Kirsten Dunst & Brad Pitt Crowned Best Actors by National Society of Film Critics

Melancholia and Moneyball>/i> stars deemed best by National Society of Film Critics

By Sierra Marquina Jan 07, 2012 10:17 PMTags
E! Placeholder Image

There ain't no melancholy for Melancholia star Kirsten Dunst and Moneyball, Tree of Life actor Brad Pitt!

The National Society of Film Critics honored the two stars Saturday at its 46th annual awards as Best Actress and Best Actor, as well as naming Dunst's Melancholia, directed by iconoclast Lars von Trier, as Best Picture.

Dunst's role in the end-of-the-world drama continues to look like an Oscar contender—the actress took Best Actress for the role at Cannes before getting the Critics nod Saturday, beating out Yun Jung-hee for her role in Poetry and Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady.

As for the allegorical film itself, Melancholia topped Pitt's and Sean Penn's Tree of Life to be honored as Best Picture by the group.  

But Tree of Life was strong, winning Terrence Malick the Best Director honor, and also figuring into Jessica Chastain's nod for Best Supporting Actress (in addition to her roles in The Help and Take Shelter).

So there were plenty of awards to go around, as long as you were Tree of Life or Melancholia, that is.

Complete List of Winners:

• Best Picture: Melancholia
• Best Director: Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
• Best Actor:  Brad Pitt, Moneyball, The Tree of Life
• Best Actress:
Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia
• Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, Drive
• Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life, Take Shelter, The Help
• Best Screenplay:
A Separation, Asghar Farhadi
• Best Cinematography: The Tree of Life, Emmanuel Lubezki
• Best Nonfiction Film: Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Werner Herzog
• Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation, Asghar Farhadi
• Best Experimental Film: Seeking the Monkey King, Ken Jacobs