'Holdovers' star downplays Oscar hype

LOS ANGELES

Da'Vine Joy Randolph has won every major prize going this film award season for her supporting role in "The Holdovers" but she insists she is taking nothing for granted as the Oscars loom.

Randolph, who stars in the 1970s-set indie drama as a cook and grieving mother stranded at a New England boarding school over the winter holidays, claimed her latest accolade on Feb. 25 at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

Having already won a Golden Globe, Critics Choice Award, a BAFTA and much more, she now seems poised to collect the best supporting actress Oscar, which will be handed out in just two weeks.

"This has been a really surreal, powerful time for me to see dreams manifesting into reality one by one," she told AFP backstage at the Santa Monica award show, which honors low- and mid-budget movies.

"I don't expect anything. I'm not betting on anything. I'm just here present, and every single one surprises me.

"I take nothing for granted. In regards to the Oscars I don't, truthfully. I'm just happy to be invited into the building. No more, no less."

Randolph, 37, who grew up in Philadelphia, is a highly trained stage actor who attended Yale drama school after initially pursuing classical and opera singing.

After turns on Broadway and the West End, she has appeared on the big screen opposite stars such as Eddie Murphy in "Dolemite Is My Name" and Robin Williams in "The Angriest Man In Brooklyn."

But Alexander Payne's "The Holdovers" has propelled Randolph into Hollywood's A-list, with few if any pundits betting against her at the Oscars.

The film is in the running for five Academy Awards overall, including best picture, with Randolph's co-star Paul Giamatti also a strong contender for best actor.

"What am I expecting? I don't know!" she joked after her Spirit Award win.

"The process has been a beautiful one. It's been a really great time."

Elsewhere at the Spirit Awards on Sunday, "Past Lives" won best feature, and Celine Song won best director for the Korean-American movie about reuniting childhood sweethearts.

France's "Anatomy of a Fall" won best international film, and "American Fiction" won best screenplay and best lead performance for Jeffrey Wright.

Movies with budgets over $30 million are not considered for the Film Independent Spirit Awards, making it one rare award show this year at which "Oppenheimer" could not dominate the prizes.

The same was not true at the Producers Guild Awards, held later on Sunday, where Christopher Nolan's drama about the father of the atomic bomb won yet another key prize.

Accepting the award for outstanding motion picture at a Hollywood gala, Nolan thanked his fellow producer Chuck Roven for "starting a chain reaction that spread all over the world," Deadline reported.

"Oppenheimer" has won every major best film award it is eligible for this year.

It is the overwhelming favorite to claim best picture at the Oscars, the last remaining stop on Hollywood's lengthy awards circuit.

Oscars voting ends on tomorrow, and the season-capping 96th Academy Awards take place on March 10.