Adam Driver, Glenn Close, Ethan Hawke kick off award season on star-studded red carpet for Gotham Fi

(27 Nov 2018) ADAM DRIVER, GLENN CLOSE, WILLEM DAFOE KICK OFF AWARD SEASON ON STAR-STUDDED RED CARPET FOR GOTHAM FILM AWARDS Award season kicked off with Chloe Zhao's elegiac, lyrical Western "The Rider" winning Best Feature at the 28th annual IFP Gotham Awards Monday night (26 NOVEMBER) in New York. Adam Driver, Glenn Close, Willem Dafoe, and others walked the red carpet for the annual gala that kicks off the three-month-long awards season. Driver was one of the evening's acting nominees for role in Spike Lee's "BlacKKKlansman." Before the ceremony, he spoke of the importance of independent film, but doesn't feel it has a different vibe for him than a bigger budget film. "It seems like as if the scale of it is smaller. But that's not necessarily better or worse. It just feels s like a very intimate conversation that lasts from the beginning of the first rehearsal to the very last day of shooting," Driver said. "So, I don't know. I don't really think of it in terms of indie or studio. It's really a director-driven media, so hopefully you get to work with great directors. That's' my only - if it's big, that's great. If it's small, that's great. There are challenges and advantages to both. " Driver was nominated for his role as a detective in "BlacKKKlansman." The film is based on the book Ron Stallworth, the first African-American detective on the Colorado Springs Police department that infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan after seeing a newspaper advertisement aimed at seeking members. While the film has a contemporary message, Driver says it was not something he thought about while making it. "I'm excited for what it's become. The importance and meaning on set, it doesn't really come into it. Because you can't play importance. You can be emotionally connected to it, but if the story isn't connecting with its audience, then you can be as connected to it as you want, but it's not having an effect it's not doing its job," Driver said. He added: "What people pull from it is kind of beyond me. I don't sit and interpret what people will feel and what they won't." But Driver lost to Ethan Hawke, who took home the best actor award for his role in "First Reformed." On the red carpet, Hawke spoke of his career as the sum of its parts, equating it to the journey of a spider.   "You go one place, and none of the big moves seem like very much. But then you look back, and this whole web is being created. And that feels, uh, exciting, and it starts to make you think things are worthwhile. 'Juliet Naked,' 'Blaze,' 'First Informed' are three of my favorite movies have ever gotten to make and they all happened this year, and they're the result of long-standing friendships and long-standing commitments," Hawke said. Glenn Close expressed her passion for working on independent films. "It's really gratifying, because all of the movies that are nominated are movies that probably almost didn't get made. You know, which to me is the definition of an independent film. Hard to get made. Different stories. Hard to finance. And so, to be in a film and represented here is a great honor and what they do, the IFP, to support this kind of film is incredibly important," Close said. Alessandro Nivola described the magic of independent films. "There's always the feeling that everybody working on the movie is working on it for one reason, which is that they really like think that there's something special about the story being told and about the director and about the people involved," Nivola said. Dafoe spoke of the evening's perfect blend. Sandra Lee earned a tribute for her short film, "RX: Early Detection." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...