 |
HOLLYWOOD — Not letting pesky mudslides ruin a perfectly good celebration, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival kicked off 25th-anniversary festivities over the weekend, showering the likes of Sandra Bullock, James Cameron and his ex Kathryn Bigelow with awards and retrospectives.
The persistent rains couldn’t dampen the spirits of fest revelers who also packed a collective tribute to new blood such as Carey Mulligan (An Education), Saorise Ronan (The Lovely Bones), Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria), Gabby Sidibe (Precious) and Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man).
Still to come are additional tribute evenings devoted to Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges, Colin Firth, plus a Friday night group hug reserved for Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Peter Sarsgaard (An Education), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones and Julie & Julia) and Christophe “What, him again?” Waltz (Inglourious Basterds).
There’s always a nice, feel-good vibe to this festival, and not just because of its close proximity to all those wineries. Its silver anniversary year has so far been no exception.
Included among this year’s film selection is a Quebec sidebar, which isn’t all that surprising, given the area’s longtime popularity with French Canadians.
McGill University grad Pierre Lafond opened his first winery in the Santa Barbara region all the way back in 1962, and today he also lends his name to numerous local eateries — Thursday Grilled Cheese Night at his Wine Bistro is a must — and other retail enterprises.
And former Montreal resident-turned-veteran Hollywood producer, Renee Missel — whose credits include The Main Event and Nell — served as the film festival’s artistic director for five years.
Included among the sidebar titles is the hit Quebecois cop comedy Father and Guns/De per en flic (it out-grossed Bruno in its opening weekend last summer), which recently saw American remake rights acquired by Sony Pictures.
No word on casting yet, but we’d love to see the father-and-son roles go to Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum.
TALK ABOUT CRAZY!
The inclement Santa Barbara weather and its tribute evenings brought to mind an anecdote related by a colleague who, two decades ago, was asked to conduct an on-stage interview with Jessica Lange prior to a screening of Blue Sky, the 1994 drama co-starring Tommy Lee Jones.
Problem was, that day the sky was anything but blue, with a relentless rain pounding down, causing Lange to cancel her appearance.
Despite last-minute pleading from festival organizers to reconsider, Lange refused to take them up on their offer of a free flight to Santa Barbara.
“Hey, do you think after playing Patsy Cline I’m even going to consider boarding a plane in this weather?” asked Lange.
Said interview was ultimately conducted by telephone, with my friend up on stage accompanied by a picture of Lange projected on screen.
It’s hard to fathom life without Skype.
Michael Rechtshaffen, a Canadian entertainment reporter living in LA, writes Wednesdays and Sundays.