NEW YORK (AP) — In a shock that shocked the viewers of Hollywood’s first large awards-season bash, “A Different Man,” a darkish comedy about doppelgängers, deformity and authenticity in performing, gained greatest characteristic movie on the thirty fourth Gotham Awards on Monday night time.
A lot might be unpredictable on the Gotham Awards, which makes use of small juries of insiders and movie trade veterans to select nominees and winners. However because the “A Different Man” ensemble, together with Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson, took the stage, writer-director Aaron Schimberg was in apparent disbelief.
“I don’t assume I am the one individual on this room who’s completely shocked,” said Schimberg. “Considering the other nominees, I thought it would be hubris to prepare a speech.”
At a starry Gothams that drew Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet and Angelina Jolie, most had been anticipating triumph for Sean Baker’s “Anora,” a comedy a couple of intercourse employee who marries the son of a Russian oligarch. It got here within the lead nominee, the Cannes Palme d’Or winner, and perhaps a high best-picture contender on the Oscars, however went residence empty-handed.
As an alternative, the night time belonged to the A24 launch “A Different Man,” which stars Stan as a person with facial deformities who’s healed of them. He is then upstaged by the character performed by Pearson, who has neurofibromatosis, a situation that covers a lot of his face with benign pores and skin tumors.
The Gothams aren’t an Oscar bellwether, although a number of of its current high winners – together with final 12 months’s winner “Past Lives,” in addition to “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Nomadland” – have gone on to be nominated for greatest image on the Academy Awards, with “Everything Everywhere” and “Nomadland” successful.
Whether or not any of the winners Monday night time — “Sing Sing” and “Nickel Boys” had been additionally victorious — will use the early wins as a springboard for extra trophies stays to be seen. However the Gothams, a black-tie affair held at Cipriani Wall Road in downtown Manhattan, have a tendency give some sense of the flavour of the upcoming gauntlet of award-season ceremonies.
How outstanding politics, and the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, may be on this 12 months’s Oscar race is among the largest questions because the season ramps up. On Monday, Trump’s identify was by no means uttered on stage (although Stan is within the awards combine for enjoying him in “The Apprentice” ), nor had been there any overtly political statements. However a number of winners appeared to allude to the shifting political local weather.
“Let’s keep doing the work that really matters and makes a difference,” mentioned Colman Domingo, who gained greatest lead efficiency. “That’s what we can do right now. That can be the light in the darkness.”
Domingo gained for his starring function in “Sing Sing,” the indie drama about an actual jail program referred to as Rehabilitation By way of the Arts, which helps incarcerated folks heal by way of theater productions. Clarence Maclin, one of many previously incarcerated males who co-star within the movie, gained greatest supporting efficiency. (The Gothams give gender-neutral performing awards that quantity 10 nominees as a substitute of the standard 5.)
“If someone was going to tell me ten years ago, I was going to be here, I wouldn’t have believed it,” mentioned Maclin.
“Sing Sing,” additionally from A24, was arguably the emotional winner of the night time. The movie’s ensembled additionally accepted a tribute award. In one of many night’s strongest speeches Sean Dino Johnson, a founding member of RTA, spoke passionately in regards to the redemptive qualities of the humanities.
“Standing here tonight we are proof that movies like ‘Sing Sing’ don’t just entertain,” mentioned Johnson. “They change lives.”
RaMell Ross’ “Nickel Boys,” the arrestingly photographed Colson Whitehead adaptation, additionally gained two main awards: greatest director for Ross and breakthrough performer for Brandon Wilson. Ross’ movie, about two Black youngsters at an abusive juvenile reform college in Jim Crow-era Florida, is filmed largely from the first-person perspective of its two foremost characters.
For a lot of, the Gothams are an opportunity to make an impression with a speech that helps solidify their awards possibilities. To that trigger, the Gothams gave out an array of tribute awards. This 12 months’s crop was significantly starry, together with Zendaya (for “Challengers” ), Jolie (for “Maria”), Chalamet and James Mangold (for “A Complete Unknown”), Denis Villeneuve (for “Dune: Part Two” ), the solid of “The Piano Lesson,” and Franklin Leonard, founding father of the unproduced screenplay platform The Black Listing.
Jolie, who performs the opera singer Maria Callas in “Maria,” additionally spoke in regards to the significance of the humanities.
“It’s so important that art be taught in our schools, and so concerning that is being reduced,” Jolie mentioned.
Zendaya, honored for her efficiency in Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers,” took a second to thank her date. “My mom’s here tonight,” she said. “Shout out mom.”
Chalamet learn a brief speech about his transformation into Bob Dylan for the upcoming “A Complete Unknown.”
“Getting to study and immerse myself in the world of Bob Dylan has been the greatest education a young artist can receive,” Chalamet said. “If you’re already a fan of Bob Dylan, this will make perfect sense to you. If you’re not familiar with his work, perhaps our film can serve as a humble gateway to one of the great poets and chroniclers of our times.”
Finest documentary went to “No Other Land,” a movie made by a Palestinian and Israeli filmmaker collective that paperwork Israeli occupation of a Palestinian village in West Financial institution over the course of years. Regardless of being one of many 12 months’s most acclaimed documentaries, “No Other Land” stays with out an American distributor.
Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light,” a poetic drama about three ladies in fashionable Mumbai, took the award for greatest worldwide movie. Although the movie was the primary Indian film in competitors in additional than 30 years on the Cannes Movie Competition, India opted to not choose it for its Oscar submission.
The award for breakthrough director went to Vera Drew for “The People’s Joker,” a superhero parody about gender identification. Drew thanked Warner Bros. “for not suing me” and Nicole Kidman, an attendee, as a result of, Drew mentioned, “’Batman Forever’ is when I realized I was trans.”
