MITL Live: 2009 Independent Spirit Awards

By Norm Schrager at February 21, 2009 | 11:18 pm | Print

In a few minutes, Steve Coogan will take the stage at this year’s Indie Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, and we’ll hang in to crack wise (in terms of both ‘wisdom’ and ‘wise ass’) for the whole show.

First, thoughts on Coogan: You gotta love a guy who got his face punched by a key grip and orchestrated a blasphemous high school musical in the same year. Okay, they were characters, but he’s obviously good at playing the unsure buffoon. If you haven’t seen him eat his shoe talking to Alfred Molina in Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes, we recommend it. Okay, show time, Norm and Allison are ready.

:: 5:04pm
Allison, we’re four minutes in and the first smack at The Love Guru has arrived! - N

:: 5:16pm
The voters have already gone a little Hollywood, giving James Franco the win for Milk. The kid from Ballast and the guy from The Visitor never had a freakin’ chance. - N

:: 5:18pm
Why is Michelle Monaghan looking more and more like Liv Tyler each appearance she makes? Loved her in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - A

:: 5:21pm
Oh, I don’t mind if more women look like Liv Tyler. Anyway, now that Dustin Lance Black has won Best First Screenplay, looks like Milk will be the movie ignored tomorrow night, so the IFP is gonna give it some lovin’ right here and now. - N

Ms. Olsen was great in The Wackness but here she is announcing Best First Screenplay and all I see is little Michelle from Full House. - A

:: 5:26pm
I love — love — that neither Aaron Eckhart nor Robin Penn could pronounce Synecdoche properly. It was pretty obvious the wild Charlie Kaufman would win this, but damn we should all see the other four nominees for Best First Feature. Kaufman gets Philip Seymour Hoffman and Samantha Morton, and those other directors got barely non-working actors. Oh, by the way, my wife was born in Schenectady. Had to mention it.- N

Charlie Kaufman was totally high. - A

:: 5:30pm
Viki is waiting for the camera to do quick shots between Michelle Williams and Mary-Kate Olsen ’cause you know why… - A

:: 5:38pm
Oops, quick shots of Michelle Williams failed — some camera guy is getting fired. Loved the look she gave him. Give Christian Bale a call, honey.- A

:: 5:42pm
I have four words: Drew Barrymore. Tongue stud. - N

:: 5:51pm
Why doesn’t Robyn Hitchcock get a sing-a-long bouncy ball? - A

:: 5:53pm
Whoever is in the Batman suit needs to move their underwear over an inch. - A

:: 5:56pm
Great to see Man on Wire win Best Documentary, and it will probably take it tomorrow night too. Shameless plug: Here’s my interview with Philippe Petit, the “man on wire”. - N

:: 5:59pm
Holy shit, I used to watch Homicide religiously and I didn’t even recognize Melissa Leo. What’s with the Angie Dickinson hair? - N

:: 6:04pm
Melissa Leo scares me. And apparently her co-star that played her son.
- A

:: 6:07pm
Man, Claire Danes needs to be in more movies. Someone hire her! - A

:: 6:13pm
I think I’m still suffering from some crazy stressful past weeks and can only make uninspiring comments. So here’s another: The winner of the Piaget Award has an Oregon Trail tattoo. - A

:: 6:16pm
That is far from uninspiring. We could talk about tattoos all night. Somebody call Diablo Cody. So Order of Myths gets the Truer than Fiction Awards — we posted the interesting movie poster when the film started working the circuit and it sounds just fascinating.- N

:: 6:23pm
Good job to The Class. That’s one point for disenchanted teachers everywhere.- A

:: 6:29pm
I heard a fantastic interview with Darren Aronofsky and he mentioned choosing his cinematographer for The Wrestler based on her documentary experience. Shit, I hope he didn’t say it again while I talked over his acceptance speech.- N

:: 6:33pm
The Synecdoche cast is so freakin’ good they could’ve won the Robert Altman award, independent or not. And I know I said it before, but how independent could the film be when they had a cast like that? Or Charlie Kaufman. It ain’t like Steven Soderbergh making Bubble.- N

:: 6:44pm
Best Actor winner Mickey Rourke is giving so much love to Eric Roberts, I am seriously waiting for the Pope of Greenwich Village sequel. Oh, and little Darren Aronofsky is “one tough son-of-a-bitch.” Really? Really?!- N

You know, I wondered how it felt for Mickey Rourke to walk through a crowd of people standing up to applaud him, people who probably didn’t give a shit about him not too long ago. And now I understand how he gets back at them…even picking on the hands-out-the-awards girl. - A

:: 6:55pm
The Wrestler wins Best Feature. And I cannot wait until Alec Baldwin and Mickey Rourke kick the piss out of each other, 80s style baby, outside the tent by the beach in Santa Monica. Bring it!- N

Awards