'Silver Linings Playbook,' 'Moonrise Kingdom' Dominate Independent Spirit Awards Nominations
The Wes Anderson film and the David O. Russell dramedy will compete against "Keep the Lights On," "Bernie" and "Beasts of the Southern Wild" for best picture.
Comedy was king as Film Independent announced the nominees for its 2013 Spirit Awards today as Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, a winsome tale of young lovers on the run, and David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook, a mentally-unbalanced romantic comedy, dominating the field with five nominations each.
They will compete for best feature award alongside Beasts of the Southern Wild, an imaginative look at the occupants of a Louisiana delta community; Bernie, a dark comedy about a small-town funeral director; and the gay relationship story Keep the Lights On.
Moonrise, which also scored noms for director Wes Anderson, its screenplay by Anderson and Roman Coppola, supporting actor Bruce Willis and Robert Yeoman's cinematography, is on something of a roll. The Focus Features release, which debuted at May's Cannes Film Festival, was also named best feature at the 22nd Gotham Independent Film Awards, which were held Monday night in New York.
STORY: Gotham Awards: 'Moonrise Kingdom' Wins Best Feature
Four of the Spirit best feature nominees also popped up in the best director category. In addition to Moonrise's Anderson, they included Playbook's David O. Russell, Beasts' Benh Zeitlin and Lights' Ira Sachs. Bernie's director Richard Linklater was odd man out. Instead, the fifth directing slot went to The Loneliest Planet's Julia Loktev.
Playbook's two lead actors -- Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence -- both earned nominations in the acting categories. The Sessions, the account of a man, living with an iron lung, who seeks out his first sexual experience, also picked up two acting noms -- one for lead actor John Hawkes and another for supporting actress Helen Hunt. And the marital drama, Middle of Nowhere, was represented by three acting nominations, with Emayatzy Corinealdi in the best actress category, Lorraine Toussaint in supporting actress and David Oyelowo in supporting actor. Another of the big acting surprises proved to be Matthew McConaughey, who was not only nominated as lead actor for playing the title role in the crime pic Killer Joe but also as supporting male for emceeing a club full of male strippers in Magic Mike.
Rounding out the list of lead actors were Bernie's Jack Black; Lights' Thure Lindhardt; and Four's Wendell Pierce. The lead actress contingent also included Return's Linda Cardellini, Smashed's Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Beasts' young Quvenzhane Wallis.
VIDEO: 'Moonrise Kingdom' Director Wes Anderson on 'Stealing' From Kubrick, Polanski
On the documentary front, the Spirit noms singled out David France's How to Survive a Plague, which looks at the gay community's response to the AIDS crisis; Matthew Akers' Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present, a portrait of the Serbian performance artist; The Central Park Five, an account of injustice in New York City from Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon; Kirby Dick's The Invisible War, which investigates rape within the military; and Peter Nicks' The Waiting Room, which examines the health crisis by focusing on one public hospital.
In the best international film category, two of this year's most celebrated films from Cannes -- Michael Haneke's Amour and Jacques Audiard's Rust and Bone -- will compete with Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, from Turkey; Ursula Meier's Sister, from Switzerland; and Kim Nguyen's War Witch, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which also happens to be Canada's submission for the foreign-language film Oscar.
Film Independent also announced that it will give its annual Robert Altman Award, which recognizes a film's director, casting director and ensemble cast, to Sean Baker's Starlet.
Among distributors, Fox Searchlight could boast of the most nominations. It collected nine nominations for Beasts, Sessions, Ruby Sparks and Sound of My Voice. Music Box Films also had surprisingly strong showing with seven noms spread among Lights, Abramovic and Starlet. IFC Films, Focus and Sony Pictures Classics each collected six nominations.
Winners of the Spirit Awards will be announced Feb. 23 at the annual awards luncheon held in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica. The ceremony will be broadcast that evening at 10 p.m. ET/PT on IFC.
