Spirit Awards Surprise: French Legend Isabelle Huppert Wins Again– Will She Take the Oscar, Too?

French legend Isabelle Huppert won Best Actress in a Lead Role today at the Independent Spirit Awards for the movie “Elle.” Last December she also won the Gotham Awards prize for the same movie, “Elle.” Each time she had just arrived by plane from Paris, walked into a room and won an award. She must think America is a great place!

Huppert has turned out to be a spoiler for Emma Stone, who is tipped to win the Oscar on Sunday for “La La Land.”  Now will Huppert spoil Stone’s chances for an Oscar? Crazy, no? Stone must be thinking, What the heck is going on here? But there does seem to be huge momentum for Huppert.

At the Spirit Awards, Warren Beatty confirmed for me he will be presenting Best Picture tomorrow night with Faye Dunaway. It’s the 50th anniversary of their landmark film “Bonnie & Clyde.”

The Spirit Awards were very, very good this year– hosts Nick Kroll and John Mullaney were hilarious, Gary Clark Jr. provided amazing blues music, and Molly Shannon stole the show when she won Best Supporting Female for “Other People.”

“Moonlight” won a lot, deservedly so. But I would have given Best Screenplay to Kenny Lonergan for “Manchester by the Sea.”

Ben Foster was a pleasant surprise as winner of Best Male Supporting for “Hell or High Water.” Good for him.

PS (maybe exclusive) Mahershala Ali and his wife have named their newborn baby girl Bari Najma.

Best Feature: 

Moonlight (A24)

Producers: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adele Romanski

Best Director: 

Barry Jenkins, Moonlight (A24)

Best Screenplay: 

Barry Jenkins, Tarell Alvin McCraney (Story By), Moonlight (A24)

Best First Feature: 

The Witch (A24)

Director: Robert Eggers

Producers: Daniel Bekerman, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Jodi Redmond,

Rodrigo Teixeira

Best First Screenplay:

Robert Eggers, The Witch (A24)

John Cassavetes Award (For best feature made under $500,000):

Spa Night (Strand Releasing)

Writer/Director: Andrew Ahn

Producers: David Ariniello, Giulia Caruso, Ki Jin Kim, Kelly Thomas

Best Supporting Female:

Molly Shannon, Other People (Vertical Entertainment)

Best Supporting Male: 

Ben Foster, Hell or High Water (CBS Films/Lionsgate)

Best Female Lead:

Isabelle Huppert, Elle (Sony Pictures Classics)

Best Male Lead:

Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea (Amazon Studios)

Robert Altman Award: 

Moonlight (A24)

Director: Barry Jenkins

Casting Director: Yesi Ramirez

Ensemble Cast: Mahershala Ali, Patrick Decile, Naomie Harris, Alex Hibbert, André Holland, Jharrel Jerome, Janelle Monáe, Jaden Piner, Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders

Best Cinematography:

James Laxton, Moonlight (A24)

Best Editing:

Joi McMillon, Nat Sanders, Moonlight (A24)

Best International Film: 

Toni Erdmann (Germany and Romania– Sony Pictures Classics)

Director: Maren Ade

Best Documentary: 

O.J.: Made in America (ESPN Films)

Director/Producer: Ezra Edelman

Producers: Deirdre Fenton, Libby Geist, Nina Krstic, Erin Leyden, Tamara Rosenberg, Connor Schell, Caroline Waterlow