The road comedy ''Little Miss Sunshine'' won best picture and three other prizes for independent films at the Spirit Awards on Saturday, the day before competing for Hollywood's top honors.
February 25, 2007 (Press Release) --
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- The hilarious dark-tinged tale of a deeply dysfunctional family also won the supporting-actor award for Alan Arkin; best director for the husband-and-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, and best first screenplay for Michael Arndt.
Arkin won for his role as an obscenity-spewing, heroin-snorting grandfather training his granddaughter (Abigail Breslin) for a saucy dance performance at a children's beauty pageant.
The awards honoring the best in independent film were the latest in a string of honors for ''Little Miss Sunshine'' since its premiere at last year's Sundance Film Festival.
Its Oscar nominations include best picture and supporting-acting slots for Arkin and Breslin.
''I can only hope that filmmakers out there trying to get their first film made or their second or third film and are having some trouble can find some hope from what has happened to us on this movie,'' Dayton said. ''We were dead ... in the studio system. They had given up on us, and thankfully people in the independent world stuck with us.''
Altman saluted
The lead-acting Spirit Awards went to the stars of another Oscar contender, the classroom drama ''Half Nelson.'' Ryan Gosling played an inspiring teacher battling a severe drug habit, and Shareeka Epps won for her role as a bright student who becomes his protege and counselor.
Gosling has a best-actor Oscar nomination for ''Half Nelson,'' which also debuted at Sundance last year.
A third Sundance premiere, ''Friends With Money,'' took the supporting-actress Spirit Award for Frances McDormand as a fashion designer who finds wealth does not necessarily buy happiness.
The top prize winner at Sundance last year, the teen drama ''Quinceanera,'' won the John Cassavetes Award for a film shot for less than $500,000.
Jason Reitman won the screenplay award for the tobacco-industry satire ''Thank You For Smoking,'' which he also directed.
Robert Altman -- nominated as best director for his final film, ''A Prairie Home Companion'' -- was saluted with an honorary Spirit Award for his lifetime devotion to independent film. Altman died last November.
The Spirit Awards are presented by the cinema group Film Independent to films costing less than $20 million to produce.
Source: http://www.msn.com
POSTED BY DAVID GERMAIN
Arkin won for his role as an obscenity-spewing, heroin-snorting grandfather training his granddaughter (Abigail Breslin) for a saucy dance performance at a children's beauty pageant.
The awards honoring the best in independent film were the latest in a string of honors for ''Little Miss Sunshine'' since its premiere at last year's Sundance Film Festival.
Its Oscar nominations include best picture and supporting-acting slots for Arkin and Breslin.
''I can only hope that filmmakers out there trying to get their first film made or their second or third film and are having some trouble can find some hope from what has happened to us on this movie,'' Dayton said. ''We were dead ... in the studio system. They had given up on us, and thankfully people in the independent world stuck with us.''
Altman saluted
The lead-acting Spirit Awards went to the stars of another Oscar contender, the classroom drama ''Half Nelson.'' Ryan Gosling played an inspiring teacher battling a severe drug habit, and Shareeka Epps won for her role as a bright student who becomes his protege and counselor.
Gosling has a best-actor Oscar nomination for ''Half Nelson,'' which also debuted at Sundance last year.
A third Sundance premiere, ''Friends With Money,'' took the supporting-actress Spirit Award for Frances McDormand as a fashion designer who finds wealth does not necessarily buy happiness.
The top prize winner at Sundance last year, the teen drama ''Quinceanera,'' won the John Cassavetes Award for a film shot for less than $500,000.
Jason Reitman won the screenplay award for the tobacco-industry satire ''Thank You For Smoking,'' which he also directed.
Robert Altman -- nominated as best director for his final film, ''A Prairie Home Companion'' -- was saluted with an honorary Spirit Award for his lifetime devotion to independent film. Altman died last November.
The Spirit Awards are presented by the cinema group Film Independent to films costing less than $20 million to produce.
Source: http://www.msn.com
POSTED BY DAVID GERMAIN
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