Spirit Awards Snubs: ‘The Novice,’ ‘Wild Indian’ Shut Out
Indigenous representation had a moment during the 2022 Film Independent Spirit Awards, with the Native American-centric Reservation Dogs winning best new scripted series and its cast taking the stage for the show’s previously announced best ensemble win, but two other projects with Indigenous leads — Wild Indian and Rutherford Falls — failed to win a single award for which they were nominated.
Michael Greyeyes, who appears in both the Vertical Entertainment film and Peacock series and earned a shoutout during Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally’s monologue, was nominated for both projects, but he didn’t win either award.
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Wild Indian also went into the Spirit Awards up for four awards, the same number of nominations received by The Lost Daughter, which won three trophies.
Given The Lost Daughter‘s dominance — the film won best feature, director and screenplay — it’s somewhat surprising that it didn’t win a fourth award for Oscar-nominated best supporting actress Jessie Buckley.
While some pundits thought Buckley might win, perhaps strengthening her Oscar prospects, it was Passing‘s Ruth Negga, who didn’t earn an Oscar nod, who took home the supporting female award.
The Novice went into the Spirit Awards with the second most nominations — five, behind leading nominee Zola — but failed to win a single award. Other notable multi-nominated titles that were shut out include A Chiara, C’Mon C’Mon and Test Pattern.
Test Pattern and Wild Indian are arguably two of the better known titles nominated for best first feature, but that award somewhat surprisingly went to 7 Days, which has yet to receive a U.S. release — it’s set to hit theaters March 25.
While Troy Kotsur made history with his best supporting actor win for CODA, winning the only award for which the film was nominated, Colman Domingo fans online were lamenting that he didn’t win for his role in Zola.
And those closely watching the competitive best documentary Oscar race likely took note of Summer of Soul‘s Spirit Awards win over fellow top contender Flee.
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