Showing posts with label Palm Springs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palm Springs. Show all posts

Thursday, January 16, 2025







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Saturday, January 4, 2025







Angelina Jolie's award presentation was made all the more special as it was delivered by her godmother Jacqueline Bisset.

Bisset, 80, gave a loving introduction to Jolie, 49, at the Palm Springs International Film Festival’s film awards gala on Friday, Jan. 3, praising the Oscar winner’s work in Maria . For her leading role as opera star Maria Callas, Jolie earned a Desert Palm Achievement Award at the event.

"It is such a thrill to be here with you tonight to present this award to Angelina Jolie, who just happens to be my goddaughter, and whose mother Marcheline was one of my dearest friends,” said the British actress onstage at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

Bisset added that she was "immensely proud" of Jolie in her career and as a humanitarian and "exceptional mother."

Jolie thanked Bisset in her acceptance speech along with those she worked with on Maria "for allowing me to have a voice, and to find mine again."

She continued, "I'm very grateful for our director Pablo Larrain. I was so scared to do this film ... it was a privilege to be on this journey with you. The freedom to express and create is the greatest."

Jolie, who attended the ceremony with her daughter Zahara, 19, added of her portrayal of Maria Callas, "Callas was loved. But Maria was often alone. But I'm all right because when I walk off this stage, I am more myself because of you, Zahara, and your brothers and sisters."



She held onto her trophy backstage at the awards ceremony as she posed for a photo alongside Bisset.

For her role in Maria, Jolie has earned recognition this awards season from the Gotham Awards, Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards and more.

Of her honor at the Palm Springs Film Festival awards gala, Festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi said in a statement, “Maria presents the iconic Angelina Jolie in the role of a lifetime as she embodies Maria Callas, the world-renowned opera legend. Jolie’s extraordinary portrayal captures the heart and complexity of an artist whose life was as captivating as her music.”

Receiving the Gothams’ Performer Tribute in December, Jolie shouted out her mom Marcheline Bertrand, who died in 2007 at age 56, after a battle with ovarian cancer.

Bisset revealed to PEOPLE in 2021 that Jolie’s mother asked her to be "godmother when Angie was in the tummy."

She said the two became close friends, "around 1971 while filming End of the Game with director Maximilian Schell and [Jolie's father] Jon Voight, who [Bertrand] was married to at the time."

Among her over 100 film and TV credits, Bisset once almost starred with her goddaughter and Brad Pitt in 2005’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith. However, after she filmed her brief scenes, the part was reworked and recast.

Maria is now in theaters and streaming on Netflix.










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Angelina Jolie was honored for her work in Maria at the Palm Springs International Film Awards on Friday, and used the moment to shine the spotlight back on her kids.

Jolie, who plays famed opera singer Maria Callas in Pablo Larrain’s biopic, told the crowd at the Palm Springs Convention Center, “There was Maria and there was Callas; Callas was loved, but Maria was often alone. But I’m around today because when I walk off this stage, I am more myself because of you, Zahara, and your brothers and sisters. I love you.”

Jolie’s 19-year-old daughter Zahara walked the carpet with her mother at the event, and Jolie’s children Vivienne, Shiloh, Maddox, Knox and Pax have also made appearances as Jolie has promoted the film in recent months. The moment comes just days after Jolie and Brad Pitt, who shared the six children, reached a divorce settlement and ended an eight-year-long contentious legal battle.

“I am very honored to be here tonight with so many artists I have long admired,” Jolie added in her speech. “But to everyone who is there as a support to a celebrated artist, tonight and every night, who is there with kindness and understanding, thank you. You make everything possible.” Jacqueline Bisset, who is Jolie’s godmother, was on hand to present the Desert Palm Achievement Award, actress to the star.





















PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 03: (L-R) Denis Villeneuve and Angelina Jolie attend the After Party for the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Awards at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 03, 2025 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Society)



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Friday, January 3, 2025






















36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Awards - Arrivals





Angelina Jolie, Édgar Ramírez at the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Awards at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 3, 2025 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Chad Salvador/Variety via Getty Images)





PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 03: (L-R) Zahara Marley Jolie and Angelina Jolie attend the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 03, 2025 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Monica Schipper/WireImage)

Zahara Marley Jolie, Angelina Jolie, Jacqueline Bisset at the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Awards at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 3, 2025 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Chad Salvador/Variety via Getty Images)







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Angelina Jolie was a vision on the carpet. The 49-year-old A-lister glowed as she posed for photos on the red carpet of the Palm Springs International Film Awards on Friday, Jan. 3 — her first carpet appearance since she and Brad Pitt, 61, reached a settlement in their divorce. She dazzled in an all-white blazer and pants, and nude heels. Jolie parted her long, blonde hair to the side along with her new bangs. She kept her makeup neutral with a rosy, pink lip.


