The Gotham Awards Just Confirmed Spotlight As the Oscar Front-runner

By Richard Lawson
Vanity Fair
October 22, 2015

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/10/gotham-awards-nominations-spotlight


Sure, it’s only October, but that’s no reason why we can’t get the awards season rolling with the first awards nominations of the year. The Gotham Awards, which highlight the best independent films of the year (along with the actors, writers, and directors who made them happen), announced its 2015 nominations this morning, so let’s see if we can glean anything about the Oscar season from these first, very early tea leaves.

The big takeaway is probably that the Gothams took special care to invent an award for the ensemble cast of Spotlight, Tom McCarthy’s journalism procedural, which took the Toronto Film Festival by storm in September. Could this be an early indicator that Spotlight is, as we’ve intimated on these pages, the current front-runner for a best-picture Academy Award? I think so! Of course, there are still some unseen movies lurking on the horizon—Joy, The Hateful Eight, The Revenant—that could spoil it for Spotlight, but right now it’s the film to beat.

Elsewhere, Carol had a strong showing, nominated for best feature, best screenplay, and best actress. Cate Blanchett was the performer singled out here, which might further dilute her co-star Rooney Mara’s awards chances, even though Mara won the best actress prize at Cannes. Though, she’ll likely be run in supporting for the big dance, so this snub might not actually mean anything bad for her. Either way, the nominations are a good, important bump for the film, which has been received rapturously by critics at festivals, but has to sustain that buzz until it’s released next month, and beyond.

Mostly, the Gothams are a nice showcase for some smaller films that probably won’t get much notice beyond critics awards and the like, so let’s be happy for Tangerine, Love & Mercy, 99 Homes, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, and other very worthy films that got recognized this morning.

The Gotham Awards will be given out on November 30. A full list of the nominees is below.

Best Feature

Carol

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Heaven Knows What

Spotlight

Tangerine

Best Documentary

Approaching the Elephant

Cartel Land

Heart of a Dog

Listen to Me Marlon

The Look of Silence

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award

Desiree Akhavan for Appropriate Behavior

Jonas Carpigano for Mediterranea

Marielle Heller for The Diary of a Teenage Girl

John Magary for The Mend

Josh Mond for James White

Best Screenplay

Carol, Phyllis Nagy The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Marielle Heller

Love & Mercy, Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner

Spotlight, Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer

While We’re Young, Noah Baumbach

Best Actor

Christopher Abbott in James White

Kevin Corrigan in Results

Paul Dano in Love & Mercy

Peter Sarsgaard in Experimenter

Michael Shannon in 99 Homes

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett in Carol

Blythe Danner in I’ll See You in My Dreams Brie Larson in Room

Bel Powley in The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Lily Tomlin in Grandma

Kristen Wiig in Welcome to Me

Breakthrough Actor

Rory Culkin in Gabriel

Arielle Holmes in Heaven Knows What

Lola Kirke in Mistress America

Kitana Kiki Rodriguez in Tangerine

Mya Taylor in Tangerine

“The 2015 Best Actor/Best Actress nominating panel also voted to award a special Gotham Jury Award jointly to Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci and Brian D’Arcy James for their ensemble work in Spotlight. (Open Road Films).”