Friday, December 19, 2025
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Independent Spirit Awards LIST of Winners: “Nomadland” Wins Best Feature, Director, As Black Actors Strike Out

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The Independent Spirit Awards managed to avoid all the Black actors tonight. Not one of them won. In a big upset, the late Chadwick Boseman lost to Riz Ahmed for Best Actor. (And they didn’t even nominate Viola Davis or Andra Day.)

Melissa Villasenor did  great celebrity impressions on the Spirit Awards. The winners obviously pre-taped their acceptance speeches, which makes staying up from 10pm til midnight enervating.

At least I’m not sitting in that tent on Santa Monica Beach picking at cold, mysterious food, looking for a better seat. (The press is put all the way in the back, about a mile from the stage.)

Pretty funny: in the last half hour they just gave up and handed out the winners, no presenters or jib jab. LOL.

Carey Mulligan gave a lovely speech and acknowledged death of Helen McCrory.

Wanna feel old? Noah Hutton was nominated for an award. He’s 33! The son of Debra Winger and Timothy Hutton, grandson of the Jim Hutton. Time flies.

Best Feature
“First Cow”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Minari”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
“Nomadland”

Best Director
Lee Isaac Chung, “Minari”
Emerald Fennell, “Promising Young Woman”
Eliza Hittman, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Kelly Reichardt, “First Cow”
Chloe Zhao, “Nomadland”

Best First Feature
“I Carry You With Me”
“The 40 Year Old Version”
“The Sound of Metal”
“Miss Juneteenth”
“Nine Days”

Best Female Lead
Nicole Beharie, “Miss Juneteenth”
Viola Davis, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Sidney Flanigan, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Julia Garner, “The Assistant”
Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”
Carey Mulligan, “Promising Young Woman”

Best Male Lead
Riz Ahmed, “The Sound of Metal”
Chadwick Boseman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Rob Morgan, “Bull”
Steven Yeun, “Minari”
Adarsh Gourav, “The White Tiger”

Best Supporting Female
Alexis Chikaeze, “Miss Juneteenth”
Yeri Han, “Minari”
Valerie Mahaffey, French Exit”
Talia Ryder, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Yuh-jung Youn, “Minari”

Best Supporting Male
Colman Domingo, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Orion Lee, “First Cow”
Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal”
Glynn Turmann, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Benedict Wong, “Nine Days”

Best Screenplay
“Bad Education”
“Minari”
“The Half of It”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
“Promising Young Woman”

Best First Screenplay
Kitty Green, “The Assistant”
Noah Hutton, “Lapsis”
Channing Godfrey Peoples, “Miss Juneteenth”
Andy Siara, “Palm Springs”
James Sweeney, “Straight Up”

Best Cinematography
Jay Keitel, “She Dies Tomorrow”
Shabier Kirchner, “Bull”
Michael Latham, “The Assistant”
Hélène Louvart, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Joshua James Richards, “Nomadland”

Best Editing
“I Carry You With Me”
“The Invisible Man”
“Residue”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
“Nomadland”

Robert Altman Award
“One Night in Miami”

Best Documentary
“Collective”
“Crip Camp”
“Dick Johnson Is Dead”
“Time”
“The Mole Agent”

Best International Film
“Bacurau”
“The Disciple”
“Night of the Kings”
“Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time”
“Quo Vadis, Aida?”

Piaget Producers Award
Kara Durrett
Lucas Joaquin
Gerry Kim

Someone to Watch Award
David Midell, “The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain”
Ekwa Msangi, “Farewell Amor”
Annie Silverstein, “Bull”

Truer Than Fiction Award
Cecilia Aldarondo, “Landfall”
Elegance Bratton, “Pier Kids”
Elizabeth Lo, “Stray”

John Cassavetes Awards
“The Killing of Two Lovers”
“La Leyenda Negra”
“Lingua Franca”
“Residue”
“Saint Frances”

Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
“Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children”
“City So Real”
“Immigration Nation”
“Love Fraud”
“We’re Here”

Best Scripted Series
“I May Destroy You”
“Little America”
“Small Axe”
“A Teacher”
“Unorthodox”

Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series
Elle Fanning, “The Great”
Shira Haas, “Unorthodox”
Abby McEnany, “Work in Progress
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, “Never Have I Ever”
Jordan Kristine Seamón, “We Are Who We Are”

Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series
Conphidance, “Little America”
Adam Ali, “Little America”
Nicco Annan, “P-Valley”
Amit Rahav, “Unorthodox”
Harold Torres, “Zero, Zero, Zero”

Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series
“I May Destroy You”
Ensemble Cast: Michaela Coel, Paapa Essiedu, Weruche Opia
Stephen Wight

Exclusive: Frances McDormand, Oscar Nominee for “Nomadland,” WILL Be on Sunday’s Academy Awards

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Guess who’s coming to the Oscars?