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Monday, January 9, 2012

Palm Springs 5 + videos





lucire.com



Sometimes, you can’t beat the candid shots that guests themselves at celebrity events take. In this case, Austrian photographer Manfred Baumann, and his wife Nelly, walked the red carpet at the Palm Springs Film Festival—along with Charlize Theron, Olivia Wilde, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Tom Hanks and Al Pacino—and came prepared.
   He shot the black and white images with his Nikon V1.







Patton Oswalt

Sitting 5 feet from Brad & Angelina and 10 feet from George Clooney. Am I at the IHOP on Sunset? No! The Palm Springs Film Awards Gala!





 

 

See Angelina Jolie Become Fangirl With Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close's Kid Star!

Today 10:34 AM PST by



Thomas Horn has officially met his No. 1 fan.
While on the red carpet at the 2012 Palm Springs International Film Festival over the weekend, the young breakout star of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close found his interview with E! News briefly interrupted by none other than Angelina Jolie!
But that certainly wasn't a bad thing...
MORE: Angelina Jolie Talks Brad Pitt's Injury—"Proud of Him Every Single Day'
"Hey, I've heard you're amazing," a beaming Jolie told Horn regarding his performance in the 9/11-themed film. "Very, very nice to meet you. It's an honor."
Brad Pitt's better half went on to ask the 14-year-old if he's been doing a lot of these types of events, to which he replied: "It's the first."
"Are you excited or is it weird?" inquired a still-smiling Jolie.
MORE: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close trailer
"It's weird, but exciting, I guess," replied Horn, who was discovered by producers of the movie when they saw his winning 2010 appearance on Jeopardy! during Kids Week.
"You should be really, really proud," insisted Jolie. "My kids already think you're cool, so I'll tell them I met you and they'll think I'm cool."
Well, after seeing this little exchange, Angie, we all think you're pretty cool!


Angelina Jolie: I Don't Lecture My Children

By Dahvi Shira
Monday January 09, 2012 02:00 PM EST
Angelina Jolie: I Don't Lecture My Children | Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Jim Ruymen/Landov


Angelina Jolie is as well known for her work helping refugees around the world as she is for making movies. But she'll let her kids decide for themselves whether they want to follow in her activist footsteps.

"I'm not one of those moms who kind of lectures [my kids]," Jolie, 36, told reporters on Saturday at the 23rd Annual Palm Springs Film Festival. "But I do tell them, whenever I go on a trip, where I'm going and why. And on some occasions, they've come with me to different refugee camps. And they also go to their home countries a lot."

The actress, who wore an Elie Saab gown to the festival's awards gala, has faith her little ones will make decisions based on what they see in their day-to-day lives.

"Hopefully they live in the world, and they see the world really as it is, outside of Hollywood," she says. "If they really live in the world and spend time with friends around the world from all different types of backgrounds, they [will] just see things as they are."

Even though Jolie doesn't expect her children to take up the same causes, she does look for opportunities – such as daughter Zahara's birthday on Sunday – to remind them about who they are and where they come from.

"We make sure we're very aware of her culture and her heritage," Jolie says of Zahara, who turned 7 on Sunday. "She's an African-American girl, so we make that a part of anything she does. So that'll be a part of her [birthday]."

Brange is all business

January 10, 2012 Posted at 12:52 AM
Lainey Posted by Lainey
 

There was some Pitt Porn posing on Saturday night in Palm Springs but mostly, for both of them, it was Work Time. Both of them were selling, and separately.

About half an hour before arrivals, a publicist representing Angelina’s film In The Land Of Blood and Honey came down the press line to confirm that Jolie would indeed be taking questions on the line, and that she preferred that they be about the movie.

So they came and they posed together, and they’re, like, ridiculously goodlooking together, and then he started with his interviews first and she followed on her own because he needed to hustle for his own Best Actor chances and, of course, she had to pursue her goals for Blood and Honey independently, so as not to compromise the chances for either.

Blood and Honey?

