fiction Award

• Natalia Almada, El General

• Jessica Oreck, Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo

• Bill Ross and Turner Ross, 45365

Piaget Producers Award

• Karin Chien; The Exploding Girl, Santa Mesa

• Larry Fessenden; I Sell the Dead, The House of the Devil

• Dia Sokol, Beeswax, Nights & Weekends