2015 Gotham Award Nominations: Diary of a Teenage Girl, Carol, Tangerine Lead

The 2015 Gotham Award nominations have been announced and not without the usual surprises; both in what is deemed eligible as well as actual nominations. The Diary of a Teenage Girl led the list with four mentions, including Best Feature and Best Actress for Bel Powley. Carol and Tangerine were close behind with three apiece. It’s a remarkable female-centric group of nominees this year. Carol found nominations for Cate Blanchett in Best Actress, Phyllis Nagy for her Screenplay and the film itself in Best Feature. Tangerine also got a Best Feature nod and two Breakthrough Actor nominations for its co-leads Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor. As trans actresses, these are truly breakthrough mentions.

One of the difficulties in predicting the Gotham Awards is that their semi-vague eligibility rules often find loopholes for surprise nominations or at least for a nomination the group clearly wants to have happen. A24’s Room is clearly ineligible as it’s an Irish and Canadian production and shot in Canada and the bylaws state that a film must be American to qualify. Yet, there is Brie Larson in Best Actress (in a field of six). Does her being an American actress provide that loophole? If so, then where is the equally fantastic Jacob Tremblay in Breakthrough Actor?

The lack of a supporting category with the Gothams is always unfortunate as we see today with Rooney Mara (Carol) missing, as well as Cynthia Nixon in James White, despite her film getting  Best Actor and Best Director nominations. The directing category only went 1-5 with Best Feature with Marielle Heller getting in for The Diary of a Teenage Girl. Love & Mercy showed up in Screenplay and a Best Actor nomination for Paul Dano, surely to make a handful of Oscar pundits hopeful he can keep that ball rolling all the way to an Oscar nomination (in Supporting).

The cast of Spotlight, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci and Brian D’Arcy James received a special ensemble mention along with the film’s Best Feature mention.

The full list of nominations for the 2015 Gotham Awards:

Best Feature

Carol
Todd Haynes, director; Elizabeth Karlsen, Tessa Ross, Christine Vachon, Stephen Woolley, producers (The Weinstein Company)

The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Marielle Heller, director; Anne Carey, Bert Hamelinck, Madeline Samit, Miranda Bailey, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)

Heaven Knows What
Josh and Benny Safdie, directors; Oscar Boyson, Sebastian Bear-McClard, producers (RADiUS)

Spotlight
Tom McCarthy, director; Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Blye Pagan Faust, producers (Open Road Films)

Tangerine
Sean Baker, director; Darren Dean, Shih-Ching Tsou, Marcus Cox & Karrie Cox, producers (Magnolia Pictures)

Best Documentary

Approaching the Elephant
Amanda Rose Wilder, director; Jay Craven, Robert Greene, Amanda Rose Wilder, producers (Kingdom County Productions)

Cartel Land
Matthew Heineman, director; Matthew Heineman, Tom Yellin, producers (The Orchard and A&E IndieFilms)

Heart of a Dog
Laurie Anderson, director; Dan Janvey, Laurie Anderson, producers (Abramorama and HBO Documentary Films)

Listen to Me Marlon
Stevan Riley, director; John Battsek, RJ Cutler, George Chignell, producers (Showtime Documentary Films)

The Look of Silence
Joshua Oppenheimer, director; Signe Byrge Sørensen, producer (Drafthouse Films)

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award

Desiree Akhavan for Appropriate Behavior (Gravitas Ventures)
Jonas Carpigano for Mediterranea (Sundance Selects)
Marielle Heller for The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Sony Pictures Classics)
John Magary for The Mend (Cinelicious Pics)
Josh Mond for James White (The Film Arcade)

Best Screenplay

Carol, Phyllis Nagy (The Weinstein Company)
The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Marielle Heller (Sony Pictures Classics)
Love & Mercy, Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner (Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, and River Road Entertainment)
Spotlight, Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Open Road Films)
While We’re Young, Noah Baumbach (A24)

Best Actor

Christopher Abbott in James White (The Film Arcade)
Kevin Corrigan in Results (Magnolia Pictures)
Paul Dano in Love & Mercy (Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, and River Road Entertainment)
Peter Sarsgaard in Experimenter (Magnolia Pictures)
Michael Shannon in 99 Homes (Broad Green Pictures)

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett in Carol (The Weinstein Company)
Blythe Danner in I’ll See You in My Dreams (Bleecker Street)
Brie Larson in Room (A24)
Bel Powley in The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Sony Pictures Classics)
Lily Tomlin in Grandma (Sony Pictures Classics)
Kristen Wiig in Welcome to Me (Alchemy)

Breakthrough Actor

Rory Culkin in Gabriel (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Arielle Holmes in Heaven Knows What (RADiUS)
Lola Kirke in Mistress America (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez in Tangerine (Magnolia Pictures)
Mya Taylor in Tangerine (Magnolia Pictures)

Presented by the New York-based Independent Film Project (IFP), the Gotham Awards ceremony is set this year for Nov. 30 at Cipriani Wall Street in downtown Manhattan.