The full list of nominees:
Best Feature
Beasts of the Southern Wild- Producers: Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey and Josh Penn
Bernie - Producers: Liz Glotzer, Richard Linklater, David McFadzean, Dete Meserve, Judd Payne, Celine Rattray, Martin Shafer, Ginger Sledge, Matt Williams
Keep the Lights On - Producers: Marie Therese Guirgis, Lucas Joaquin, Ira Sachs
Moonrise Kingdom - Producers: Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, Steven Rales, Scott Rudin
Silver Linings Playbook -- Producers: Bruce Cohen, Donna Gigliotti, Jonathan Gordon
Best Director
Wes Anderson - Moonrise Kingdom
David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook
Julia Loktev- The Loneliest Planet
Ira Sachs -- Keep the Lights On
Benh Zeitlin -- Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Screenplay
Wes Anderson - Moonrise Kingdom
David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs -- Keep the Lights On
Zoe Kazan -- Ruby Sparks
Martin McDonagh - Seven Psychopaths
Best First Feature
Fill the Void -- Director: Rama Burshtein; Producer: Assaf Amir
Gimme the Loot -- Director: Adam Leon; Producers: Dominic Buchanan, Natalie Difford, Jamund Washington
Safety Not Guaranteed -- Director: Colin Trevorrow; Producer: Derek Connolly, Stephanie Langhoff, Peter Saraf, Colin Trevorrow, MarcTurtletaub
Sound of My Voice -- Director: Zal Batmanglij; Producers: Brit Marling, Hans Ritter, Shelley Surpin
The Perks of Being a Wallfower -- Director: Stephen Chbosky; Producers: Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich, Russell Smith
Best First Screenplay
Christopher Ford -- Robot & Frank
Breakfast with Curtis -- Writer/Director/Producer: Laura Colella
Middle of Nowhere -- Writer/Director/Producer: Ava DuVernay; Producers: Howard Barish, Paul Garnes
Mosquita y Mari -- Writer/Director: Aurora Guerrero; Producer: Chad Burris
Starlet -- Writer/Director: Sean Baker; Producers: Blake Ashman-Kipervaser, Kevin Chinoy, Patrick Cunningham, Chris Maybach, FrancescaSilvestri
The Color Wheel -- Writer/Director/Producer: Alex Ross Perry; Writer: Carlen Altman Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich, Russell Smith
Best Female Lead
Linda Cardinelli - Return
Emayatzy Corinealdi- Middle of Nowhere
Jennifer Lawrence- Silver Linings Playbook
Quvenzhane Wallis -- Beasts of the Southern Wild
Mary Elizabeth Winstead -- Smashed
Best Male Lead
Jack Black- Bernie
Bradley Cooper- Silver Linings Playbook
John Hawkes- The Sessions
Matthew McConaughey -- Killer Joe
Wendell Pierce -- Four
Thure Lindhardt -- Keep the Lights On
Best Supporting Female
Rosemarie DeWitt -- Your Sister's Sister
Ann Dowd -- Compliance
Helen Hunt -- The Sessions
Brit Marling -- Sound of My Voice
Lorraine Toussant -- Middle of Nowhere
Best Supporting Male
Matthew McConaughey -- Magic Mike
David Oyelowo -- Middle of Nowhere
Michael Pena -- End of Watch
Sam Rockwell -- Seven Psychopaths
Bruce Willis -- Moonrise Kingdom
Best Cinematography
Yoni Brook -- Valley of Saints
Lol Crawley -- Here
Ben Richardson -- Beasts of the Southern Wild
Roman Vasyanov -- End of Watch
Robert Yeoman -- Moonrise Kingdom
Best Documentary
How to Survive a Plague -- Director: David France; Producers: David France, Howard Gertler
Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present -- Director: Matthew Akers; Producers: Maro Chermayeff, Jeff Dupre
The Central Park Five -- Directors/Producers: Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon
The Invisible War -- Director: Kirby Dick; Producers: Tanner King Barklow, Amy Ziering
The Waiting Room -- Director/Producer: Peter Nicks; Producers: Linda Davis, William B. Hirsch
Best International Film
Amour -- Director: Michael Haneke
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia -- Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Rust and Bone -- Director: Jacques Audiard
Sister -- Director: Ursula Meier
War Witch -- Director: Kim Nguyen
Piaget Producers Award
Nobody Walks -- Producer: Alicia Van Couvering
Prince Avalanche -- Producer: Derrick Tseng
Stones in the Sun -- Producer: Mynette Louie
Someone to Watch Award
Pincus -- Director: David Fenster
Gimme the Loot -- Director: Adam Leon
Electrick Children -- Director: Rebecca Thomas
Truer Than Fiction Award
Leviathan -- Directors: Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel
The Waiting Room -- Director: Peter Nicks
Only the Young -- Directors: Jason Tippet & Elizabeth Mims
Robert Altman Award
Starlet -- Director: Sean Baker; Casting Director: Julia Kim; Ensemble Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Karren Karagulian, Stella Maeve, James Ransone