Lily Gladstone Triumphs at the Glamorous Gotham Awards | Vanity Fair

The article was written by Savannah Walsh and the photography was taken by Landon Nordeman.

Bob Odenkirk made a comment on Justine Triet's film, Anatomy of a Fall, at the 33rd annual Gotham Awards. He said, “That’s a great movie,”. He was there to present an award, however, that was not the only compliment the film received that night. At the New York gala, Triet's film won the best international feature and screenplay. These were received by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari. Arthur gave two acceptance speeches, the second of which was a tribute to Bob Dylan.

Several other impromptu onstage actions occurred that night. Notable mentions include Bob Odenkirk's rephrased remarks with Steven Yeun and in addition, a notable speech given by Robert De Niro, star of Killers of the Flower Moon. These occurrences marked the beginning of the awards season. The Vanity Fair, which is a partner of the Gotham Awards, attended the event held at Cipriani Wall Street. The event was graced with the likes of Bradley Cooper, Greta Lee, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Margot Robbie. This was the first gathering of stars after many months of Hollywood strikes.

The Gotham Awards did not limit nominations to films with budgets of less than $35 million, as was the tradition this year. Nevertheless, the event still preserved its indie DNA by recognizing smaller films in many top categories. One such film, A24’s Past Lives, won in the best feature category. This film was written and directed by Celine Song and it won against Ira Sachs’s Passages, Tina Satter’s Reality, Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up, and A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One. The award for breakthrough director was received by A.V. Rockwell.

Meanwhile, Lily Gladstone received major awards acclaim late in the ceremony. She received back-to-back acceptance speeches for Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and The Unknown Country. The former bagged the Gotham Historical Icon and Creator Tribute Award while the latter won for the outstanding lead performance award. The award was won for her role in Morrisa Maltz’s indie, The Unknown Country.

Charles Melton came out as the victorious supporting performer. It is important to note that from 2021 onwards, all of the Gotham’s acting categories have been de-gendered. His performance in Todd Haynes’s May December was recognized and he beat others such as The Holdovers’ Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’s Rachel McAdams his performance to take home the award.

Meanwhile, Four Daughters, an Arabic-language film by Tunsinian director Kaouther Ben Hania, won best documentary. However, Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers, which received four Gotham Award nominations, did not receive any awards.

In terms of TV categories, which only honor new programming, National Geographic’s A Small Light won best breakthrough series, over runs more than 40 minutes. Netflix’s Beef received awards for the breakthrough series, under runs of 40 minutes, and outstanding performance in a new series which was received by Ali Wong.

While several studios opted not to submit their bigger budget contenders, like Oppenheimer or The Color Purple, the Gothams did hand out several tribute awards to more mainstream films throughout the evening. Air screenwriter Alex Convery accepted an honor for his first film in lieu of director Ben Affleck. “In Ben’s place, I am contractually obligated to tell you that the Ice Spice Munchkin Latte is now available at Dunkin’ Donuts worldwide,” he quipped.

Adam Driver colorfully paid tribute to his Ferrari director Michael Mann with a story about Mann leaping out of a car at an LA intersection to retrieve his wallet from a 7/11. “He doesn’t want anything to get in the way of what he’s trying to do, including himself,” the actor said.

Rustin star Colman Domingo and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre honored Netflix’s film about March on Washington organizer Bayard Rustin. Accepting the award, director George C. Wolfe noted, “Democracy is a muscle, and if you don’t use it, it atrophies and is not functional. We understand every day we must invest in democracy; otherwise, mediocrity and evil will rise.”

Maestro filmmaker Bradley Cooper was joined by his castmates Carey Mulligan and Gideon Glick, as well as two of Leonard Bernstein’s children, Alex and Jamie. Cooper credited the Bernsteins with the film’s success. “The journey we went on telling this story as authentically and truthfully as we could never would have happened without Jamie, Alex, and Nina,” Cooper said.

Before Past Lives was presented with the night’s top honor, Laura Dern, clad in a Barbie graphic tee and satin blazer, introduced director Greta Gerwig and star Robbie, who paid tribute to her character by recreating 1964’s “Black Magic” Barbie look. The pair joked about ignoring Mattel’s notes on the film and teased that part of casting supporting performer nominee Ryan Gosling as Ken was the chance to exchange texts with the actor. Gerwig concluded their lively remarks by joyfully sending up the Gothams’ Cipriani venue: “We love a restaurant in a bank!” Robbie added, “And Ryan texts us back now—huzzah!” Allow the people behind the year’s biggest movie to confirm it: Awards season is so back.