Yes, Blood and Honey. It was screened for Academy members last week and received a standing ovation. Deadline reports that the film elicited an impressively emotional impact and that the Jolie put in her time with the audience, staying for over an hour afterwards to answer questions and lobby, subtly of course, for votes. Brad, with his cane, has also been hobbling around shaking hands and cradling babies with Academy members for Moneyball and Sony and I’ve never seen him spend so much time with the media as he did in Palm Springs on Saturday night. Like, he actually stopped to talk. Stopped. Normally Brad Pitt doesn’t stop. He keeps walking, he points his finger at you, he answers you in motion, “Yeah, yeah, that’s right man, that’s right”, but he doesn’t ever stop. Unless of course we’re in Palm Springs where a lot of old Academy members spend most of their time and the nomination voting still hasn’t closed. In that case, Brad stops. Even for Canadian networks, blogs, and tabloids. Yes, yes, tabloids too. And it was such a novelty for all of us that, well, it ended up just being a lot of shouting. Everyone cramming their mics in his face, yelling questions on top of each other.*

When he came down to my area, he was quick with his explanation about his leg and the cane, saying simply that he tripped over his daughter. So when Angelina followed a few minutes later and was asked about him “tripping over their daughter”, she rolled her eyes exasperatedly like any wife who has to pick up after her husband (really cute) and was like, no no, he didn’t trip over her, he was carrying her while skiing and took the fall for her instead” and, you must know, that has made every headline since - Brad Pitt sacrifices leg for daughter! Please. These two know exactly what they’re doing. Always.

By the time Angelina arrived in front of me, all the questions about the movie had already been answered. So we talked instead about being sexy with a cane. She did this thing where she bites her lip, pauses, then throws open her mouth, and she heavily suggested, “Oh yeah...I like it”, in that way only Angelina Jolie can manage, for exactly the intended visual, and, well, I ended up getting my Pitt Porn after all.

How did they look? Jolie is never ugly, even when she’s not at her best, I’ll tell you that. And she was gorgeous on Saturday night. That blush coloured dress worked surprisingly well on her skin. I made a point actually, given the drama from last week, of taking a close look at his skin. Brad Pitt has middle aged skin. I mean, he’s a handsome man but there’s no sign of Nicole Kidman there either. And for all the talk of how thin she is (she’s skinny but in person she also looks strong; I mean you don’t see her and recoil in horror, at least not at an event like this when they’re all that skinny), it’s not like Brad Pitt is fleshy either. Brad is very, very lean right now. About as lean as I’ve ever seen him. So much that I didn’t really  like the way his tuxedo was hanging on him. The jacket is so loose it almost looked borrowed, non?

*Behaviour like this surrounding the Brange went on inside the ballroom too. All those rich Palm Springs locals pulled out their iPhones. Click here to read Angelina’s reaction.



 

Pop Tarts

George Clooney, Brad Pitt Trade Friendly Jabs in Palm Springs as Awards Season Kicks Off

By
Published January 09, 2012
| FoxNews.com
  • pitt jolie clooney kiebler 640
    AP
    Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Stacey Kiebler at the 2012 Palm Beach Film Festival.
It is official – awards season in Hollywood has begun. Things got kicked off with a star-studded opening gala for the Palm Springs Film Festival on Saturday night, and George Clooney was quick to compare campaigning for a film to campaigning for elected office.

“There’s a lot of baby kissing [in an awards season campaign)] as you can imagine,” Clooney told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. He also said he had been following the GOP debates, and wouldn't mind if campaigning for film awards was more like campaigning for president. “I think [making it more political] is a really good idea. I would like to see some of the best actresses out there debating, like Viola (Davis) and Meryl (Streep) going at each other. That would be fun.”

Clooney has already prepared how he would target fellow A-lister Brad Pitt in a debate.

“I would go at Brad about his height, he’s only 5' 3"… and his drinking,” Clooney joked.

Pitt was unfazed by Clooney’s jabs.

“He had a really good showing in Iowa, but I will get him in New Hampshire,” the “Moneyball” star declared.
Pitt – who was hobbling with a cane – also wished the two-month pat-on-the-back marathon that is awards season could be condensed into “a 48-hour festival.”

"I don't think I've seen that many flashbulbs in a long time. I'm still seeing spots but it's nice,” he continued. “It's the first one of the season, starts things off, and it's just nice to be here and see our friends we haven't seen all year."

And despite being one of the most talked about/followed figures in the entertainment world, Pitt has no problems with his children entering the industry.

“Whatever they want to do, whatever makes them happy,” he said.

Pitt brought his longtime love, Angelina Jolie, as his date to the swanky soiree, and left it to her to explain why he could barely walk.

“We are building different parts of the lawn, and he was going down to see it, and the grass was changing levels, and he slipped,” she told us, adding that he was carrying his daughter Vivienne at the time. “In order to make sure she was okay he threw himself down to protect her. He did the dad thing.”

Jolie, for her part, couldn’t have been more proud of her guy.  

