2009 Spirit Award Nominations Announced

The Spirit Awards organizers are assuring us that this year’s ceremony will maintain its casual atmosphere but with a few changes. The festivities, airing live and uncut on March 5, 2010, move to the L.A. Live Campus in downtown and will air at a hipper time slot—Friday evening at 11 p.m. EST instead of Saturday afternoon. The nominees, chosen from a field of 240 films, were announced December 1st by Matt Dillon and Taraji P. Henson.

And the nominees are…

Best Feature
(500) Days of Summer
Sin Nombre
Precious
The Last Station
Amreeka

Best Director
James Gray for Two Lovers
Michael Hoffman for The Last Station
Lee Daniels for Precious
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for A Serious Man
Cary Joji Fukunaga for Sin Nombre

Best First Feature
The Messenger
Easier With Practice
Paranormal Activity
Crazy Heart
A Single Man

John Cassavetes Award
Zero Bridge
Treeless Mountain
The New Year Parade
Humpday
Big Fan

Best Screenplay
Lee Toland Krieger for The Vicious Kind
Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman for The Messenger
Michael Hoffman for The Last Station
Greg Mottola for Adventureland
Scott Neustrader and Michael H. Weber for (500) Days of Summer

Best First Screenplay
Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious
Scott Cooper for Crazy Heart
Sophie Barthes for Cold Souls
Cherien Dabis for Amreeka
Tom Ford and David Scearce for A Single Man

Best Female Lead
Gwenyth Paltrow in Two Lovers
Helen Mirren in The Last Station
Gabourey Sidibe in Precious
Maria Bello in Downloading Nancy
Nisreen Faour in Amreeka

Best Male Lead
Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
Souleymane Sy Savane in Goodbye Solo
Colin Firth in A Single Man
Adam Scott in The Vicious Kind
Joseph Gordon-Levitt in (500) Days of Summer

Best Supporting Female
Samantha Morton in The Messenger
Natalie Press in Fifty Dead Men Walking
Dina Korzun in Cold Souls
Mia Wasikowska in That Evening Sun
Mo’Nique in Precious