Why, it’s Frances McDormand, nominated for Best Actress in “Nomadland.” Sources tell me she WILL appear on Sunday night’s Academy Awards. There’s a strong chance she will win.

McDormand has bypassed all the other awards shows this season like the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild. She’s appeared on the cover of Vogue and in the New York Times, but McDormand has mostly not done publicity for “Nomadland.” She’s left that to director Chloe Zhao, to author Jessica Bruder, and even to the real people who played themselves in the movie.

Otherwise, McDormand has been MIA.

Frances already has two Oscars, for “Fargo” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” There’s a chance she’ll be up for another one next year for her work as Lady MacBeth. She’s ‘over it,’ as they say.

But at least she’ll deign to be there on Sunday. That leaves just Anthony Hopkins as the nominee most likely not to be there.

Who will McDormand’s companion be? My guess is she’ll bring her son, Pedro Coen, if not husband Joel Coen. If Frances wins, she’ll undoubtedly give a memorable speech. Even if she loses, she should be allowed to give the speech.

 

Ryan Reynolds Taps LeVar Burton as New Spokesman for Aviation Gin as Part of “Jeopardy!” Campaign

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Clever Ryan Reynolds, always promoting his Aviation Gin. He just announced that LeVar Burton is his new spokesman.

Burton is campaigning to become the new host of “Jeopardy!” Good move.

FRIDAY UPDATE Sunday’s Oscar “Movie” Adds THREE Nominees: Steven Yeun, Viola Davis and Riz Ahmed Join Unusual Broadcast

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FRIDAY UPDATE 3:15PM “Minari” star and nominee Steven Yeun has been added to the show.

EARLIER As you may have heard, it’s going to be a different kind of Academy Awards show on Sunday.

The producers say it will be more like a move than awards show, with a “cast” instead of presenters.

They’ve just added two nominees to the cast. Viola Davis and Riz Ahmed have joined the group that already includes Angela Bassett, Halle Berry, Bong Joon Ho, Don Cheadle, Bryan Cranston, Laura Dern, Harrison Ford, Regina King, Marlee Matlin, Rita Moreno, Joaquin Phoenix, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Renée Zellweger and Zendaya.

I don’t know about you, but I want to see this movie.

The Oscars begin at 8pm on Sunday night on ABC. But at 6:30pm they’re going to have a 90 minute special with all the nominated Best Songs performed.

Simultaneously, at 7pm, for an hour, Elton John is having a virtual special to raise money for his AIDS Foundation. Dua Lipa is performing and a lot of celebs like Neil Patrick Harris and Lady Gaga will be involved. It costs a mere 20 bucks. You can buy the tickets here.

 

What? The Indie Spirit Awards Are Live on TV Tonight, Who Knew? Who Will Win? Who Cares?

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I basically forgot all about the Independent Spirit Awards. Didn’t you?

Duh! They’re on TV tonight at 10pm, “live,’ and virtually. I cannot control my excitement.

Seriously, no press release, nothing. “SNL”‘s Melissa Villasenor is hosting, somehow.

Why so late, 10pm? To guarantee no one watches.

Here’s something funny. Deadline reports that Film Independent is also hosting a Viewing Party for audiences worldwide to gather from home to watch and chat online via Looper; registration has closed for that. Virtual tickets went from $2000 (for individuals) to $5000 (for VIPs) and $20000 for tables of 10. The annual event raises funds for the nonprofit 501(c) arts organization.

Yes, please, here’s my 20 thou.

For the first time, the Spirit Awards have added TV prizes to see if that will boost interest.

So make a pot of coffee, and see you at 10pm EST.  And if “First Cow” wins anything, you’re allowed to moo.

Best Feature
“First Cow”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Minari”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
“Nomadland”

Best Director
Lee Isaac Chung, “Minari”
Emerald Fennell, “Promising Young Woman”
Eliza Hittman, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Kelly Reichardt, “First Cow”
Chloe Zhao, “Nomadland”

Best First Feature
“I Carry You With Me”
“The 40 Year Old Version”
“The Sound of Metal”
“Miss Juneteenth”
“Nine Days”

Best Female Lead
Nicole Beharie, “Miss Juneteenth”
Viola Davis, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Sidney Flanigan, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Julia Garner, “The Assistant”
Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”
Carey Mulligan, “Promising Young Woman”

Best Male Lead
Riz Ahmed, “The Sound of Metal”
Chadwick Boseman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Rob Morgan, “Bull”
Steven Yeun, “Minari”
Adarsh Gourav, “The White Tiger”

