The Spirit Awards are the biggest party event for the independent film scene, which is as vibrant as ever.
The cameras captured the live show for stream on IMDb (a first after being aired on IFC for years), and there was much action that they missed to show.
Hasan Minhaj Sticks Around Until Blanchett Comes Up for Air from Hiding
Spirit Awards host Hasan Minhaj unveiled ambitious plan for one of his bits: Attempt to get huge stars like Cate Blanchett to respond to various situations and then catch their reaction on camera in order to use as the Spirit Awards thumbnail on YouTube. But it quickly backfired when Blanchett ducked for cover under the table. Minhaj turned his attention to Tár director Todd Field who followed his star and disappeared beneath a white tablecloth, as did Regina Hall and Marisa Tomei. Cameras caught all of that, of course, but what they missed that when Jenny Slate and Nicholas Braun were presenting the Spirit Award for best new scripted series, Minhaj stuck around while Blanchett, Field and Tomei came up for air. It appeared that he exchanged some pleasant words with Blanchett over the whole thing.
Blanchett and crew did NOT know of Minhaj’s plan and their ducking for cover was completely spontaneous.
Hot Dog Fingers Make Backstage Cameo
The Everything Everywhere All at Once team hit the press room where they posed for pics on the mini stage hoisting haul of hardware.
Nominee Jamie Lee Curtis came ready with a pair of gloves shaped like hot dog fingers, a welcome sight to fans of the hit film. On a more serious note, the Daniels spoke about the auction of of film props that raised more than $500,000 for charity. “When they first asked for him, I said that’s too valuable,” Daniel Scheinert said of offering animatronic raccoon puppet Raccacoonie. He said he was glad to have a change of heart because “it sold for $90,000 and that’s going to Asian Mental Health Project, so a bunch of people will get to go to therapy for free. Raccacoonie is a hero.” Daniel Kwan added the auction was all A24’s idea, and “all the super fans and collectors who decided to put that money into things like rocks and hotdog pants, it’s so silly but at the same time, knowing that perhaps has profound effects on real people’s lives is incredible.”
Jamie Lee Curtis revealed “a secret” about her upcoming Oscar week schedule. Nominated for best supporting actress, Curtis got invited to a private dinner strictly for nominees hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences on Thursday night. But she’s not going! “You might say, ‘Jamie, you’re nominated for an Academy Award, you’re going to be in the room with only nominees for the Academy Award.’ And I have declined,” she explained. Here’s the early bird’s answer: “Because mommy goes to bed early.”
Michelle Yeoh Plays Fiji Water Hydration Hostess
Before she earned the trophy for best performance for Everything Everywhere All at Once, Yeoh proved she can pretty much do everything all at once. The actress walked the press line, posed for photos, did few interviews and then grabbed a tray from a Fiji Water server and played the part for a few minutes, offering up hydration from the official water sponsor.
She looked the part, too, in a blue Gucci gown. ut she did not overstay her welcome: Yeoh joined her EEAAO family backstage after winning the top award and she said quick goodbye in order to catch flight to Paris at 6:30 p.m.
Sarah Polley Responds to Wahlberg Mispronouncing Women Talking
During acceptance speech for the Robert Altman Award, filmmaker Sarah Polley said, “I can’t tell you what it means to us to be up here being recognized in this way for this film, Women Are Talking. I mean, Women Talking, sorry, Mark Wahlberg gets in my head.” The quip was in reference to the recent SAG Awards where Mark Wahlberg mispronounced her film while announcing the night’s final award for best ensemble. Polley had absolutely no hard feelings about “Marky Mark’s” mix-up.
“Whatever happened on Twitter for the next 48 hours, probably did more to raise awareness of our film than any other single gesture so it was extremely funny,” Polley explained.
“I find it hard to muster up outrage in my heart. It ended up being incredibly hilarious talking point around our film and it got a lot of our supporters out there talking about how much they liked our film.”
Quinta Brunson’s Standing Ovation
Quinta Brunson has cleaned up this awards season and when she won yet again today (for best lead performance in a new scripted series), the Abbott Elementary creator and star received a standing ovation from a chunk of the audience that was off-camera, including Gabrielle Union, Jeremy Pope and the rest of their colleagues from the nominated film The Inspection. Backstage, Brunson revealed where she’s keeping all the hardware. “I’m going to put them in my office at Warner Brothers, I just recently signed an overall deal there so I have an office that I’m just going to fill it with,” she told reporters backstage, joking, “That’s what I see other executives do. I don’t want them in my home, that looks a little obnoxious unless you have like multiple wings. It’s wild to do that — put awards on your table.” Brunson also threw her support behind the Spirit Awards’ 2 p.m. start time and its alcohol selection: “Normally it’s hard to find whiskey at these things but it’s just overflowing here,” praised Brunson (in an Aliétte ostrich feather embellished faille gown), a nod of gratitude that should be directed to sponsor Bulleit Frontier Whiskey. Not that she downed too many glasses. “I had to wake up at 6:30 for glam so I’ll probably be able to do some laundry after this.”
Spirit Award’s Accessory: HVAC Units
It was frigid afternoon that called for the Spirit Awards to add a series of new accessories attached to the big white tent this year: HVAC units. Temperatures hovered in the mid-50s and despite some heat being pumped into the tent, THR noticed some guests that were draped in scarves, coats and hats to keep warm.
During a chat with THR, Bad Sisters co-creator and star Sharon Horgan noted that she had recently been emailing with filmmaker Ti West because she loved his trilogy so much, specifically Pearl starring Mia Goth in the title role. At the moment she detailed their email exchange, Goth, nominated for best performance for her work in the horror thriller, happened to be standing just feet away, leading to the moment seen below.
What the Stars Ate at the Spirit Awards
Nathan Fielder, winner for non-scripted series for HBO show The Rehearsal, give attention to a couple of surprise subjects including the menu. “The bean salad was great. There were few grapes also. Delicious. They weren’t rotten. None were rotten.” What else was in that tapas box: Spanish charcuterie and cheese, cannellini bean salad, roasted beet salad and vegan olive oil shortbread with blood orange glaze.
