Independent Spirit Awards (2008): Juno delivers three wins
Story by Jack Foley
TEEN pregnancy comedy-drama Juno emerged as the big winner at this year’s Independent Spirit Awards (2008) by winning three awards, including best film.
The film, directed by Jason Reitman, also scrooped the best actress prize for Oscar nominated star Ellen Page, as well as the best first screenplay award for writer Diablo Cody.
The film follows the fortunes of whip-smart teenager Juno MacGuff (Page) who finds herself pregnant after seducing her geeky boyfriend Bleeker one afternoon and resolves to put the child up for adoption.
With the help of her parents (JK Simmons and Allison Janney), she finds a suitable couple in wealthy husband and wife Mark and Vanessa (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) only to encounter complications as the due date approaches.
The film beat The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, I’m Not There, A Mighty Heart and Paranoid Park to the top prize.
After receiving her trophy for best actress, Page commented: “This is all Diablo Cody’s fault. She wrote one of the best screenplays I have ever read and created a teenage female lead I feel like we’ve never seen before.
“I got to work with some amazing actors who all poured their hearts into this film because we all believed in it so much.”
Other Indie Spirit winners
A heavily pregnant Cate Blanchett was named best supporting actress for her role as Bob Dylan in I’m Not There.
The Australian star – who is also in the running for two Oscars – dedicated her award to co-star Heath Ledger, who died following an accidental drug overdose last month.
Blanchett described the late actor as a “beautiful free spirit”, while I’m Not There director Todd Haynes said that receiving awards for the film without him was “bittersweet”.
“We miss him,” he added. “He never left the set – I think he was really interested in watching the process of film-making and how we were going about it.”
I’m Not There also picked up the first ever Robert Altman Award – named after the late director Robert Altman [who died in 2006] – for a filmmaker, casting director and acting ensemble.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, meanwhile, was named best actor for his role in Tamara Jenkins’ The Savages, in which he plays one of two siblings attempting to come to terms with his father’s dementia.
Julian Schnabel was named best director for The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, while low-budget Irish musical-drama Once, starring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, was named best foreign film.
The annual Independent Spirit Awards are held in Santa Monica, California, on the eve of the Oscars and seek to celebrate triumphs in non-mainstream filmmaking. They are widely considered to be a casual warm-up for Hollywood’s main event.
Stars including Angelina Jolie, Kate Beckinsale, Colin Firth, Sienna Miller, Tom Wilkinson and Meg Ryan attended the event.