NEW YORK (AP) – In a surprise that stunned the audience of Hollywood’s first big awards-season bash, A Different Man, a dark comedy about doppelgängers, deformity and authenticity in acting, won best feature film at the 34th Gotham Awards on Monday night.
Much can be unpredictable at the Gotham Awards, which uses small juries of insiders and film industry veterans to pick nominees and winners. But as the A Different Man ensemble, including Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson, took the stage, writer-director Aaron Schimberg was in obvious disbelief.
“I don’t think I’m the only person in this room who’s totally stunned,” said Schimberg. “Considering the other nominees, I thought it would be hubris to prepare a speech.”
At a starry Gothams that drew Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet and Angelina Jolie, most were expecting triumph for Sean Baker’s Anora, a comedy about a woman who marries the son of a Russian oligarch. It came in the lead nominee, the Cannes Palme d’Or winner, and maybe a top best-picture contender at the Oscars, but went home empty-handed.
Instead, the night belonged to the A24 release A Different Man, which stars Stan as a man with facial deformities who’s healed of them. He’s then upstaged by the character played by Pearson, who genuinely has neurofibromatosis, a condition that covers much of his face with benign skin tumours.
The Gothams aren’t an Oscar bellwether, though several of its recent top winners – including last year’s winner Past Lives, as well as Everything Everywhere All at Once and Nomadland – have gone on to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards, with Everything Everywhere and Nomadland winning.
Whether any of the winners on Monday night – Sing Sing and Nickel Boys were also victorious – will use the early wins as a springboard for more trophies remains to be seen.
But the Gothams, a black-tie affair held at Cipriani Wall Street in downtown Manhattan, tend give some sense of the flavour of the upcoming gauntlet of award-season ceremonies.
How prominent politics, and the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, might be in this year’s Oscar race is one of the biggest questions as the season ramps up.
On Monday, Trump’s name was never uttered on stage (though Stan is in the awards mix for playing him in The Apprentice ), nor were there any overtly political statements. But several winner seemed to allude to the shifting political climate.
“Let’s keep doing the work that really matters and makes a difference,” said Colman Domingo, who won best lead performance. “That’s what we can do right now. That can be the light in the darkness.”
Domingo won for his starring role in Sing Sing, the indie drama about a real prison programme called Rehabilitation Through the Arts, which helps incarcerated people heal through theatre productions. Clarence Maclin, one of the formerly incarcerated men who co-star in the film, won best supporting performance. (The Gothams give gender-neutral acting awards that number 10 nominees instead of the typical five.)
For many, the Gothams are a chance to make an impression with a speech that helps solidify their awards chances. To that cause, the Gothams gave out an array of tribute awards. This year’s crop was particularly starry, including Zendaya (for Challengers ), Jolie (for Maria), Chalamet and James Mangold (for A Complete Unknown), Denis Villeneuve (for Dune: Part Two ), the cast of The Piano Lesson, and Franklin Leonard, founder of the fabled unproduced screenplay platform The Black List.
Jolie, who plays the opera singer Maria Callas in Maria, also spoke about the importance of the arts. “It’s so important that art be taught in our schools, and so concerning that is being reduced,” Jolie said.
Zendaya, honoured for her performance in Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, took a moment to thank her date. “My mum’s here tonight,” she said. “Shout out mum.”
Chalamet read a short speech about his transformation into Bob Dylan for the upcoming A Complete Unknown.
“Getting to study and immerse myself in the world of Bob Dylan has been the greatest education a young artiste can receive,” Chalamet said. – Jake Coyle
