Mickey Rourke, Penelope Cruz and Melissa Leo — all of whom are up for Oscars on Sunday night — were honored at the Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica on Saturday. Rourke received the best actor prize for his role in the sports comeback film, The Wrestler, which was also awarded best picture. As he did with his Golden Globes acceptance speech, Rourke thanked everyone who helped him get to this point, including his director, Darren Aronofsky, the Santa Monica police department and the wrestling community. He dedicated the award to his dog, Loki, who died Monday.
Leo later took the stage to collect her prize for Frozen River, which got its start a year ago at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the top dramatic honor. The award for best supporting actress went to Cruz for her role as crazed artist in a three-way relationship with Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johansson in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
In her speech, Cruz thanked filmmaker Woody Allen — who won the top screenplay honor — simply for "letting me be around him. "He's really the symbol of independence in our industry," she said at the awards ceremony, which honors movies that cost less than $20 million to make. James Franco won best supporting actor for Milk, in which he portrayed a lover of the slain gay-rights pioneer.
