Big Screen Little Screen

Fellow Oscar competitors There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, Atonement, and Michael Clayton weren’t in contention because their production budgets exceeded 20 million - lucky for Juno that gaudy marketing dollars weren’t accounted for - rookie scribe Diablo Cody took home Best First Screenplay, Ellen Page won Best Female Lead, and Juno was awarded Best Feature at Saturday’s Independent Spirit Awards ceremony. Despite practically non-existent promotion compared to the big winner, two more-deserving studio-mate films on Fox Searchlight also received awards: Phillip Seymour Hoffman won Best Male Lead and Tamara Jenkins won Best Screenplay for The Savages, while John Carney’s Once was named Best Foreign Film. Also acknowledged were Julian Schnabel (Best Director - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), and Cate Blanchett (Best Supporting Female - I’m Not There).

Full Winners list - Variety

Tags: juno, ellen page, once, diving bell and the butterfly, cate blanchett