The Blair Witch Project may have been the cinema sensation of 1999, but the film has cut little ice with judges at the Independent Spirit Awards. When the nominations were announced last night, Dan Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez's poverty-row hit garnered but a cursory nod, in the low-profile Best First Feature Under $500,000 category. The Straight Story, Election, Sugar Town, The Limey and Cookie's Fortune will contest the Best Film trophy.
Now in its fifteenth year, the Independent Spirit Awards have established themselves as the Oscars of independent American cinema. But a rigid set of guidelines has this year conspired against the independently financed Blair Witch, which converted a budget of $40,000 into box-office returns topping $140m. Spirit guidelines state that debut films cannot be nominated in either the Best Film or Best Director categories. This rules out not only Blair Witch, but also the acclaimed Boy's Don't Cry and Being John Malkovich. Widely viewed as the year's best indie offerings, each film is the work of a first-time director.
With Blair Witch hamstrung by red tape, Alexander Payne's biting high-school satire Election and Steven Soderbergh's retro-thriller The Limey lead the shortlist with five nominations apiece. The Limey's star Terence Stamp is nominated for Best Actor and Soderbergh for Best Director, alongside Alexander Payne, David Lynch (for The Straight Story), Harmony Korine (for julien donkey boy) and Doug Liman (for Go).
• The awards will be announced in LA on March 25, a day ahead of the Academy Awards.
One giant leap backwards for Jim Carrey?
Panned on release and struggling at the US box office, Man on the Moon is shaping up as the biggest flop of Jim Carrey's star career. Directed by Oscar-winner Milos Forman, Universal's biopic of the late, nearly great comedian Andy Kaufman has made a scant $31m so far and spent just two weeks in the American top ten. Industry experts are privately predicting that the film will be unable to recoup its budget of $52m.
Man on the Moon's faltering fortunes are being blamed on a combination of poor reviews and a bungled release date. The picture was originally booked for cinemas last November until studio heads rescheduled it for a Christmas release in order to put the Carrey vehicle in contention for the Golden Globes.
Speaking to Hollywood.com, co-executive producer Bob Zmuda criticised the studio's decision. "All the people who know how this stuff works felt that releasing it in November would have been the best call," Zmuda says. "As Milos Forman says, this is not a Christmas film. This is an R-rated film, it ain't Toy Story, it ain't Stuart Little. There is usually a more serious film-going audience in the fall. In the Christmas season, you're looking for lighter fare."
Hilary Swank eyes up Hannibal role
Hilary Swank yesterday emerged as an outside contender for the Clarice Starling role in Hannibal. iFUSE.com last night reported that the Boy's Don't Cry star had been reading for the part with Hannibal director Ridley Scott. An assistant at Swank's Creative Artists Agency confirmed that the actress had met with Scott, but would not be drawn further.
The favourite to fill the role recently vacated by Jodie Foster, however, remains Cate Blanchette. But Swank's late surge reflects an abrupt career upswing for an actress tipped for an Oscar nomination for her star turn as the androgynous anti-hero of the Kimberly Peirce indie flick.
Cruise considers WW2 project
Tom Cruise is considering a starring role in the Columbia project Fertig, the fact-based tale of second world war soldier William Fertig, Variety reports. Playwright William Nicholson is currently writing the screenplay.
But workaholic Cruise doesn't stop there; he is also committed to working with Steven Spielberg on the Fox film Minority Report later this year, which follows the Blade Runner and Total Recall route by adapting a Phillip K Dick short story for the big screen.
Casting couch
• David "Fight Club" Fincher's next project is thought to be Passengers, a sci-fi drama based on a short story which takes its inspiration from Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
• Catherine Zeta-Jones has pulled out of Oliver Stone's new movie, Beyond Borders. The star of Entrapment, who has recently plighted her troth to Michael Douglas, did not give a reason for her withdrawal from the romantic thriller, but it is thought to be her desire to star in a movie with her fiancé before their marriage later in the year. Julia Roberts is now expected to star as the humanitarian aid worker who falls in love with Kevin Costner.
• Steve Martin, who successfully satirised Hollywood in Bowfinger, is set to lampoon another area of the entertainment world with Long Lost, a film about a Barry Manilow-type crooner who manipulates a wannabe starlet when his career appears to be on the wane.
