The 25th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards were held last night in Los Angeles at the LA Live theater, and Lee Daniel’s Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire was the big winner with five awards. It won for Best Feature, Daniels took home Best Director, Gabourey Sidibe and Mo’Nique each received acting awards, and Geoffrey Fletcher received an award for Best First Screenplay.
Other awards went to Jeff Bridges for his leading role in Scott Cooper’s Crazy Heart, thought to be the frontrunner for the Oscars tomorrow night, while the movie also received an award for Best First Feature. Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber received an award for Best Screenplay for their comedy (500) Days of Summer. Woody Harrelson took home the Supporting Actor Spirit for his performance in Oren Moverman’s The Messenger.
Incidentally, Kathryn Bigelow’ The Hurt Locker, which meets the budget requirements for the Spirit Awards, wasn’t eligible this year because it played in festivals in 2008 and in fact, received two nominations for actors Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie in last year’s awards. It’s up for nine Academy Awards tomorrow night.
