Hollywood’s brightest stars strutted down the red carpet in their very best attire on Thursday night at the Palm Springs International Film Awards.
“The Fabelmans” actress and Coachella Valley resident Keeley Karsten, one of the first to arrive, gushed as she walked down the carpet.
“I’m really excited. I was very giggling today, very bright because I do that when I get nervous,” said Karsten. “This is my first awards show, so I’m meeting all these great actors.”
She and fellow cast members Paul Dano, Michelle Williams, Seth Rogan, Gabriel LaBelle and Judd Hirsch, and director Steven Spielberg received the Vanguard Award at the awards ceremony, which was the festival’s first in three years due to COVID-related cancellations.
In The Fabelmans, Spielberg’s most personal film to date, Dano plays the director’s fictional father, Burt Fabelman. Working on the film was all about family, both with his castmates and Spielberg’s real family, he said.
“Steven’s sisters called me ‘Dad,’ which was the cutest thing,” Dano said, adding that he used family archives to dig deeper into his character. “You just try to collect a lot of nuts like a squirrel, and then you take them and bring them to the script.”
LaBelle, who plays Spielberg’s young antagonist Sammy, also said he learned a lot on set from many “masters” around him.
“You can really only learn that from experience and what works best for you on those days. I learned a lot from how to manage my stress, how to manage my energy, how not to get tired, how not to exhaust myself,” he said. “You just learn a lot about yourself.”
“Living” star Bill Nighy and writer Kazuo Ishiguro walked the red carpet together and said they’re both enjoying their first time in Palm Springs so far.
Her film is an adaptation of the 1952 Japanese film “Ikiru” directed by Akira Kurosawa. Ishiguro said he always wanted to do an English version of the film because he was a little Japanese boy growing up in England. He knew from the start that he wanted Nighy to star.
“The wonderful thing about building it on Bill Nighy… it wasn’t just an ‘Ikiru’ remake, it was an ‘Ikiru’ remake starring Bill Nighy,” Ishiguro said. “I think the great thing about Bill is that he creates this incredibly quirky, almost bizarre English character, but he manages to find something universal in this character that appeals to everyone. That’s what great actors can do.”
Spotlight Award-winning The Whale actor Brendan Fraser donned a dark suede suit jacket and walked the red carpet with his girlfriend Jeanne Moore. He was later joined by costar Hong Chau. The actor said he’s had a “whirlwind experience” since his film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival.
“I’ve met many, many people at question-and-answer screenings who asked meaningful questions,” Fraser said. “I’ve learned that our tolerance can grow and we can change our hearts and minds if we just give it a chance and look into the world of someone else who may or may not be like us and learn After all, everyone is a person who deserves love, recognition and respect.”
Sarah Polley, winner of Director of the Year, was recognized for her powerful woman-directed film Women Talking, which centers on a group of women living in an isolated religious colony and following a series of sexual assaults through the The men of the colony are revealed. Polley said she was surrounded by an “amazing” cast, crew and team around her who created a supportive community. The film stars Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, Michelle McLeod, Kate Hallett, Liv McNeil, August Winter, Ben Whishaw and Frances McDormand.
“We thought a lot about who would create a great community together,” Polley said. “It wasn’t just about casting the right person for the role or hiring the right person for the job. It was about who is going to help us create that sense of a collective where there is a really healthy, nurturing space to work in. “
“Elvis” star Austin Butler walked the red carpet alongside director Baz Luhrmann. The duo have received their fair share of nominations from various awards bodies this year, including nominations for Best Actor and Best Director at the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards.
But the film’s success isn’t always a guarantee, the director said.
“We didn’t know what was going to happen. That 12 minute ovation in Cannes, we knew we had an audience. What we didn’t know was if we could bring the necessary audiences, old and young, to the theaters,” Luhrmann said. “The reason I’m here is … audiences, young and old, came to the theater, made us the #1 non-sequel film last year, and it wasn’t a sure thing. I thank the audience, I thank them for coming out of the house and seeing this incredible story of this incredible man.”
Luhrmann said of Butler: “I really love him. He’s a miracle. Leonardo happened to me once (in ‘Romeo + Juliet’), and now Austin again.”
Reflecting on the year with “Elvis,” Butler said he was “very, very grateful” for the experience and learned an important lesson about himself.
“What I say a lot is that it changed my relationship with fear because I’ve never felt more fear than I did during filming,” Butler said. “I knew if it didn’t go well it would be devastating, so now I have a lot more confidence that if you do the work, something will happen.”
Desert Palm Achievement Award actor, honoree and The Banshees of Inisherin star Colin Farrell reflected on the past year that he has spent not only with the Martin McDonagh-directed film but also with After Yang, The Batman and Thirteen Lives.” He described himself as “spoiled” because he got to work with “some amazing filmmakers and stories that I really believed in and enjoyed.”
“It just helps keep my spirit alive,” he said.
On The Banshees of Inisherin, Farrell said that every single member of the crew “felt they had an emotional, invested interest in the film, and that was extraordinary to be there. That’s not always like that.”
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” star Stephanie Hsu, who presented co-star Michelle Yeoh with the International Star Award, Actress, was the last person to walk the red carpet. Since the film premiered in March, she said things have been “a complete roller coaster ride,” especially considering the weight and impact the film had on many viewers.
“When Ke Huy Quan won the award for Best Supporting Actor (at the Gotham Awards), I got up so fast I almost passed out because it’s such a huge Asian stories, that’s why I’m so proud,” Hsu said. “It is completely surreal that this thing that we held in our hands is now so big and beyond us, reaching out to so many people across generations, races and identities. It’s crazy. It’s what you expect from art.”
Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach them at [email protected] or on Twitter @ema_sasic.
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