“I’m so happy he's getting all of this attention," she gushed. "It makes me very, very happy."

Clooney, too,extended his appreciation for Pitt, and show business in general.

“We really do love what we do, and we recognize that most people don’t get to love their jobs. I’ve had lots of jobs, I have cut tobacco for a living, I sold insurance door to door, and I have sold men’s suits and ladies shoes,” he said in his acceptance speech for the Chairman’s Award.  “The point is we do understand that we are very blessed, and lucky to be doing this. It is not just about acting, you look at someone like Brad and he is terrific not just in ‘Moneyball,’ but looks out for the public people in the world, he builds homes for people in New Orleans, and he loves what he does. We love what we do. The truth is, we would do it for free. It’s a fun thing to do.”





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Sunday, January 8, 2012

Pete Hammond's Palm Springs & Oscars Report

Palm Springs Film Fest Gala Caps Wild Week Of Oscar Campaigning

By PETE HAMMOND | Sunday January 8, 2012 @ 6:39pm PSTPete Hammond

Final nomination ballots are due Friday and the season is igniting with contenders rolling from one event to the next, no voter left unturned.

Capping a furious week of Oscar campaigning and leading into another one, The Palm Springs International Film Festival staged their annual awards gala Saturday night at the cavernous Palm Springs Convention Center and drew a starry group of contenders who tried out their speeches on a ritzy PS crowd who obviously lives for this show each year. That it falls right in the middle of Oscar voting is totally by design and the reason the fest can draw an ‘A’ list of talent that included photog magnets George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Michelle Williams and Charlize Theron among others. When Pitt and supportive significant other, Angelina Jolie came to the Sony table in the middle of the room there was a tidal wave of locals with iphones who descended on them snapping away and pushing me, among others aside. (I actually ran smack into Jolie who told me “this is wild. I’m not sure what to make of it. I think I need a glass of wine just to soak it all in”.)  I guess the crowd figured they were entitled to become paparazzi for a night since many of them paid $1500.00 to be there (the event raised $1.6 million for the Fest according to Chair Harold Matzner who claims it is second in glamour only to the Golden Globes). Pitt managed to brave the facelifted PS throng while walking with a cane (he tripped a few days earlier on a ski trip with one of his kids).

All the stars and Hollywood contingent seemed to be a great mood and that also included studio execs like 20th Century Fox’s  Jim Gianopulos who,  with wife Ann had hosted his own annual Fox awards season party the night before at his home that drew Clooney among others.   The tables at the PS Gala seemed to go on for miles but all the Hollywood types were bunched in the 800s in the center of the room . I got to sit with presenter Kenneth Branagh and his My Week With Marilyn co-star Michelle Williams (lucky me) who received the Actress of the Year statue from him. She was quite touching , not only in acknowledging the debt she owes to never Oscar-nominated Marilyn Monroe but also to her own publicist Mara Buxbaum who has handled her since she was 18 “through all the ups and downs and now back to an ‘up’” Michelle said in her speech.  Buxbaum told me she had no idea the speech was going to be about her. She was in tears. Of Monroe Williams said “my only wish is Marilyn could have experienced what I am lucky enough to have experienced tonight. She had a beautiful soul and valiant heart and I accept  this on both of our behalf”.

Among the best speeches were Clooney’s upon receiving the Chairman’s Award at Gala’s end and speaking for other superstars in saying “you don’t have to do this for us. We love what we do.”  However according to Oscar season rules you do have to do this for them because it keeps the all-important buzz going right when it counts and Oscar consultants live for this stuff.  Predictably Clooney and the Jolie-Pitts were front page news in the local paper Sunday morning and that can make an impression on the many , mostly older Academy members who live in the desert cities.

Pitt, receiving the Desert Palm Actor Achievement Award, was actually quite funny when he lauded his  The Tree of Life co-star Jessica Chastain by noting she had been in “seven pictures in 2011 and five in 2012. Usually an actor has to work in the porn industry to have that kind of success”. Glenn Close got laughs too by channeling her characters of Alex in Fatal Attraction and Cruella DeVil from 100 Dalmatians as she received her latest  Career Achievement Award this year on the path to a hoped-for Best Actress Oscar nod for Albert Nobbs.Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ‘s Gary Oldman said after seeing his highlight reel of past crazies he has played that he might just have to “smoke” his trophy for International Star. Comedian Patton Oswalt was in his element as he got to accept the creative ensemble Vanguard award for co-star Theron, director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody who he said were all  the “drunkest” recipients of the evening.
But it was The Help’s Octavia Spencer, first winner of the night for  Breakthrough Performance who also got the biggest laugh when she listed all her fellow Palm Springs honorees including Clooney and Pitt. “I would be remiss in not recognizing them and reminding you I am single,”  she said. Later Sonny Bono Visionary Award winner The Artist director Michel Hazanavicius said in his speech, “Octavia I am married. But I am also French.” In presenting that award with her Artist co-star Jean Dujardin , Berenice Bejo, wife of the director, jokingly reminded  Spencer “he is my man”.

