An awkward situation arouse at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday as Oscar nominee Cate Blanchett physically hid under a table from event host, comedian Hasan Minhaj.
Minhaj opened the awards by bemoaning that, despite their longstanding partnership, the Independent Film Channel did not opt to televise the 2024 award ceremony.
The comedian took jabs at the fact that audiences would only be able to watch the ceremony streaming on YouTube.
Playing off this fact, Minhaj descended into the audience mid-awards to try and convince some of the A-list attendees to drum up some excitement for the YouTube live stream.
"Some of the biggest stars in the world here, we thought we would ask them to help with our YouTube thumbnail tiles to get people to watch," Minhaj announced before approaching Blanchett.
With Blanchett already hiding behind her hands, Minhaj did even get to finish his instructions before the Aussie slipped underneath the table and out of sight completely.
Minhaj then moved onto Tár director Todd Field, who also dived under the table to join Blanchett in hiding.
Minhaj frantically looked around for someone to participate in his bit, landing on nearby actress Marissa Tomei.
After a jaunty wave, Tomei followed Blanchett and Field's moves.
Finally, Minhaj called on Regina Hall's help, only for her to also take her leave under the table.
Minhaj then abandoned the joke altogether, moving onto the next presented award.
Everything Everywhere All At Once sweeps indie awards
A week out from the Academy Awards, independent film Everything Everywhere All At Once solidified its chances at Oscars gold at the Independent Spirit Awards.
The film took home Best Feature, Best Screenplay, Best Lead Performance for Michelle Yeoh, Best Editing for Paul Rodgers, Best Supporting Performance for Ke Huy Quan, Best Breakthrough Performance for Stephanie Hsu and Best Director for the Daniels co-directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan.
"This is too many. We're so lucky!" said Scheinert, collecting the prize for Best Feature.
Elsewhere, Blanchett's film Tár won Best Cinematography, Aftersun took home Best First Feature and The Bear scored two awards – one for Best New Scripted Series and one for Ayo Edebiri for Supporting Performance in a scripted series.
