The Lighthouse and Uncut Gems led the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations with five each, while Give Me Liberty and Honey Boy took four apiece.
“Uncut Gems,” “A Hidden Life,” “Clemency,” “The Farewell” and “Marriage Story” are up for best feature.
Spirit Awards nominations are selected by a committee and the awards are voted on by Film Independent’s 6,000 members. To be eligible, movies must be produced in the U.S. for less than $22.5 million.
Female lead nominations went to Karen Allen for “Colewell,” Hong Chau for “Driveways,” Elisabeth Moss for “Her Smell,” Mary Kay Place for “Diane,” Alfre Woodard for “Clemency” and Renée Zellweger for “Judy.”
Male lead nominations were given to Chris Galust for “Give Me Liberty,” Kelvin Harrison Jr. for “Luce,” Robert Pattinson for “The Lighthouse,” Adam Sandler for “Uncut Gems” and Matthias Schoenaerts for “The Mustang.”
Jennifer Lopez took a supporting female nomination for “Hustlers.”
Shia Labeouf received supporting male nods for “Honey Boy.”
Olivia Wilde took a nomination for first feature for directing the coming-of-age comedy “Booksmart.” Spike Lee nabbed a nod in the category for producing the sci-fier “See You Yesterday.”
Director nominations went to Robert Eggers for “The Lighthouse,” Alma Har’el for “Honey Boy,” Julius Onah for “Luce,” brothers Benny and Josh Safdie for “Uncut Gems,” and Lorene Scafaria for “Hustlers.”
The nominations announcement included the selection of “Marriage Story” as the winner of the Robert Altman Award, honoring director Noah Baumbach, casting directors Douglas Aibel and Francine Maisler and the cast: Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson who portray a couple in the midst of a divorce along with Alan Alda, Laura Dern, Julie Hagerty, Ray Liotta, Azhy Roberston and Merritt Weaver. The Altman trophy makes the cast members ineligible for individual acting awards.
“Clemency,” “Hustlers,” “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” “Luce” and “The Third Wife” earned three nominations each.
A24 has the most nominations of any distributor with 18. Neon took 10, followed by Amazon with eight and Netflix with seven.
The four nominations for Music Box’s comedy “Give Me Liberty” were among the bigger surprises. The film, about a medical transport driver (played by Galust) who risks his job to shuttle a group of rowdy seniors and a Russian boxer to a funeral, premiered in May at the Cannes Film Festival. “Give Me Liberty” was released in July and has generated $609,000 at the worldwide box office.
Zazie Beetz and Natasha Lyonne announced the nominees for the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Thursday morning at The Line LA.
Women and Artists of Color
Josh Welsh, president of Film Independent, said 45% of Spirit Awards directing and writing nominees are women and 30% are people of color.
The ceremony will be held in Santa Monica on February 8, the day before the Academy Awards.
“If Beale Street Could Talk” won the best feature film trophy this year and “Get Out” won in 2018. In the prior four years, “Moonlight,” “Spotlight,” “Birdman” and “12 Years a Slave” won both the Spirit Award and the Oscar for best picture.
Here are the 2020 Spirit Awards nominations:
Best Feature
A HIDDEN LIFE
CLEMENCY
THE FAREWELL
MARRIAGE STORY
UNCUT GEMS
Best Director
Robert Eggers – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Alma Har’el – HONEY BOY
Julius Onah – LUCE
Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – UNCUT GEMS
Lorene Scafaria – HUSTLERS
Best First Feature
BOOKSMART
THE CLIMB
DIANE
THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
THE MUSTANG
SEE YOU YESTERDAY
Best Female Lead
Karen Allen – COLEWELL
Hong Chau – DRIVEWAYS
Elisabeth Moss – HER SMELL
Mary Kay Place – DIANE
Alfre Woodard – CLEMENCY
Renée Zellweger – JUDY
Best Male Lead
Chris Galust – GIVE ME LIBERTY
Kelvin Harrison Jr. – LUCE
Robert Pattinson – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Adam Sandler – UNCUT GEMS
Matthias Schoenaerts – THE MUSTANG
Best Supporting Female
Jennifer Lopez – HUSTLERS
Taylor Russell – WAVES
Zhao Shuzhen – THE FAREWELL
Lauren “Lolo” Spencer – GIVE ME LIBERTY
Octavia Spencer – LUCE
Best Supporting Male
Willem Dafoe – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Noah Jupe – HONEY BOY
Shia LaBeouf – HONEY BOY
Jonathan Majors – THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
Wendell Pierce – BURNING CANE
Best Screenplay
Noah Baumbach – MARRIAGE STORY
Jason Begue, Shawn Snyder – TO DUST
Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – UNCUT GEMS
Chinonye Chukwu – CLEMENCY
Tarell Alvin Mccraney – HIGH FLYING BIRD
Best First Screenplay
Fredrica Bailey, Stefon Bristol – SEE YOU YESTERDAY
Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen – DRIVEWAYS
Bridget Savage Cole, Danielle Krudy – BLOW THE MAN DOWN
Jocelyn Deboer, Dawn Luebbe – GREENER GRASS
James Montague, Craig W. Sanger – THE VAST OF NIGHT
Best Cinematography
Todd Banhazl – HUSTLERS
Jarin Blaschke – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Natasha Braier – HONEY BOY
Chananun Chotrungroj – THE THIRD WIFE
Pawel Pogorzelski – MIDSOMMAR
