2007 Film Independent's Spirit Awards Nominations

MoviesOnline had the pleasure of attending this morning's 2007 Film Independent's Spirit Awards Nominations Press Conference in Los Angeles at which Felicity Huffman and Don Cheadle along with Executive Director Dawn Hudson presented this year's list ofnominees.

 

The summer runaway hit "Little Miss Sunshine" about a dysfunctional family’s dark and funny road-trip to a children’s beauty pageant and the spirited classroom drama "Half Nelson" topped the indie nominees Tuesday for the Spirit Awards honoring independent films. Each film earned five nominations including best picture.

 

"Little Miss Sunshine” also earned two supporting-actor nominations for Alan Arkin and Paul Dano while its husband/wife directing team, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris were nominated for best director and writer Michael Arndt was nominated for best first screenplay. Inexplicably, the film’sstars Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette and Steve Carell were overlooked in the lead-acting categories.

 

Ryan Fleck earned two nominations for "Half Nelson" for best director and first screenplay which he co-wrote with Anna Boden. "Half Nelson" also earned nominations in the lead-acting categories for Ryan Gosling, who plays a talented inner-city teacher who leads a troubled life outside the classroom, and Shareeka Epps, who in her feature debut delivers a disarming performance as a promising student who becomes both his pupil and counselor.

 

Other best-picture nominees included the drama "American Gun," an anti-gun polemicabout the proliferation of firearms in America; "The Dead Girl," a thriller that focuses on a serial killer's female victims; and "Pan's Labyrinth," writer/director Guillermo Toro’s darkly imaginative and violent fantasy about a girl's life in Fascist Spain.

 

The late filmmaker Robert Altman garnered a best-director nomination for his last film, "A Prairie Home Companion" while the new 007 Daniel Craig received a supporting-male actor nomination for "Infamous," the Truman Capote drama in which he plays a death-row inmate.

 

Other best female lead nominees were Catherine O'Hara, "For Your Consideration"; Elizabeth Reaser, "Sweet Land"; Michelle Williams, "Land of Plenty"; and Robin Wright Penn, "Sorry, Haters." Besides Gosling, best male lead nominees alsoincluded Aaron Eckhart, "Thank You for Smoking"; Edward Norton, "The Painted Veil"; Ahmad Razvi, "Man Push Cart"; and Forest Whitaker, "American Gun."

 

The supporting-actress nominees were Melonie Diaz, "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints"; Marcia Gay Harden, "American Gun"; Mary Beth Hurt, "The Dead Girl"; Frances McDormand, "Friends with Money"; and Amber Tamblyn, "Stephanie Daley." Joining Arkin, Craig and Dano were supporting-actor nominees Raymond J. Barry, "Steel City" and Channing Tatum, "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints."

 

The Spirit Award nominations signal the beginning of the awards season when a number of key awards announcements lead up to January's Oscar nominations including the upcoming Golden Globe nominations in December and Best-of-the-Year choices from major critics groups and professional guilds. The Spirit Awards, whichwill be presented on February 24th, the day before the Academy Awards,honor films produced on relatively small budgets of less than $20 million. Nominees are chosen by members of the nonprofit cinema groups Film Independent and the Independent Film Project. For a complete list of the 2007 nominees, please go here