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‘Lady Bird’ soars Gothams and Spirits Trivia question Another voyage by ship?
Lots of awards buzz for “Lady Bird.”
“Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut, has set the record for most reviews for a film with a 100 percent-positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The awards contender written by the actress, playwright and screenwriter received the title from the site upon collecting 165 positive reviews against zero negative ones. The previous record holder was “Toy Story 3,” with 163. That film was nominated for the best picture Oscar and won for best animated feature.
It should be noted it’s erroneous to consider this the “best-reviewed film” in RT history; the site only counts positive and negative reviews in a binary fashion, not the intensity of the love or hate shown a film by critics. Thus “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” can receive a 96 percent rating and end up on virtually no best-of lists at the end of the year.
That said, “Lady Bird” is racking up nominations and awards, including four Independent Spirit nods (for feature, female lead, supporting female and screenplay) and three Gotham noms (winning for Saoirse Ronan’s lead performance).
Speaking of the Gotham Independent Film Awards, they are among the first “name” honors of the awards season, and may presage certain trends, especially in the indie world.
Their best feature prize has aligned with both the Oscars and Independent Spirits each of the last three years, but only one other time with the Spirits (“Sideways”) and one other with the Oscars (“The Hurt Locker”) in their 14-year history. The Spirits and Gothams often don’t even nominate the films that end up winning each other’s best feature prize. In 2007, the two bodies shared only one best feature nominee: “I’m Not There.” It didn’t win in either race. In 2006, they also shared only one (“Half Nelson,” which won the Spirit).
The two may have some disagreement about what qualifies as “independent,” explaining the wide variances among their nominees, but one thing is clear: The Spirits more often align with the Oscars these days, matching the top prize five of the last six years.
This year’s Gotham winner, “Call Me by Your Name,” is among the Spirit nominees. The other two joint nominees: “The Florida Project” and “Get Out,” which won Gothams for Jordan Peele as “breakthrough director” and screenwriter, and also collected the audience award.
What was the first Independent Spirit Award winner for best film or best feature: “After Hours,” “Blood Simple,” “Smooth Talk” or “The Trip to Bountiful”?
Peter Weir’s 2003 “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” starring Russell Crowe as Capt. Jack Aubrey, was meant to launch a series of movies based on Patrick O’Brian’s seafaring novels. The film racked up 10 Oscar nominations, including best picture, and won two, but was otherwise wiped out in the “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” sweep that year. It grossed $212 million worldwide — apparently not enough to keep franchise hopes afloat on a $150 million budget.
But recently, Crowe tweeted that a sequel may indeed be in the works.
“For the Aubrey Maturin lovers,” he tweeted, referencing main characters Aubrey and ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin (played by Paul Bettany), “I do hear whispers indeed that a second voyage is perhaps potentially pre-proposed a possibility.”
He then encouraged fans to take action: “So O’Brian affectionate’s (sic) and aficionados, let @20thcenturyfox know of your pleasure.”
There is no official word of this from Fox, and there has been sequel talk before (apparently sans Weir) that came to nothing. But perhaps with the star publicly campaigning, something might get going.
Crowe’s tweet is at https://tiny url.com/y8468vug
Trivia answer
“After Hours,” directed by Martin Scorsese.
Michael Ordoña is a Los Angelesbased freelance writer. Twitter: @michaelordona