“The Blackening” writer/producer/star Dewayne Perkins hosted the return of the in-person IndieWire Honors ceremony in Los Angeles, which celebrates independent and original stories across film and TV. This year’s awards show saw Greta Gerwig honored with the Auteur Award, “May December” director Todd Haynes accepting the Visionary Award, Lily Gladstone earning the Performance Award for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Cord Jefferson receiving the Breakthrough Award, and “John Wick” helmer Chad Stahelski taking home the Maverick Award.
On the TV side, “The Curse” co-creators Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie were honored with the Wavelength Award, while “Beef” creator Lee Sung Jin was given the Visionary Award, and “The Changeling” showrunner Kelly Marcel and director Melina Matsoukas received the Auteur Award. “I Am a Virgo” star Jharrel Jerome also received the Performance Award.
“The biggest award I was ever nominated for was in high school when I was voted most likely to host an awards show honoring people who are more successful than me,” Perkins joked. “But enough with the self-deprecation: I’m actually pretty successful in my own right. I’m an Emmy-nominated writer. I also wrote, produced, and starred in ‘The Blackening,’ which was the biggest theatrical hit of the summer….for Black people. So if you haven’t seen it yet, you should unpack why you hate Black people, gay people, and fun.”
He continued, “When I was asked to host, they told me I could do whatever I wanted. And I thought, what a better opportunity to take advantage than to pitch my fantastic ideas to you all? We are literally trapped in a room with me. Yes, the doors are locked. Let’s begin.”
Perkins went on to share faux pitches with the evening’s honorees, beginning with “The Changeling” director Melina Matsoukas. “Here’s my pitch to you,” Perkins said. “It’s called ‘The Changes,’ a riveting melodrama about me changing my clothes a lot because I feel self-conscious. Think about it.”
To Stahelski, Perkins said, “‘John Wick,’ super fun, super cute. But have you thought about having John Wick fighting a sinus infection called ‘John Sick’?”
Perkins asked “American Fiction” writer/director Jefferson to pen “‘American Nonfiction,’ a film about me, being in America, sad and depressed but very handsome. It’s a documentary.”
For Haynes, Perkins said, “I pitch to you, ‘May December,’ a film about a young artist who went broke from not working from May to December because he was on strike. It’s autobiographical.”
To actor Jerome, Perkins had another idea to remake Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning “Moonlight,” saying, “A recreation of ‘Moonlight’ that is the same exact movie except we allow the two characters to actually have sex at the end, because as a gay Black man, that was the most offensive piece of cinema I have ever experienced, and I watched ‘Birth of a Nation.’”
To series creator Fielder and Safdie, Perkins applauded the duo for mastering “satire at its best,” and wanted a bit more of a “Nathan For You” concept for another series, which he thought should be titled “‘The Blessing’ as a series about you two blessing me with a large loan I don’t have to pay back.”
To showrunner Lee, Perkins quipped that another show could be “about my personal beef with Nathan and Benny if they don’t give me that loan.”
Lastly, Perkins pitched Gladstone “a Lily cut of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’” and also to “be my friend.”
From there, Perkins embarked on a dance performance complete with a bob wig. Check out Perkins grooving onstage above, and see photos from the event here. Relive all the acceptance speeches here.
