Pre-Oscars Awards Roundup: Independent Spirit Awards and the Razzies

Posted by: Paul Little  •  February 22, 2009 @ 6:50pm

Every year, on the day before the Academy Awards telecast, two awards ceremonies take place -- one celebrating the best in independent cinema, the other "celebrating" the worst in all of cinema. The Independent Spirit Awards and Golden Raspberry Awards were both handed out last night in decidely different ceremonies.

In a tented ceremony on the beach in Santa Monica, the Independent Spirit Awards were given out to many Oscar front-runners, perhaps giving a boost to Best Actor winner Micky Rourke and Best Supporting Actress winner Penelope Cruz leading into today's Oscars. Other winners included Woody Allen for the Vicky Cristina Barcelona screenplay and James Franco for his supporting role in Milk.

The Razzies were a different story, of course, as they celebrate the worst in films -- and oh, there were some bad films in 2008! The Love Guru and Paris Hilton cleaned up, garnering multiple awards each. Love Guru was named worst film and worst screenplay, while Mike Myers was named worst actor. Paris Hilton, meanwhile, "won" for worst actress (The Hottie and the Nottie) and worst supporting actress (Repo: The Genetic Opera). Surprisingly, none of the winners showed up to accept their awards.

A complete list of winners for both ceremonies are below:

The Independent Spirit Award Winners

Best Feature: The Wrestler

Best Director: Tom McCarthy (The Visitor)

Best First Feature: Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York)

John Cassavetes Award (Feature Made for Under $500,000): In Search of a Midnight Kiss (Alex Holdridge)

Best Screenplay: Woody Allen (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)

Best First Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black (Milk)

Best Female Lead: Melissa Leo (Frozen River)

Best Male Lead: Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)

Best Supporting Female: Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)

Best Supporting Male: James Franco (Milk)

Best Foreign Film: The Class (Laurent Cantet)

Best Documentary: Man on Wire (James Marsh)

Best Cinematography: The Wrestler (Maryse Alberti)

Robert Altman Award (Director, Casting Director, and Ensemble Cast): Synecdoche, New York

Piaget Producers Award: Heather Rae (Frozen River)

Acura Someone to Watch Award: Lynn Shelton (My Effortless Brilliance)

Lacoste Truer Than Fiction Award: Margaret Brown (The Order of Myths)

The 29th Annual Golden Raspberry Award "Winners"

Worst Picture: The Love Guru

Worst Actor: Mike Myers (The Love Guru)

Worst Actress: Paris Hilton (The Hottie and the Nottie)

Worst Supporting Actor: Pierce Brosnan (Mamma Mia!)

Worst Supporting Actress: Paris Hilton (Repo: The Genetic Opera)

Worst Screen Couple: Paris Hilton and Christine Lakin or Joel David Moore (The Hottie and the Nottie)

Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel (Combined Category for 2008): Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull

Worst Director: Uwe Boll (1968: Tunnel Rats, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, and Postal)

Worst Screenplay: The Love Guru (Mike Myers & Graham Gordy)

Worst Career Achievement: Uwe Boll (Germany's answer to Ed Wood)

Tags: Independent Spirit Awards, Razzies, The Wrestler, Woody Allen, The Love Guru

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Paul Little is the founder and Managing Editor of ShowbizMonkeys.com. When not interviewing his favourite musicians and comedians, he can also be found putting on and promoting music and comedy events with The Purple Room in Winnipeg, or co-producing the live comedy game shows Pants on Fire and The Great Patio Showdown. (@comedygeek)