Bob Dylan film leads indie nominations
David Germain

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 honouring 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.”