By Steve CrumBirdman, the richly bizarre film about Hollywood fame, stereotype, self doubt and a Broadway production, took quadruple honors at the 48th Annual Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards held Dec. 14. The 25 KC area film critics, including yours truly, voted Birdman’s Michael Keaton as Best Actor, and Ed Norton as Best Supporting Actor. It also won for Original Screenplay.
Gone Girl’s Rosamund Pike was awarded Best Actress. Patricia Arquette’s work in Boyhood garnered a Best Supporting Actress, while Boyhood’s director, Richard Linklater, won the Robert Altman Award for Achievement in Directing. (Just an FYI: Altman was from Kansas City.)
The complete list of winners:
Best Picture…BIRDMAN
Robert Altman Ward for Achievement in Directing…RICHARD LINKLATER/Boyhood
Best Actor…MICHAEL KEATON/Birdman
Best Actress…ROSAMUND PIKE/Gone Girl
Best Supporting Actor…EDWARD NORTON/Birdman
Best Supporting Actress…PATRICIA ARQUETTE/Boyhood
Best Original Screenplay…BIRDMAN
Best Adapted Screenplay…OBVIOUS CHILD
Best Animated Feature…THE LEGO MOVIE
Best Documentary Feature…CITIZENFOUR
Best Foreign Language Film…IDA (Poland)
Vince Koehler Award for Best Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror Film…THE BABADOOK
—————The KCFCC is the second oldest film critic group in the United States (after the New York Film Critics Circle), and was founded by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser. The annual awards ceremony is named in his honor.