'LOST' SWEEPS SPIRIT AWARDS MOVIE TRANSLATES TO 4 MAJOR AWARDS AS MURRAY WINS.

Byline: Fred Shuster Staff Writer

``Lost in Translation,'' Sofia Coppola's dour comedy about two kindred spirits at loose ends in Tokyo, took the top prizes including Best Feature on Saturday at the Independent Spirit Awards, the indie film world's version of the Oscars.

``Lost in Translation,'' Coppola's second film, won in the four categories in which it was nominated - Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Male Lead (Bill Murray). Coppola, the 32-year-old daughter of ``The Godfather'' director Francis Ford Coppola, has already won numerous prizes for the film, including a Golden Globe and a Writers Guild Award.

Coppola, joined on stage by her dad, said she appreciated ``all the advice'' her father gave her about screenwriting.

At the 76th Academy Awards tonight, ``Lost in Translation'' is up for four trophies: Best Picture, Best Actor (Murray), Best Original Screenplay and Best Director, in which Coppola is the first American woman nominated in the category. Since opening in September, the film, which cost $4 million, has grossed more than $43 million in North America.

Accepting his acting trophy, Murray joked about the casual atmosphere of the Spirit Awards, which took in fashions ranging from Hawaiian shirts, jeans and cowboy boots to Vera Wang dresses: ``For a lot of people in this room, this is gonna be as dressed up as they're gonna be this year.''

Also winning an indie film honor was Charlize Theron, who took the Best Female Lead prize for playing serial killer Aileen Wuornos in ``Monster,'' which also earned the Best First Feature trophy for director Patty Jenkins. Theron is considered the front-runner for the Best Actress Oscar.

Djimon Hounsou, who starred as a dying artist in ``In America,'' was named Best Supporting Actor while Shohreh Aghdashloo was voted Best Supporting Actress on Saturday as the compassionate Iranian immigrant in ``House of Sand and Fog.''

The Spirit Awards honor independent films, financed at least partly outside the Hollywood studio system. The event takes place annually on the Saturday before the Oscars under a circus tent on the Santa Monica beach. Director John Waters was master of ceremonies and actor Tom Cruise served as honorary chairman.

Other winners included 16-year-old Nikki Reed, for Best Debut Performance in the teen drama ``Thirteen.''

``The Station Agent,'' about three disparate characters who discover a connection, earned its writer-director Thomas McCarthy the Best First Screenplay award as well as the John Cassavetes Award for the best feature made for under $500,000.

``Whale Rider,'' set in New Zealand, was named Best Foreign Film; Errol Morris' ``The Fog of War,'' a film portrait of former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, was chosen as Best Documentary; and Declan Quinn earned the Best Cinematography award for his work on ``In America.''

Fred Shuster, [phone]

fred.shuster(at)dailynews.com

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(1 -- 2) At left, Charlize Theron, the star of ``Monster,'' speaks after receiving the Spirit Award for Best Female Lead on Saturday from presenter Hilary Swank. Bill Murray, above, hoists his trophy after being named Best Male Lead for his work in Sofia Coppola's ``Lost in Translation.''

Chris Pizzello/Associated Press