Alejandro G. Inarritu's "Birdman" leads Indie Spirit Award noms

PanARMENIAN.Net - "Birdman", "Boyhood", "Selma" and "Nightcrawler" lead this year's Independent Spirit Award nominations, announced Tuesday, Nov 26 afternoon. Rosario Dawson and Diego Luna revealed the list for the 30th annual awards in Hollywood, according to Huffington Post.

Those four movies, along with "Whiplash" and "Love is Strange," held onto expectations that they'd make sizable showings in the 2015 Indie Spirit crop. "The Imitation Game," "Wild," "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby" and "St. Vincent" were shut out entirely, while "Foxcatcher" netted the Special Distinction Award but was ineligible in other categories.

Often seen as sending awards season into hyperdrive, the Indie Spirit Awards are the first major nominations announced each year. They champion American films made for less than $20 million, which allow certain movies too low-key or off-kilter for the Oscars' radar to earn awards glory.

This year's nominees include Jenny Slate ("Obvious Child"), Jake Gyllenhaal ("Nightcrawler") and John Lithgow ("Love is Strange"), all of whom have notched spots on Oscar wish lists but are unlikely to prevail when the Academy Award nods arrive on Jan. 15. Indie Spirit trends have shifted in recent years, however, with the nominees more closely reflecting the Oscars. Last year, all four acting awards echoed the Oscar recipients (Matthew McConaughey, Cate Blanchett, Jared Leto, Lupita Nyong'o) for the first time in the awards' history. Julianne Moore ("Still Alice"), Michael Keaton ("Birdman") and Patricia Arquette ("Boyhood") are among this year's nominees widely expected to garner Oscar attention as well.