By Amy Sussman/Getty Images.
Two years after Moonlight won best feature at the Film Independent Spirit Awards—the night before that infamous envelope mix-up at the Oscars—Barry Jenkins has once again emerged as the annual beachside ceremony’s top winner. If Beale Street Could Talk, Jenkins’s adaptation of the acclaimed James Baldwin novel, was honored with the most trophies of any film at the 2019 Spirit Awards on Saturday, winning prizes including best feature, best director and best supporting female actor, for Regina King.
But despite those big wins, much of the attention and chatter at the afternoon show—held, as always, under a tent in Santa Monica—focused on best female lead nominee (and eventual winner) Glenn Close’s guest: her endearing pet dog.
Close, who is also up for an Oscar for her lead performance in The Wife, arrived at casual Spirit Awards dressed in a shiny purple, metallic Sies Marjan pantsuit, accompanied by Pip, her 4-year-old Havanese dog. The fluffy animal inspired copious amounts of oohing and ahhing from both guests and the press.
“He’s my date,” Close said, giggling, on the blue arrivals carpet. “He’s the perfect date. He’s the most chill dog. I had to bring him. He makes me laugh. He’s a very intelligent little dog.”
Pip happily posed for photos with Close on the carpet, and patiently stood next to her without a leash on as she answered questions from the press. Although he’s extremely well behaved, Close said she would not bring him to the Academy Awards on Sunday, where she is widely expected to win her first Oscar. “It will be too much for him,” she explained.
But Close did allow Pip to come onstage with her as she accepted the best female lead prize at the Indie Spirits. He stood beside the podium while Close began to give her remarks, then suddenly rolled onto his back with his paws facing up. Pip then wiggled around before getting up and moving to the other side of the stage.
“What’s better than that?” Close said, pointing at Pip, as the audience laughed at his spotlight stealing tricks. Close went on to thank the other women in her category—Toni Collette, Carey Mulligan, Regina Hall, Elsie Fisher, and Helena Howard—and stressed the importance of focusing on the work rather than the superficial aspects of award season.
“No matter what you’re wearing, no matter what red carpet you walk on, no matter what people say to you—and it’s all been extremely humbling and gratifying—it’s really, really, about the work,” she said. “The fact that we get together and we tell these stories that really make a difference in the world—that is what we do, and that is why I am so honored to be in this room with this particular group of people.”
In the best male lead category, Ethan Hawke won for his performance as a troubled priest in Paul Schrader’s First Reformed. His costar, Amanda Seyfried, collected the accolade on his behalf, as Hawke was in New York, completing a two-show performance of True West on Broadway.
An emotional Richard E. Grant was honored with the best supporting male award for his mischievous work opposite Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, a performancee that also earned him an Oscar nomination. While accepting the accolade, Grant explained that he was the third choice to play the role of Jack Sock, a hard-drinking, gay New York gadfly living with HIV. Sam Rockwell and Chris O’Dowd had previously turned down the role. His performance, Grant continued, was inspired by Ian Charleson, the Scottish actor best known for starring in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire, who died of AIDS at the age of 40 in 1990. “My performance, more than anything, is an homage to that generation of men that were wiped out by the AIDS disease,” said Grant, fighting back tears.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? also won the best screenplay award, while 28-year-old comedian-turned-filmmaker Bo Burnham was bestowed with the best first screenplay honor for his acclaimed coming-of-age dramedy Eighth Grade.
Netflix’s big Oscar contender, Roma, won best international film, beating out the U.K.’s The Favourite, South Korea’s Burning, Italy’s Happy As Lazzaro, and Japan’s Shoplifters. Alfonso Cuarón, whose acclaimed Mexican drama is expected to win the same category at the Oscars—and perhaps best picture as well—said that he believes cinema is growing more diverse than ever before, which was met with huge cheers from the crowd.
“I’m optimistic right now that it seems that we’re in a moment in which greater diversity is happening in cinema,” said Cuarón, accepting the award. “I think that this greater diversity will very soon make the category irrelevant.”
When Jenkins accepted his best director award, he used his acceptance speech to reiterate Beale Street star Regina King’s speech at the Golden Globes, in which she made a vow to produce projects that employ 50 percent women—and encouraged the producers and studio execs sitting in the room to help increase the amount of projects directed by women.
“Women only make up 4 percent of studio directors, yet they make up 44 percent of directors in competition at Sundance and 60 percent of the directors nominated for this award,” Jenkins said in his speech. “If even just 30 percent of us agree with Regina to, in the next 18 months, produce or finance a film directed by a woman, that 4 percent can become 8 percent, or 10 percent, or 16 percent.”
Jenkins’s comments drew the loudest inspirational cheers and applause at the show, while host Aubrey Plaza provided sarcastic humor throughout the ceremony, which was broadcast live on IFC. Plaza wasted no time taking a jab at the hostless Oscars in her opening monologue: “The network’s first choice to host was no one, but they are already booked for tomorrow,” she said of the Indie Spirits. “So you’ve got me!”
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This story was originally published by Vanity Fair
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