SFIFF: Film Society Awards Night
We thought we hit the big time when we got to bask in the reflected glory of Courteney Cox Arquette, but then the PR gal with the mostest, the San Francisco Film Societies Tiffany, invited us to cover their Momo Salehi, Kevin Robinson, and Tracie Donahue (and her colleague, the name of whom I did not get). These folks were all there with their professional broadcast gear, so we expected to get trampled and mocked, but all of them were super, super cool and made sure we got clear shots, so we'd like to send a big SFist thank you to all of them.
Keep reading past the jump for bona-fide celebrities and how we almost lost our sh** with one of them!
First to run the press gauntlet were William R. Hearst, host of the event, and Roxanne Messina Captor, Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society. Captor made a daring choice with a youthful blue strapless dress, and Hearst was dressed in fancy guy stuff. They both beamed excitedly when speaking to press, and seemed very pleased (as well they should be) with what is turing out to be a very successful festival.
Kanbar (and Oscar nominee for his authorship of the Million Dollar Baby screenplay) Award recipient Paul Haggis arrived next, accompanied by his wife Deborah Rennard. We thought she looked familiar and discovered that she played "Sly" on Dallas -- where's her award? He gave thoughtful and considered answers to every quesion thrown at him, and seems to eagerly anticipate the release of his directorial debut, Crash, which has garnered great buzz at this and other festivals.
Y'all, actress Joan Allen is more beautiful that you'd ever even imagine, and she's sweet and funny and smart and really tall. She's receiving the Peter J Owens award from the festival, but we think she should get every award ever because she's damned cool.
We were happy to see that we have something pretty important in common with actor Jeff Bridges (who was there to present Joan Allen with her award), in that we and he are both very expressive speakers, and are thus somewhat unphotogenic in candid settings. Jeff Bridges in person is a fine figure of a man, funny, good natured at being referred to as "The Dude" (which we did not do, mind you), and he brought his daughter to the event, which we think is cool. And before you ask, no, she's not a starlet-in-training, she's a realtor, a fact that Bridges related with much pride.
Director Sally Potter's movie Orlando made a great personal impact on us, so we were a little bit shaky (as you can see from the photo quality) when she approached. After the broadcasters around us finished their questions, we stopped her for a moment and were total fangirls, and she totally grabbed our hand! Now we know why chicks cried when they met Elvis.
Ray director Taylor Hackford, recipient of Film Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Directing, was there with his wife Helen Mirren, star of SFist faves Prime Suspect and Hackford-directed White Nights. Our favorite moment came when she was asked "What do you to support your husband in his efforts?" and she responded "Good Lord, I just try to stay out of his hair!"
After all the star sightings we had that night, you'd think that we'd be blase at a Gavin sighting, but you'd be wrong. Gavin was chatting up everybody (except the press) and exuding as much star power as anyone in the room. If the whole politics thing doesn't work out for Gavin, can Hollywood be far behind?
For more details on the event, check out Leah Garchik's coverage, for we had to turn tail and hop the 1 California for out 8 PM screening of Princess of Mount Ledang, (which you'll tell you about a little later). That's right, from the gala splendor of the Ritz-Carlton to the relative squalor of MUNI in 5 minutes -- god, we love being a blogger!