Da’Vine Joy Randolph joked about the struggles of filming The Holdovers, including a lack of “heated seats during a Boston winter,” and other resources but also praised independent filmmaking as “the beating heart of this industry” while accepting the Film Independent Spirit Award for best supporting performance on Sunday.
“I often joke that making Holdovers felt like doing a student film,” she said. “Whatever resources we lacked, such as heated seats during a Boston winter, we made up for and care and determination every day. I was astonished by the level of innovation and creativity that our cast and crew exhibited in order to turn what limited resources we had into an incredible piece of art, all of which is a beautiful testament of what can happen when a small group of passionate people are given a chance to come together and tell the story.”
Randolph won the award for her portrayal of Mary Lamb in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers. The Spirit Award marks another in a long list of honors Randolph has earned for the role, including a Golden Globe, Critics Choice award, BAFTA awad, SAG award and an Oscar nomination.
“It was an honor to play Mary,” she continued. “Paul [Giamatti] and Dominic [Sessa]. What more can I say? I don’t know what I ever did to deserve scene partners like you, but I am so incredibly grateful.”
“To the Focus Family, thank you for betting on this independent film,” Randolph said. “Alexander [Payne], thank you for always being steadfast in your vision to this project, to David Hemingson, and thank you for being so brave and vulnerable in your writing and sharing so much of your own family to build on this one.”
She finished her speech with a message: “Independent films are the beating heart of this industry and they are worth fighting for.”
The Holdovers stars Paul Giamatti as an overly stuffy classics teacher at a New England boarding school forced to chaperone a student (Dominic Sessa) during the Christmas break. Randolph’s Mary is a cafeteria manager who has recently lost her own son in the Vietnam war. Giamatti and Sessa both won Critics Choice Awards for their performances; Giamatti is nominated for an Oscar.
For the Spirit Award, Randolph beat Erika Alexander (American Fiction), Noah Galvin (Theater Camp), Anne Hathaway (Eileen), Glenn Howerton (BlackBerry), Marin Ireland (Eileen), Charles Melton (May December), Catalina Saavedra (Rotting in the Sun) and Ben Whishaw (Passages) for the trophy.
The 39th Spirit Awards are streaming live on the IMDb and Film Independent YouTube channels as they take place in Santa Monica with Saturday Night Live alum Aidy Bryant hosting the ceremony.
Winners are voted on by Film Independent members; see the full winners list here.
