Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig Mix It Up at the Gotham Awards

 Traditionally, the IFP Gotham Awards kicks off the film awards season. As celebrations go, this decidedly downtown dinner, sponsored by Robert Hall Winery, brings together New York’s movie making elite while honoring lower budget fare in Oscar-like categories. This year, I wanted to coin a category of my own, Best Speech, to be given to Olivia Wilde for her encomium to her "Richard Jewell" co-star Sam Rockwell, awarded one of Gotham’s four Lifetime Tributes. Wilde referred to the Academy Award winner for last year’s “Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri” as “Sammy.” Yes, he’s definitely a Sammy she said later, lifting the train of her flowing white gown to prevent tripping as guests exited Cipriani Wall Street for the night.

Other Gotham Tributes went to Ava DuVernay, introduced by Vera Farmiga, Glen Basner, with Ed Burns awarding his childhood friend. In a twist, Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, paid joint tribute to Laura Dern, a featured actress in each of their new movies this year; in “Marriage Story,” Dern plays a shark-like lawyer representing Scarlett Johanssen’s character opposite Adam Driver. (He took home the Best Actor award, as the film raked up the most prizes of the night including Best Screenplay.) Dern plays the mother in Gerwig’s “Little Women,” a character of limitless goodness, staying sweet even in the face of tragedy. Directors of the year, Baumbach and Gerwig will be rivals for Oscars.

What made the presentation so special was, they mixed it up, with Gerwig reading Baumbach’s speech and visa versa. So, you heard, “when I was a young boy in Brooklyn . . .,” from her mouth, and so on. This switcheroo was a good way to go and Dern in a flowing pink gown festooned with mirrors took the stage, thanking them, and her actor parents Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd with elegance.

A starry night despite an impending blizzard, the Gothams was a first stop for awards for Elisabeth Moss, Beanie Feldstein, Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, and Willem Dafoe who wants everyone to see “The Lighthouse” on a big screen. And what’s in a name? Awkwafina, awarded Best Actress for “The Farewell,” spoke to me about hers. As a teen, she thought this name a funny change for Nora, that it would never stick, but stick it has.