“I’m not there’, Todd Haynes unusual rendering of Bob Dylan’s life story, has received four nominations in the Independent Spirit Awards, presented by Film Independent, a non-profit organisation which champions independent film.
To be eligible for the Spirit Awards, films must be at least 70 minutes in length and the cost of the completed film, including post production, has to be less than $20m.
Haynes took the unusual step of casting both several actresses, including Cate Blanchett, and actors to play Dylan in his film. “I’m not there’ was nominated in the best feature, best director, best supporting female (Blanchett) and best supporting male (Marcus Carl Franklin) categories. Additionally, the newly introduced Robert Altman Award will be presented to Haynes, casting director Laura Rosenthal and ensemble cast members at the awards ceremony on 23 February in Santa Monica.
Other best feature film nominees are Julian Schnabel’s French-language drama “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’, Jason Reitman’s “Juno’, Michael Winterbottom’s “A Mighty Heart’ and Gus Van Sant’s “Paranoid Park’.
Ellen Page, the young star of “Juno’, is competing in the best female lead category along with Angelina Jolie (“A Mighty Heart’), Sienna Miller (“Interview’), Parker Posey (“Broken English’) and Tang Wei (“Lust, Caution’).
Nominees in the best male lead category are Pedro Castaneda (“August Evening’), Don Cheadle (“Talk to Me’), Philip Seymour Hoffman (“The Savages’), Frank Langella (“Starting Out in the Evening’) and Tony Leung (“Lust, Caution’).
In addition to Blanchett, nominees for best supporting female are Anna Kendrick (“Rocket Science’), Jennifer Jason Leigh (“Margot at the Wedding’), Tamara Podemski (“Four Sheets to the Wind’) and Marisa Tomei (“Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’).
Joining Franklin in the supporting male category are Chiwetel Ejiofor (“Talk to Me’), Kene Holliday (“Great World of Sound’), Irfan Khan (“The Namesake’) and Steve Zahn (“Rescue Dawn’).
Besides Haynes, best director nominees are Tamara Jenkins (“The Savages’), Reitman (“Juno’), Schnabel (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’) and Van Sant (“Paranoid Park’).
Jenkins was also nominated for best screenplay together with Ronald Harwood (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’), Fred Parnes and Andrew Wagner (“Starting Out in the Evening’) and Mike White (“Year of the Dog’). Adrienne Shelly received a posthumous nomination in the category for her script for “Waitress’.
In the best first feature category are Julie Delpy’s “2 Days in Paris’, Craig Zobel’s “Great World of Sound’, Scott Frank’s “The Lookout’ and Jeffrey Blitz’ “Rocket Science’.
Best foreign film nominees are “4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 3 Days’ (Romania), “The Band’s Visit’ (Israel), “Lady Chatterley’ (France), “Once’ (Ireland) and “Persepolis’ (France).