Best Supporting Female
Alexis Chikaeze, “Miss Juneteenth”
Yeri Han, “Minari”
Valerie Mahaffey, French Exit”
Talia Ryder, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Yuh-jung Youn, “Minari”

Best Supporting Male
Colman Domingo, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Orion Lee, “First Cow”
Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal”
Glynn Turmann, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Benedict Wong, “Nine Days”

Best Screenplay
“Bad Education”
“Minari”
“The Half of It”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
“Promising Young Woman”

Best First Screenplay
Kitty Green, “The Assistant”
Noah Hutton, “Lapsis”
Channing Godfrey Peoples, “Miss Juneteenth”
Andy Siara, “Palm Springs”
James Sweeney, “Straight Up”

Best Cinematography
Jay Keitel, “She Dies Tomorrow”
Shabier Kirchner, “Bull”
Michael Latham, “The Assistant”
Hélène Louvart, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Joshua James Richards, “Nomadland”

Best Editing
“I Carry You With Me”
“The Invisible Man”
“Residue”
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
“Nomadland”

Robert Altman Award
“One Night in Miami”

Best Documentary
“Collective”
“Crip Camp”
“Dick Johnson Is Dead”
“Time”
“The Mole Agent”

Best International Film
“Bacurau”
“The Disciple”
“Night of the Kings”
“Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time”
“Quo Vadis, Aida?”

Piaget Producers Award
Kara Durrett
Lucas Joaquin
Gerry Kim

Someone to Watch Award
David Midell, “The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain”
Ekwa Msangi, “Farewell Amor”
Annie Silverstein, “Bull”

Truer Than Fiction Award
Cecilia Aldarondo, “Landfall”
Elegance Bratton, “Pier Kids”
Elizabeth Lo, “Stray”

John Cassavetes Awards
“The Killing of Two Lovers”
“La Leyenda Negra”
“Lingua Franca”
“Residue”
“Saint Frances”

Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
“Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children”
“City So Real”
“Immigration Nation”
“Love Fraud”
“We’re Here”

Best Scripted Series
“I May Destroy You”
“Little America”
“Small Axe”
“A Teacher”
“Unorthodox”

Best Female Performance in a Scripted Series
Elle Fanning, “The Great”
Shira Haas, “Unorthodox”
Abby McEnany, “Work in Progress
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, “Never Have I Ever”
Jordan Kristine Seamón, “We Are Who We Are”

Best Male Performance in a Scripted Series
Conphidance, “Little America”
Adam Ali, “Little America”
Nicco Annan, “P-Valley”
Amit Rahav, “Unorthodox”
Harold Torres, “Zero, Zero, Zero”

Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series
“I May Destroy You”
Ensemble Cast: Michaela Coel, Paapa Essiedu, Weruche Opia
Stephen Wight

Yay! Richard Lewis Returns to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” for One Episode After Recovering from Surgeries

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Great news! Richard Lewis is on set at “Curb Your Enthusiasm” today. He reports he’s shooting on episode after missing all of Season 11. He says Great news for him but it’s great news for us! Lewis plays himself on the show, Larry’s itchy scratchy best friend. Last season he was integral to the Spite Store arc. He’s one of my favorite all time comic actors. So glad to see he’s on the mend!

TV Shell Shock: “The Conners” Drops 35% from Last Week, Loses Over 1 Million Viewers in 1 Week

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What happened last night to “The Conners”?

The “Roseanne” spin off dropped 35% from last week in the key demo, 28.4% in total viewers. They lost over 1 million fans from last week, dropping from 3.9 million to 2.8 million.

Granted, last week’s 3.9 million was high for them, but the prior week was 3.3 million. So that’s still a huge drop. And it’s the first time the sitcom dropped below 3 million.

Somehow, “The Conners” has just gone wrong this season. ABC moved the hit from Tuesdays at 8 to Wednesdays at 9 and everything fell apart. They are beaten by everything else at their hour. They’re just on too late, frankly, and the Wednesday move didn’t help.

Will “The Conners” be renewed? The end may be on the horizon.

 

CBS Sunday Morning Giving Right Wing Actor Jon Voight Forum for Anti-Abortion Views, Filmed at $20 Mil Beverly Hills Mansion

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I don’t understand what’s going on at the “CBS Sunday Morning” show.

On Sunday, they’re letting right wing actor Jon Voight spout his anti-abortion views to promote his movie, “Roe v. Wade.” This is a re-telling the Roe v Wade case from an anti-abortion perspective. The movie is funded by anti- abortion deep pockets including Nick Loeb, the guy who sued actress Sofia Vergara for her fertilized eggs after they broke up.

“Roe v. Wade” has been reviewed by just 5 critics on Rotten Tomatoes, all rotten. It has a Zero (0). Why would “Sunday Morning” give Voight this forum when they know it will spur interest, if not sales, that this film doesn’t deserve?

