The Film Independent Spirit Awards are traditionally a time to take a step back from mainstream Hollywood and honor the little guy.
So good news, Ben Stiller, Natalie Portman, James Franco, Mark Ruffalo, Nicole Kidman, Michelle Williams, Aaron Eckhart, Samuel L. Jackson, Naomi Watts, Bill Murray and John C. Reilly: this could be your year to really hit it big!
Those are just some of the names that make up this year's particularly star-studded 2011 Indie nominees, which will be made all the more starry when they're joined on the night by the event's Soupalicious host Joel McHale.
Not ones to honor fluff, Winter's Bone—a thriller following an Ozark girl who hunts down her drug-dealing father—leads all contenders with seven nominations.
The Kids Are All Right, starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and alleged terrorist Mark Ruffalo, was next with five, while Black Swan, Greenberg and Rabbit Hole, starring Natalie Portman, Ben Stiller and Nicole Kidman, respectively, were next with four apiece. The faint-inducing 127 Hours, starring Oscar cohost James Franco, also got more than an honorable mention, with three nods.
You know what that means: start the Oscar buzz!
Or rather, continue it, as Portman's ballerina turn and Kidman's grieving mother are already tipped to be among the thesps due for Best Actress nominations for the big(ger) show. Franco's Best Actor Spirit Award nomination, too, puts him in good stead to possibly pull double duty as host and nominee come Academy Awards night.
As for the Oscars' more laidback sister show, held just the night before the masses assemble at the Kodak Theater, it may give the more staid show a run for its star-powered money.
The Best Actress race sees Portman and Kidman face off against Blue Valentine's Michelle Williams (her NC-17 costar Ryan Gosling missed out on a nomination), The Kids Are All Right's Bening, Greenberg's Greta Gerwig and Winter's Bone's Jennifer Lawrence.
The Best Actor race brings equal amounts of name recognition, as Franco competes against Greenberg's Stiller, Rabbit Hole's Eckhart, Cyrus' John C. Reilly and Daddy Longlegs' Ronald Bronstein.
Filling up the other categories are Mother and Child's Naomi Watts and Life During Wartime's Allison Janney, both up for Supporting Actress, and Mother and Child's Samuel L. Jackson, Get Low's Bill Murray and The Kids Are All Right's Ruffalo, who are up for Supporting Actor.
McHale will hand out the 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica on Feb. 26. Here's the complete list of nominees:
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