By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A drama about an honorable pedophile and a rock musical about a deformed transsexual are among the leading contenders for the independent movie world's version of the Oscars, organizers said Tuesday.
L.I.E., starring British stage actor Brian Cox as a former U.S. Marine with a weakness for young boys, will complete in six categories at the 17th annual Independent Spirit Awards March 23.
Two films nabbed five nominations each: the transsexual romp Hedwig and the Angry Inch and the acclaimed amnesia thriller Memento.
The three films will compete for best feature, along with the fact- based rape drama Things Behind The Sun and the innovative live- action cartoon Waking Life.
The Spirit Awards honor films based on such criteria as original, provocative subject matter, budget and the degree of independent financing. The event is organized by the west coast branch of the Independent Feature Project (IFP/West), a nonprofit support group for filmmakers working outside the Hollywood studio system.
The ceremony takes place each year the day before the Academy Awards during a leisurely luncheon underneath a marquee on Santa Monica Beach. There is usually some crossover between Spirit and Oscar nominees, but none of last year's Spirit winners won Oscars the next day.
It's hard to imagine the aged members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences handing out Oscar gold to L.I.E., a poignant drama that marked the feature directing debut of photographer and commercials director Michael Cuesta.
Cox, perhaps best known for his role as the first Hannibal Lecter in the 1986 thriller Manhunter, plays Big John, a pedophile who overcomes his predatory instincts to befriend a troubled 15-year-old boy (Paul Franklin Dano). The film cost less than $500,000 to make.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, based on the long-running Off- Broadway hit, revolves around a German-born wannabe rock star left with a one-inch penis after a botched sex-change operation.
"They're not your mainstream studio subjects, not your predictable three-act structure with a happy ending," Dawn Hudson, executive director of IFP/West, told Reuters at the nominations news conference.
Neither was a huge box office hit either. L.I.E. grossed about $1 million in North American theaters, while Hedwig ended up with about $3 million.
But Memento was a breakout hit, grossing about $25 million. The film, which is told in reverse, stars Australian actor Guy Pearce as a man plagued by short-term memory loss who must find the person who raped and murdered his wife.
The race for best director will pit Cuesta against John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig) Christopher Nolan (Memento), Richard Linklater (Waking Life) and Cheryl Dunye (Stranger Inside).
Two films landed four nominations each: In The Bedroom, which is garnering Oscar buzz for its depiction of grieving parents, and The Believer, a controversial film about a Jewish neo-Nazi.
L.I.E star Cox will compete for best male lead against Ryan Gosling (The Believer), Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko), Mitchell (Hedwig) and Tom Wilkinson (In The Bedroom).
The actresses up for best female lead include Kim Dickens (Things Behind The Sun), Molly Parker (The Center of the World), Sissy Spacek (In the Bedroom), Tilda Swinton (The Deep End ) and Kerry Washington (Lift).
Nolan and Linklater were also nominated for best screenplay, along with Milo Addica and Will Rokos (Monster's Ball), Henry Bean (The Believer) and Rob Festinger & Todd Field (In The Bedroom).
Feisty filmmaker John Waters, best known for such works as Hairspray and Pink Flamingos, will return as host of this year's Independent Spirit Awards ceremony.
© 2002 REUTERS