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“Birdman” Wins Spirit Awards, Which Are Now a Rehearsal for the Oscars

By Roger Friedman

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There used to be a time when the Spirit Awards would be different and more daring than the Oscars. Now they are a rehearsal for it. Everyone who won today will win something tomorrow night. The only difference will be a lot of songs to distract us. Richard Linklater didn’t show up today, and he won Best Director for “Boyhood.” No one seemed to know what was up with that, but I’m told there’s bad blood between Linklater and Film Independent for some reason. Ethan Hawke accepted for him, saying “I’m not Richard Linklater. I just play him in the movies.”

After the show, I ran into Jessica Chastain, who herself had just  met the real life people from the movie “Virunga.” She was overwhelmed, took pictures with  them, offered all her help. She said, “What these men did for the gorillas is so extraordinary, and we’re just here at an awards show.” She’d also just arrived from Budapest and was very jet lagged.

Fred Armisen and Kristen Bell were very good hosts. Armisen is musical, funny, creative, witty. I loved their little film satirizing “Birdman.”

 

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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