Indie Spirit Awards 2006 - Brokeback & Capote share honours
Story by Jack Foley
CAPOTE and Brokeback Mountain shared the honours at this year’s Independent Spirit Awards, winning two of the key awards apiece.
Philip Seymour Hoffman won best actor for Capote, while the film also won best screenplay, and Brokeback Mountain was named best film and best director (for Ang Lee).
The awards meant that the pre-Oscar favourites continued to dominate the awards programme, even though the Indie Spirit Awards traditionally honour lower budget movies that are often overlooked by the major awards.
Going into the ceremony on Saturday, March 4, 2006, divorce drama The Squid & The Whale had led the nominations field with a total of six. It left empty-handed.
Insted, it was the Oscar heavy-hitters that continued to sweep all before them…
Aside from Brokeback and Capote, Oscar nominated Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman was named best actress for her role as a transgender man in Transamerica. The film’s director, Duncan Tucker, also won the best first screenplay award.
While Amy Adams was named best supporting actress for comedy-drama Junebug. Adams is also in the running for an Oscar.
Racial drama Crash, which is expected to run Brokeback Mountain close for best picture honours at the Oscar, picked up the best first feature award for director, Paul Haggis.
While Matt Dillon, who is also nominated for an Academy Award, was best supporting actor as a bigoted Los Angeles cop.
The Independent Spirit Awards were introduced 21 years ago as a small grass-roots event to honour independent filmmaking. It has since become a key ceremony in the awards season and Saturday’s ceremony, presided over by comedian-actress Sarah Silverman, took place in a tent at the beach near the Santa Monica Pier.
Upon accepting his best actor award, Philip Seymour Hoffman said: “It’s been ludicrous. I’ve been given enough – I want to share this so bad [with the other nominees]”.
The Truer Than Fiction award went to documentary, Occupation: Dreamland, while the John Cassavetes award, for the best feature made for under $500,000, went to Conventioneers.
The best cinematography award went to Robert Elswit for Good Night, and Good Luck, while another Oscar favourite, Paradise Now, was named best foreign film.
Best documentary was Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, while Caroline Baron won the Producers’ Award for Capote and directors Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana won the Someone to Watch award for Cavite.