Actress Laura Dern was recently the spotlight of a performance from the Gay Men's Chorus at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. During the yearly awards ceremony, statues went home with many of the films "snubbed" by the Academy, including The Farewell and Uncut Gems.
Founded in 1984, the Film Independent Spirit Awards celebrates independent filmmakers or those who've made their films on a budget of less than $20 million. In the case of this year's awards show, the nominees included films like the aforementioned Uncut Gems, The Farewell, as well Honey Boy, Booksmart, and Midsommar among others. The Farewell took home the night's top prize of Best Feature and Best Supporting Female for Zhao Shuzhen. Uncut Gems, however, was the big winner of the night with three awards: Best Male Lead for Adam Sandler, Best Director Ronald Bronstein and Benny Safdie, and Best Editing. Oscar-favorites were still present, though, and in some cases even won. Marriage Story, for instance, nabbed a Best Screenplay win for Noah Baumbach, but it was a serenade of one of the film's stars, Laura Dern, that stole the show.
Introduced by host Aubrey Plaza, the performance from the Los Angeles chapter of the Gay Men Chorus celebrated the gay moments from this year's films that many may not have realized were gay. This includes moments like Jennifer Lopez pole-dancing to Fiona Apple in Hustlers and Renee Zellweger's press tour for Judy, but then they get to Laura Dern's performance in Marriage Story and it's all about her from there on out. Watch the performance - as well as Dern's stunned yet thrilled reaction - below.
At the Spirit Awards, Laura Dern herself was not nominated, but obviously the awards show wanted to give her a special shout out nonetheless. Dern's performance in Marriage Story has already netted her a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and she's nominated in the same category at the Oscars, where she's competing against her Little Women co-star Florence Pugh. The song doesn't just mention Dern's work in 2019, though, as it makes a point of celebrating many of her excellent roles across the years, such as that of Dr. Ellie Sattler in Jurassic Park. Dern will be reprising her role for Jurassic World 3, where she's being joined by Sam Neill's Dr. Alan Grant and Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcom. In addition to Jurassic Park, Dern is also a part a galaxy far, far away thanks to her role as Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Of course, her star power doesn't only stem from the movies, Dern won an Emmy for her work on Big Little Lies and most recently appeared in Twin Peaks: The Return.
There's no denying the appeal of Laura Dern and her role in Marriage Story is one of her very best. Now, thanks to the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles, we'll never get Laura Dern's name out of our heads.
Source: Film Independent/Twitter