Voight’s publicist, Valerie Zucker, has sent out a press calling the movie, which has been panned and is not being distributed to theaters, the “true story” of the case.

From a press release: “This role was important for me as people have taken termination of pregnancy lightly,” says Voight. Voight said of the Landmark ruling, “You can’t help to wonder what would have been.”

Also from the press release, the tidbit that the interview with Ben Mankiewicz, from TCM, was filmed at a $20 million mansion in Beverly Hills. We should know it wasn’t Voight’s home. Is that a truthful profile of Voight? Where he does actually live? Will they ask about his relationship with daughter Angelina? She cannot possibly be a fan of “Roe v. Wade.”

To wit:

CBS was provided an exclusive use for the Jon Voight interview at a private residence located at 1005 N. Rexford Drive in Beverly Hills, CA. The French Provincial style home is 14,000 sq. ft. on 30,000 sq. ft. lot with 8-bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms, 4-car garage, private tennis court and much more. The residence is for sale at $19,795,000.

It’s difficult to understand what’s going on at “Sunday Morning.” Two weeks ago they promoted Hunter Biden’s book, giving the “author” a big fat kiss. The book is terrible, Hunter came off like Eddie Haskell, yet the “Sunday Morning” appearance put the book on the best seller list for two weeks. (It’s dead now, number 540 on amazon.)

Well, the ratings will be good among the conservative right. I’ll watch, but not before taking medicine for nausea.

PS Very surprised Voight has engaged a PR firm owned by two women to represent him in this endeavor. Zucker and Lewis is out of Miami, and they represent a lot of clients who might take umbrage at this project.

 

 

 

Book Biz Bust: Publisher Puts Brakes on Blake Bailey’s Philip Roth Bio But Amazon Is Still Selling it in All Forms

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Now what?

An avalanche of accusations against Philip Roth biographer Blake Bailey today in the New Orleans press spread quickly to publisher WW Norton. They immediately said they were putting the brakes on the 900 page tome, not promoting it or thinking about it anymore.

But you can buy it on Amazon in all forms, so that didn’t work.

Bailey is accused of serious stuff, like rape, by former students, all female, who say in interviews they were “groomed” by Bailey, their teacher, from the 8th grade. When they got above 18, they say he pursued them. One says she was raped.

Bailey denies all accusations.

Here’s the big interview with Eve Peyton.

Bailey’s emails with one woman are reprinted. In one he admits his behavior toward the woman was “deplorable” but he didn’t have sex with minors. Well, that’s a relief!

The women in Philip Roth’s novels always came off as objects. Then we learned how badly he treated actress Claire Bloom. Now it turns his biographer is no better or maybe worse. Could anyone have predicted this?

Peyton claims she was raped by Bailey after she became of legal age. In an email, Bailey– thinking this is a defense– wrote to her:  “For what it’s worth, you weren’t in 8th grade when the night in question occurred; you were in your 20s and I was in my 30s (just), and for the record I wasn’t attracted to you when you were in 8th grade and have never laid a glove on any student, while she was my student, including college and grad school students.”

Norton is still selling “Philip Roth: A Biography” and look, it’s probably an important book about a great writer. But the guy sounds like a pig. At least his literary agent, The Story Factory, has fired him. And he’s unlikely to be nominated for Book awards next fall.

I’ve emailed two marketing people at Norton for a response, but they’re not responding. I’m not surprised.

I’m using a photo of Philip Roth because he was a literary giant and an actual celebrity. Bailey’s picture maybe we can look for in post offices.

 

“Jeopardy!” Fans Get Their Way: LeVar Burton Will Finish the Season as Guest Host, But Will He Get the Job?

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Two hundred forty six thousand people can’t be wrong.

LeVar Burton has finally been asked to guest host “Jeopardy!” After a petition with 246,000 signatures has blossomed imploring producers to sign him up, it’s happened.

Burton will join George Stephanopolous and Robin Roberts — ABC promoting “GMA” since “Jeopardy!” runs on ABC stations, and sportscaster Joe Buck in the last round of guest hosts.

The season will end with this group and return in September with a permanent host. The competition is between Burton and Ken Jennings, the first guest host and the only one so far to maintain the ratings at 6 million.

Burton is campaigning for the job, and he certainly seems to have a following. Jennings does, too, and he’s a contracted consultant to the show.

Stay tuned!

Burton wrote on Twitter: THANK YOU… to all y’all for your passionate support! I am overjoyed, excited, and eager to be guest-hosting Jeopardy!, and will do my utmost best to live up to your faith you in me. YOU MADE A DIFFERENCE! Go ahead and take my word for it, this time.