It's been a long and winding road bringing the indie film "Girlfriend" to a national audience, but all that work has finally paid off. The flick, which stars Jackson Rathbone, Shannon Woodward and Evan Sneider, was awarded the 2011 Gotham Independent Film Audience Award at last night's Gotham Awards in New York City. The fan-voted award was the just the latest wave of support from "Girlfriend"'s ardent admirers.
The film's director, Justin Lerner, caught up with Hollywood Crush today to talk about the big win, which he called a "humbling moment." Appropriately, he thanked the fans of "Girlfriend" who voted to earn the movie its recognition.
"Since this award was decided by audiences across the world who saw the film (over 15,000 people voted), it just makes our entire team happy to know that there are a lot of people out there who are fans of 'Girlfriend' enough to want to see us win something like this," he said. "And with this award now under our belt, perhaps even more people will now have a chance to see the film too."
Zachary Quinto and Sarah Paulson presented the Audience Award to Justin, Evan and producers Kristina Lauren Anderson and Shaun O'Banion, and there were plenty of other major film stars in attendance. Needless to say, Justin was a bit taken aback by the whole experience.
"When you're on set or in the editing room, you never think about moments like this—accepting an award on a stage with your cast and crew, with David Cronenberg, Charlize Theron and Gary Oldman (just to name a few) only 10 feet away from your face. It was surreal," he said.
Hollywood Crush has been following the development of "Girlfriend" since the beginning, from its shoot outside Boston to the first look at the film up through its theatrical release earlier this year. Justin said he feels as rewarded as we do about the entire process.
"Being able to walk in as a nominee, in the company of so many great indie films of the year, it was an honor and an award in itself. And then to win—it was such a humbling moment," he said. "Most of the time when you make a film like ours, you're just worried you're going to have enough time and money to finish it... and as many of my crew members may agree, making 'Girlfriend' on our budget and schedule was a difficult and at times a lonely, frustrating, scary, (but always exciting) endeavor."
"Girlfriend" follows the story of Evan (Evan), a man with Down Syndrome who comes into a large sum of money after a tragedy. He decides to give it to the down-on-her-luck Candy (Shannon), a single-mother who he's loved since they were young but who has problems of her own. One of those problems is her ex-boyfriend Russ (Jackson), which leads to the creation of a very volatile love triangle.
Join us in congratulating Justin, Evan, Jackson and the whole "Girlfriend" crew in the comments section below or on Twitter!
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