Bob Dylan film leads indie nominations

LOS ANGELES - The whimsical Bob Dylan narrative "I'm Not There," featuring Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere and four others playing incarnations of the enigmatic singer, led nominees Tuesday for the Spirit Awards honoring independent film.

"I'm Not There" was nominated for best feature; supporting actress for Blanchett; supporting actor for child performer Marcus Carl Franklin; and best director for Todd Haynes.

Also nominated for best film were two others about real people: Angelina Jolie's "A Mighty Heart," in which she plays the wife of slain reporter Daniel Pearl, and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," chronicling the life of French Elle Editor Jean-Dominique Bauby after a paralyzing stroke.

The other best-film nominees: "Juno," featuring Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman and Ellen Page in a comic drama about a pregnant teen planning to give up her baby for adoption, and "Paranoid Park," director Gus Van Sant's drama about a young skateboarder tormented by an incident in which he caused a security guard's death.

The Spirit Awards will be presented Feb. 23, the day before the Academy Awards.

Jolie as Mariane Pearl in "A Mighty Heart" and Page as the pregnant teen in "Juno" earned lead-actress nominations, along with Sienna Miller for "Interview," Parker Posey for "Broken English" and Tang Wei for "Lust, Caution."

Lead-actor contenders: Pedro Castaneda for "August Evening," Don Cheadle for "Talk to Me," Philip Seymour Hoffman for "The Savages," Frank Langella for "Starting Out in the Evening" and Tony Leung for "Lust, Caution."

Joining "I'm Not There" creator Haynes in the best-director field were Van Sant for "Paranoid Park," Tamara Jenkins for "The Savages," Jason Reitman for "Juno" and Julian Schnabel for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."

"I'm Not There" also was chosen to receive the first-ever Robert Altman Award, given in honor of the maverick director known for sprawling ensemble casts, overlapping dialogue and other convention-breaking methods.

Adrienne Shelly, the director and co-star of the indie hit "Waitress" who was found slain in her Manhattan apartment last year, earned a nomination for best screenplay for the film.

Source: news.yahoo.com