Dear Gossips,
The Gotham Awards, the first relevant awards of Oscar season, were last night in New York. A lot of the Oscar hopefuls were there, but because the Gothams focus on indie film (ostensibly, some recent rule changes opened the door to bigger films like Barbie), some of the bigger films weren’t represented, like Oppenheimer, but it was still a smorgasbord of what awards season will look like for the next, ugh, five months. (Remember that time we got through awards season in like six weeks?) You can see the complete list of winners here, though it is so early in the season, there is plenty of time for several momentum shifts.
Still, some films and people got a strong start, like Past Lives picking up Best Feature, and Charles Melton winning his first big award for May December (more on them later). Another big winner is Lily Gladstone, who won Outstanding Lead Performance for The Unknown Country. Leonardo DiCaprio wasn’t nominated, but as he has done all year, he showed up for Lily, and this is EASILY the most I have liked Leo outside of his performances. It’s almost endearing how willing he is to be there for Lily’s sake, if not his own.
Another big winner is French film Anatomy of a Fall, the reigning Palme d’Or winner. Filmmaker Justine Triet won Best Screenplay along with Arthur Harari, and the film picked up Best International Feature, too. Star Sandra Hüller was not nominated for her lead performance in Fall, though she was a nominee in the supporting category for Jonathan Glazer’s harrowing Holocaust drama, The Zone of Interest. Hüller might be a double nominee at the Oscars for her pair of performances this year.
Anatomy of a Fall is making a play for Best Picture, not Best International Feature Film, as it is not France’s official selection for international feature consideration (that honor goes to The Taste of Things—it’s been a great year for French cinema—which Juliette Binoche was nominated for in the supporting category). That Fall pulled a screenplay win is a sign that the Hollywood establishment is taking Fall seriously, and I won’t be surprised if it ends up with a few Oscar nominations in a couple months’ time.
The Gothams did away with gender lines in their acting categories, leaving just two super groups for leading and supporting performances, but this red carpet is still a good warmup for what the rest of awards season will look like, with Cailee Spaeny, Colman Domingo, Willem Dafoe, Michelle Williams, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Andrew Scott all on hand. Team Ferrari was also out in force, including Adam Driver, Michael Mann, Penelope Cruz, and Shailene Woodley.
Driver presented Mann with the Icon and Creator Tribute for Innovation. The Gothams added a slew of “icon and creator” tributes this year basically to get more high-profile films and people to the event, not unlike all the random tributes given at film festivals to guarantee A-list attendance. Killers of the Flower Moon received the Historical Icon and Creator Tribute, and during the presentation, Robert De Niro said his speech was edited, but he went on to blast Donald Trump, and Apple which he blamed for the edited speech, anyway.
After spending almost half the year (mostly) sitting on their hands, the actors have been out in force since the strike ended, as evidenced by this extremely busy red carpet. I mean, my man Boyd Holbrook was there, and he is not someone who attends the opening of an envelope! Awards season is going to be a wild ride this year.
There are a number of photos attached below. Please click through to see all of them.
Live long and gossip,
Sarah
