In the news
'Lost in Translation' wins 4 indie awards
By wire services
Published March 1, 2004
Lost in Translation, Sofia Coppola's dour comedy about two kindred spirits at loose ends in Tokyo, took the top prizes - including best feature - on Saturday at the Independent Spirit Awards, the indie film world's version of the Oscars.
Lost in Translation won in the four categories in which it was nominated - best feature, best director, best screenplay and best male lead (Bill Murray).
Coppola, the 32-year-old daughter of The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, was joined on stage by her father and said she appreciated "all the advice" her father gave her about screenwriting.
Also winning an indie film honor was Charlize Theron, who took the best female lead prize for playing serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster, which also earned the best first feature trophy for director Patty Jenkins.
Djimon Hounsou, who starred as a dying artist in In America, was named best supporting actor, while Shohreh Aghdashloo was voted best supporting actress as the compassionate Iranian immigrant in House of Sand and Fog.
The Spirit Awards honor independent films, financed at least partly outside the Hollywood studio system. The event takes place annually on the Saturday before the Oscars under a circus tent on the Santa Monica, Calif., beach.
Other winners included 16-year-old Nikki Reed, for best debut performance in the teen drama Thirteen.
The Station Agent, about three disparate characters who discover a connection, earned its writer-director Thomas McCarthy the best first screenplay award as well as the John Cassavetes Award for the best feature made for under $500,000.
Whale Rider, set in New Zealand, was named best foreign film; Errol Morris' The Fog of War, a film portrait of former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, was chosen as best documentary, and Declan Quinn earned the best cinematography award for his work on In America.
Asolo associate artistic director leaving
Bruce Rodgers, the Asolo Theatre's associate artistic director, is leaving the Sarasota company at the end of the season, he said Friday. Rodgers, a playwright who has been on the theater's staff 11 years, had several plays produced there, including Lost Electra and The Gravity of Honey. Asolo producing artistic director Howard Millman recently announced he was stepping down in 2005.
"Passion' crosses $100-million mark
Mel Gibson's controversial The Passion of the Christ gamble paid off, bringing in a $117.5-million haul in its first five days, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Passion, which debuted on Ash Wednesday, rocketed to the No. 1 box office slot for the weekend with $76.2-million from Friday to Sunday. The first movie released in 2004 to cross the $100-million mark, The Passion easily passed the weekend's No. 2 flick, 50 First Dates - at $12.6-million for the weekend and $88.7-million since its debut - as the year's top-grossing film.
[Last modified March 1, 2004, 01:31:03]
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In the news'Lost in Translation' wins 4 indie awards
