There were over 23 Oscar nominees at the Santa Barbara Film Festival last week! So many talented and inspirational people that truly excel at what they do. Here are some of my favorite images of the most recognizable faces.
The first set of images are from the World Premiere of the film ‘Darling Companion‘ starring Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline. Directed by Lawrence Kasdan (writer of The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Raiders of the Lost Ark). Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine from Seinfeld) also attended the premiere:
.jpg "Darling Companion Diane Keaton Photography")
The next set of images are Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, stars of “The Help.” Also, the director, Tate Taylor. Octavia Spencer gave a wonderful speech to introduce Viola for her award. She started by saying Davis was scandalous…going on to say how she’s a wonderful person, amazing actress, delightful wife..so she was scandal-LESS. It was very well written and delivered. They both seem like such great people!
.jpg "The Help Viola Davis Pictures")
.jpg "Octavia Davis Tate Taylor The Help")
The next set of images came from the World Premiere for the movie “The Samaritin“. In attendance was the star Samuel L. Jackson and the very funny David Koechner. I love that I was lucky enough to capture a serious face and a smile from Samuel L. Jackson. If you have children and haven’t heard the audio book “Go the F To Sleep“, it’s hilarious!
.jpg "Samuel L. Jackson The Samaritan")
The next images are Billy Zane (best known as mean guy ‘Cal’ from The Titanic), and legendary actor, Christopher Plummer. He’s up for an Oscar for ‘The Beginners‘ but is also widely known for “The Sound of Music“, “Up“, “A Beautiful Mind“, “The Insider“…and countless other roles!
.jpg "Billy Zane and Chirstopher Plummer")
Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better than the Christopher Plummer, the next huge event celebrated Martin Scorsese. Considered one of the most influential filmmakers of all-time, he’s most known for “Goodfellas“, “The Departed“, “Raging Bull” and most recently, “Hugo“. Also pictured is Sir Ben Kingsley (“Schindler’s List”, “Gandhi” and “Hugo”).
.jpg "scorsese and ben kingsley")
One of the neatest awards of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is the Virtuoso Award. This goes to a group of usually newer actors, celebrating a great performance in the current year. This year’s recipients were Demián Bichir (from “A Better Life”), Rooney Mara (from David Fincher’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Patton Oswalt (Young Adult), Andy Serkis (Caeser the ape, in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”) and Shailene Woodley (“The Descendants”). Melissa McCarthy for her role as the hilariously outspoken Megan in “Bridesmaids” was given the award too, but she was sick and couldn’t attend the gala. This was the most entertaining award show of the festival for several reasons. First of all, Patton Oswalt is HILARIOUS! I was definitely not shocked when I learned he has a career as a stand-up comic. It was also fun to hear his voice because he voiced the main character (Remy) from the film “Ratatouille“. Rooney Mara sure makes a photographer’s job easy… And Shailene Woodley is adorable. She was working at a clothing store and felt so guilty needing to quit her job to take the role with George Clooney for “The Descendants”.
.jpg "Patton Oswalt Rooney Mara and Shailene Woodley")
The moderator of the awards presentation, Entertainment Weekly’s Dave Karger did a great job, but even he didn’t know how to keep his composure when Andy Serkis came out shirtless for his on-stage interview. It was hilarous. He is receiving current praise for “Planet of the Apes”, but he also played ‘Gollum’ in “Lord of the Rings“.
.jpg "Damian Bichir and Andy Serkis")
The last big tribute of this years festival was for the stars of “The Artist“, Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo. Another two folks who make a photographers job very easy! They seemed so cute together and I bet had a great time making the movie!
.jpg "Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo from The Artist")
I want to share these last two images in the “move stars” blog post here, but I was so affected by my experience, I plan on another separate post specifically devoted to this event. The movie is called, “West of Memphis” and the lady on the far right is director Amy Berg. Also attending the premiere were Natalie Maines (lead singer of the ‘Dixie Chicks‘) and Ellen Page (star of “Juno”). Funded by Peter Jackson, the movie chronicles the “West Memphis Three”, three potentially innocent men who were in prison for nearly 20 years…
.jpg "west memphis natalie maines amy berg and ellen page")
It was quite the week! So glad to have had the job again!!
