‘Lady Bird’ soars
NY Film Critics Circle hands out awards.
NEW YORK – For Team Lady Bird, the New York Film Critics Circle Awards was a family affair.
Greta Gerwig’s relatable coming-ofage comedy was the belle of the ball at the annual critics’ group dinner, hosted at the capacious Tao Downtown restaurant Wednesday night.
Tokyo-style filet mignon and fried rice lined the menu, as did moviethemed drinks such as the vodka-based Lady Bird — named for the film the critics group awarded best picture and actress (Saoirse Ronan) — and sparkling Chalamet Champagne, a nod to
Lady Bird co-star Timothée Chalamet, who picked up best actor for his work in the gay romance Call Me By Your Name.
The boozy event was something of a homecoming for Ronan, 23, whom critics named best actress just two years ago for her heart-rending turn in Brooklyn as an Irish immigrant.
This go-round, “it’s great. I know the layout of the place now, so I won’t get lost,” Ronan told USA TODAY on the red carpet before the show. “Timmy is being awarded for Call Me By Your Name, and Greta (is) for the movie. For it to be a joint experience for us all is special.”
The love fest was mutual for Chalamet, 22, who gushed that “Saoirse is a sister to me. Last night she said to me, ‘We’re on this ride together.’ And I said, ‘You’ve been on this ride way longer than I’ve been on this ride!’ The ‘seat belt fasten’ sign is still on for me.”
The actors, both born in New York, paid tribute to the city on accepting their awards, which also went to Girls
Trip breakout Tiffany Haddish (best supporting actress), and The Florida
Project’s Willem Dafoe and Sean Baker (supporting actor and director, respectively). Chalamet even gave an uproarious shout-out to Haddish, whose Girls
Trip character simulated sex with a fruit as he did in Call Me By Your Name.
“Tiffany, you know grapefruits very well — I know peaches,” Chalamet joked to huge applause and laughter. He proceeded to thank his Call Me co-star and “big brother” Armie Hammer, who was in the audience. “Being a young actor, you’re opposite older actors who are often well-established and big names (unto) themselves,” Chalamet said. “I was the luckiest kid in the world to be there with Armie.”
Gerwig thanked Chalamet and Ronan in her emotional acceptance speech for best picture, which closed out the threehour dinner.
“I love those kids so much and I’m so proud of them,” Gerwig told USA TODAY earlier in the evening. “It’s just been amazing to watch them get rewarded for such great work.”
As for the enthusiastic reception to
Lady Bird — a loosely autobiographical story about a high school girl in Sacramento, which is vying for four Golden Globe Awards this Sunday — the critical acclaim has been “utterly amazing,” said Gerwig, 34, who wrote and directed the film. “Obviously, you make something and you put everything you’ve got into it, but never in my wildest dreams did I think this would be the response.”