2009 Independent Spirit Awards Wrestler Wins Big

The 2009 Independent Spirit Awards were presented this afternoon inside a giant white tent in beautiful Santa Monica, California, which is a hop, skip and jump from Hollywood.

The Independent Spirit Awards are the essence of chill with a glittering array of stars attending in more laid back fashions ranging from short and flirty dressy fashions to jeans and knit caps in the case of Philip Seymour Hoffman.

The presenters and winners were much more fun loving and casual unleashing an array of F bombs and other curse words which would definitely not be appropriate for the Academy Awards or The Golden Globes.

The Wrestler was a big winner at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards winning three statues for Best Feature (Darren Aronofsky), Best Male Lead (Mickey Rourke) and Best Cinematography (Maryse Alberti)

Darren, who was shown sitting next to Rachel Weiss and Mickey Rourke, accepted the award for Best Feature for The Wrestler.  In his acceptance speech Aronofsky thanked Marissa Tomei and Mickey Rourke.  He also thanked his partner English actress Raquel Weisz.  Aronofsky and Rachel Weisz are engaged. They began dating in 2002 and have a son, Henry Chance, born on May 31, 2006 in New York City.  The couple lives together in Brooklyn.

He said that he has watched Rachel develop her own craft and while "working on special effects for a space movie," he realized that he loved working with actors most of all, and dedicated the award to his cast.

His upbringing was marked by his Jewish heritage, although in an interview he once disparagingly referred to himself as a "classically hypocritical high holiday Jew".