12 Years a Slave, McConaughey, Blanchett Win Spirit Awards

Erik Anderson March 1, 2014

Spirit Award winner Matthew McConaughey, 12 Years a Slave and Cate Blanchett — Spirit Award winner Matthew McConaughey, *12 Years a Slave* and Cate Blanchett

The Film Independent Spirit Awards, famous for giving out their trophies the day before the Oscars, looked an awful lot like an Oscar preview today. After a season of minimal awards totals and eeked out Best Picture wins, 12 Years a Slave dominated today, winning Best Feature, Director, Screenplay, Supporting Actress and Cinematography. The film is up for all of those same awards, save Cinematography, at the Oscars tomorrow.

Matthew McConaughey, Cate Blanchett and Jared Leto added to their awards haul today, winning in Male Lead, Female Lead and Supporting Male, respectively. Newcomer Lupita Nyong’o added a Spirit Award to her BFCA and SAG honors and positions herself as a formidable candidate for the Oscar if she can beat Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence, who was not nominated here (nor was American Hustle, as it was ineligible) so a clear path for Nyong’o’s victory was pretty much set in stone.

The Spirit Awards and the Oscars have never matched up in the acting categories better than 2/4 but after today it’s possible they will be exactly the same for the first time.

Fruitvale Station walked away with First Feature, 20 Feet From Stardom took home Best Documentary and Matthew McConaughey ended up with two awards today as his film Mud was honored with the Robert Altman Ensemble win.

Full list of winners:

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Bob Nelson, Nebraska

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Fruitvale Station
Director: Ryan Coogler; Producers: Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker

BEST EDITING
Nat Sanders, Short Term 12

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Mud
Director: Jeff Nichols, Casting Director: Francine Maisler, Ensemble Cast: Joe Don Baker, Jacob Lofland, Matthew McConaughey, Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson, Michael Shannon, Sam Shepard, Tye Sheridan, Paul Sparks, Bonnie Sturdivant, Reese Witherspoon

BEST SCREENPLAY
John Ridley, 12 Years A Slave

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Best feature made for under $500,000)
This Is Martin Bonner
Writer/Director: Chad Hartigan, Producer: Cherie Saulter

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Sean Bobbitt, 12 Years A Slave

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years A Slave

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Blue Is The Warmest Color (France)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
20 Feet From Stardom
Director/Producer: Morgan Neville, Producers: Gil Friesen & Caitrin Rogers

BEST DIRECTOR
Steve McQueen, 12 Years A Slave

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

BEST MALE LEAD
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

BEST FEATURE
12 Years A Slave

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Toby Halbrooks & James M. Johnston, Jacob Jaffke, Andrea Roa, Frederick Thornton (Ain’t Them Bodies
Saints)

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Newlyweeds, Director: Shaka King

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Jason Osder, Let the Fire Burn

BRIGHT FUTURE AWARD
Patrick Creadon, Director
If You Build It

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.