The “Killers of the Flower Moon” gang turned out in force last night at the New York Film Critics dinner at Tao in downtown New York. Winner of the group’s Best Film for their 89th year, “Killers” brought director Martin Scorsese, Best Actress Lily Gladstone, plus famed editor Thelma Schoonmaker who was celebrating her 84th birthday. Thelma told me that no less than Patti Smith sang Happy Birthday earlier in the day at a special luncheon hosted by Scorsese! (More on the Flower Moon gang below.)
(You can watch Lily Gladstone’s erudite from the heart acceptance speech below, also. She was dynamite in a spectacular gold gown, as you’ll see in the video when she pulls note cards out of a hiding place. Later she revealed she had a scarf down there, too!)
Da’Vine Jo Randolph won Best Supporting Actress for “The Holdovers,” which shot its exteriors at the famed Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. Randolph revealed in her speech that she’d been in au pair for an Upper West Side family almost 20 years ago. Recently — as she told me afterwards — she learned something cosmically coincidental. In “The Holdovers,” 20 year old Deerfield graduate Dominic Sessa plays a fictional student at the school. “He just told me,” said Randolph, “the boy I was the au pair for had been his classmate!”
German actor Franz Rogowski won Best Actor for Ira Sachs’s “Passages,” a movie barely released by the very very tiny company Mubi. Think Hollywood is glamorous? Award in hand, Rogowski had no car or publicist. We met him after the show when he was left to walk — alone — back to his hotel! I am not kidding. Every other winner had a bevy of people helping them. So writer Regina Weinreich and I accompanied him back to his lodgings nearby. What a nice guy, too. Too bad Mubi has never sent out the movie.
Christopher Nolan won Best Director for “Oppenheimer.” He brought his brother and sometime writing partner, Jonathan Nolan, to present the award. Jonathan wrote “Memento” with Chris, I met them back in 2000. (I said it was too bad “Oppenheimer” didn’t run backwards like “Memento” — which gave the Nolans a laugh.) Also in the house was “Oppenheimer” actor David Krumholtz, who gained a lot of weight for his role. Don’t worry. he’s back to normal now. The popular New York has tons of film credits (including “The Sopranos”) but he just killed it on Broadway in the Tony winning Tom Stoppard play, “Leopoldstadt.”
Other presenters included “Fargo” star Steve Buscemi, who has a new film he directed coming out in the spring called “The Listener,” and Oscar nominee Lucas Hedges, who’s been taking some time off. “I’m coming back,” he assured me. Hedges presented to pal Charles Melton, who won Best Supporting Actor in “May December.” (The film’s screenwriter, Samy Burch, also received an award.) Hedges told the crowd that Melton’s good looks shouldn’t get in the way of his acting talent. although the women around me disagreed with this statement!
I love the “Killers of the Flower Moon” group of Osage actors who I met in Cannes and come to all the awards events. Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Talee Redcorn, Yancey Redcorn, Tatanka Means, and William Belleau. They should win their own Best Ensemble Award! Tantoo Cardinal told me she was sorry presenter Josh Safdie omitted her name from his introductory speech last but she let him have it.
Tantoo is maybe the best dressed actor of the season– she is stunning. How does she do it, I asked? She admitted, “I did hire a stylist to help a little.” Hollywood, here we come. A lot of the main backstory in “Killers,” Tantoo told me, was supplied by her — it’s her grandmother’s saga. That’s why “Killers” has such authenticity.
