Best & Worst: Independent Spirit Awards 2012

Rogen pulled no punches with a few of his jokes, most notably taking on former Oscars producer Brett Ratner, who stepped down from the position after making a homophobic comment late last year. “Without award season we wouldn’t know what a horrible bigot Brett Ratner is,” Rogen quipped. “Are we really surprised he said that?” Not stopping there, Rogen expanded the range of his slams. “I bet he wishes he was organizing the Grammys, because they seem much more forgiving than the Oscars.” (A nod to Chris Brown’s performance at this year’s Grammys). Rogen pretty much guaranteed he wouldn’t be included in “Tower Heist 2.” But come to think of it, based on its performance, no one else is going to be included in “Tower Heist 2” either.   (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

If every award acceptance speech is an audition for the Oscar speech, then Christopher Plummer locked up his award long ago. But he keeps putting in the effort anyway. The veteran actor picked up best supporting actor for his role in “Beginners” and managed to get his win off to a strong start with the quip: “It’s taken me the longest time to realize the Spirit Awards has nothing to do with booze.”  (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

Musical comedy group Garfunkel and Oates performed a medley featuring several of the nominated movies. However, in the course of the duo’s clever lyrics, they managed to give away much of the plots of the movies, including “The Descendants,” “The Artist” and “Take Shelter.” This late in the season, watch award shows at your own peril.  (Vince Bucci / Associated Press)

Patricia Clarkson took a moment to commemorate independent film executive Bingham Ray, who passed away in January. Unlike most award shows, this one avoided the standard video montage and kept things simple by making the commemoration a toast, complete with a glass of wine for Clarkson. Definitely a classy way to remember one of their own.  (Vince Bucci / Associated Press)

For a while, it was looking as though the talent from “The Artist” was going to miss out on their biggest weekend. The film’s cinematographer and leading man were absent for their Independent Spirit Award wins, on a plane back from France. But lucky for them, the plane arrived sort of on time. Director Michel Hazanavicius showed up to collect his best director award, telling the crowd he had arrived just five minutes earlier.  (Vince Bucci / Associated Press)

Jim Rash (a.k.a. “Community’s” Dean Pelton) co-won the award for best screenplay with Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon. Rash thanked the usual people, but failed to mention that “Community” will at long last return to NBC on March 15. Rash needs to understand that “The Descendants’” time is almost over, but “Community,” despite its low ratings, needs to live forever.  (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

While picking up the Robert Altman Award for the movie “Margin Call,” actor-producer Zachary Quinto didn’t stick with the usual plaudits for the acting heavyweights in the film, including Jeremy Irons and Kevin Spacey. “As an actor, showing up to work every day was such an incredible gift. As a producer, every day I showed up to work was a complete …nightmare. Because it turns out that the schedules of two Academy Award winners and two Academy Award nominees and amazing actors are really complicated. I learned those lessons and will carry them with me with less joy perhaps, but with a lot of knowledge.” Thank you, it was an honor would have been acceptable too.  (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

The bumpers for the show, read by announcer John Waters, promised such bits as a “Downton Abbey” spoiler session and a tribute to the actors whose careers had died in 2011. Of course, these bits were all jokes, but it seemed like a cruel joke in that they seemed more interesting than anything actually put on stage during the ceremony.  (Frederic J. Brown / AFP/Getty Images)

Willem Defoe kept things classy in presenting the award for best female lead. “We’re gonna do you a favor and skip the patter,” he said, earning the gratitude of nearly everyone.  (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)