‘Marriage Story’ scooped four prizes at the 2019 Gotham Independent Film Awards.
Noah Baumbach’s Netflix comedy-drama has created early Oscars buzz after winning Best Feature, Best Actor for Adam Driver (Charlie), Best Screenplay and a Film Audience Award at the prestigious ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street in New York on Monday night (02.12.19).
In one of his speeches, Baumbach thanked the cast, which also features Laura Dern (Nora Fanshaw) and Scarlett Johansson (Nicole), and hailed them as his "special effect".
He said: "My special effect, my everything is the cast.
"I hide behind them.
"When I was cutting the movie, I felt like it was not mine anymore. It was theirs.
"That’s the greatest gift any director can get."
The filmmaker later thanked streaming service Netflix for its "unconditional" support of the film.
The movie beat ‘Uncut Gems’, ‘Hustlers’ and ‘Waves’ to the crown.
During his acceptance speech for Best Actor, Driver – who was handed his prize by ‘Hustlers’ star Jennifer Lopez – said he would "add to the list of people who’ve been thanking them."
The ‘BlacKkKlansman’ star also heaped praise on the movie’s helmer and shared that he hopes to star in many more of his films.
He added: "He’s trusted me with four parts. I hope for 14 more."
Elsewhere, Awkwafina took home Best Actress for her role as Billi in Lulu Wang’s family drama ‘The Farewell’.
The overwhelmed star told the star-studded audience: "Holy sh**!
"I never won anything. I can’t even win an argument in the Instagram comments."
She then thanked the "grandmas everywhere, for spoiling us, loving us and believing in us."
The evening also saw Laura Dern honoured with the Actress Tribute, and she paid a special thank you to her actor parents, Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, "who conceived me on the set of a Roger Corman movie — bless them."
The evening also saw Sam Rockwell take home the Actor Tribute, whilst Ava DuVernay won the Directors Tribute and statuette for Breakthrough Series for ‘When They See Us’.
An abridged list of the winners is as follows:
Best Feature
‘Marriage Story’
Best Actor
Adam Driver – ‘Marriage Story’
Best Actress
Awkwafina – ‘The Farewell’
Best Documentary
‘American Factory’
Best Screenplay
‘Marriage Story’ – Noah Baumbach
Breakthrough Actor
Taylor Russell – ‘Waves’
Audience Award
‘Marriage Story’
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre – ‘The Mustang’
Actor Tribute
Sam Rockwell
Actress Tribute
Laura Dern