'Past Lives' wins at Gotham Awards, while Robert De Niro says his speech was edited

Celine Song’s wistful romance “Past Lives” earned top honors at the Gotham Awards on Monday evening at an award-season kickoff where the night's biggest drama came in a political speech by Robert De Niro that the actor said had been edited without his permission.

“Past Lives,” a breakout at the Sundance Film Festival in January and an art-house hit in June for A24, may be poised to become an Oscar sleeper this year after winning best feature film at the Gothams. Affection is strong for Song’s directorial debut, starring Greta Lee as a woman born in Seoul who, after marrying an American (John Magaro), re-connects with a childhood friend from South Korea (Teo Yoo).

“Past Lives” was expected to win, but the ceremony went off-script when De Niro, co-star in Martin Scorsese's “Killers of the Flower Moon,” took the podium to present a tribute award to the film. While giving his remarks, De Niro noticed a section had been omitted on the teleprompter. After attempting to scroll back through, he completed his speech before returning to read from his phone.

“The beginning of my speech was edited, cut out,” De Niro said. “I didn’t know about it.”

De Niro seemed to blame Apple, which produced “Killers of the Flower Moon,” for the changes to his speech.

Apple didn't immediately respond to requests for comment late Monday evening.