If we are adding up Oscar points here Spencer may have scored the most in terms of likeability and skill in acceptance speeches. Of course there are many more of those to come in the next week and members of the Palm Springs group of awardees and others will be in an accepting or presenting mode all week long at events including  the New York Film Critics, National Board of Review and LA Film Critics banquets, the annual AFI lunch, the Critics Choice Movie Awards and finally , the Golden Globes. Whew.

But if you think that’s exhausting just look at the schedules some of these Oscar contenders are put through. No sooner did they get back to their hotels with their PS trophy than the Weinstein Company has the cast and crew of The Artist and My Week With Marilyn back on the post-holiday period Q&A circuit they started last week, with one or two nearly every night.  Last week Clooney was also back on the circuit participating in Q&As for The Descendants Tuesday , Thursday and Saturday afternoon. He should be a politician. He knows how to charm a crowd and  afterwards he stays and takes photos with just about anyone who sticks a camera in his face. Pitt has done a couple of Q&As as well but instead got to gladhand lots of invited Academy members at a Beverly Hills Hotel party Sony threw to celebrate Moneyball Thursday night.

Jolie was there for a while too but had to leave to do her own Q&A (which I moderated) for Academy members after a screening of her writing and directing debut , In The Land of Blood and Honey. She drew a standing ovation with some questioners in the audience getting highly emotional. She stayed for over an hour afterwards talking with crowd members. And Oldman seems to be doing a different Q&A each night too in order to boost his best actor chances. Friday he did one deep in Malibu to reach those seaside voters, another Sunday in Palm Springs and has more lined up next week including one for his own career film festival at the Arclight.

And it wasn’t just stars hitting the Q&A circuit during the week. There were several Below the Line events for cinematographers, production designers, editors , composers etc including a Tuesday War Horse session at the DGA, a Wednesday night panel for The Help and a Thursday reception and pre-screening Q&A for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close with director Stephen Daldry (who also was in Palm Springs this weekend accepting the Director award) , composer Alexander Desplat and others who worked on the film.

Not everyone is taking the Q&A route.  SAG nominee and A Better Life star Demian Bichir was feted at a private lunch Wednesday at Spago that drew veteran academy members like Sidney Poitier, Dyan Cannon, Eva Marie Saint, Mitzi Gaynor, Diane Ladd and Susan Kohner, a 1959 Supporting Actress nominee for Imitation of Life. She also happens to be the director Chris Weitz’s mother. Bichir made a charming speech that focused on how he learned to make guacamole.

Viola Davis is taking another path too. She was one of The Help cast members who signed a thank you letter (that also included their photos)  that was sent to all 90.000 plus members of SAG along with the DVD. For the Broadcast Critics Association she sent out personal letters, each hand signed waxing rhapsodic about moments she has spent with members of the group at junkets and on red carpets. “I am so happy to have a chance to say thank you, thank you, and thank you!”  she wrote.

Another tact has been live musical performances. Before she had to run off and do a -  you guessed it – Q&A Friday night, Glenn Close attended a packed Pallihouse party thrown by Roadside Attractions where she  introduced Irish singing legend Sinead O’Connor to sing the theme from Albert Nobbs, Lay Your Head Down which the actress wrote with composer Brian Byrne.  It’s been nominated for a Golden Globe  and many members of the Academy’s music branch were spotted in the room. Certainly doesn’t hurt its chances.  Not to be outdone Saturday night director J.J. Abrams introduced his Super 8 composer Michael Giachhino and orchestra to perform the film’s score under the stars at his Bad Robot offices in front of 150 guests. Then J.J. ran off to do a, yes, Q&A with cast members.

With parties planned this week for Dreamworks Animation’s Puss In Boots, The Weinstein Company and Paramount to name three, this period leading to the CCMAs and Golden Globes is now officially the busiest of the whole season, especially since new Academy rules that allow all this stuff pre-noms  also put the kibosh on most of it post-noms.  The town is gonna have to dry out anyway. How much can you take, Hollywood?
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Palm Springs 4

Brad Pitt Injures His Knee

By Alla Byrne
Sunday January 08, 2012 10:15 AM EST
Brad Pitt Injures His Knee | Brad Pitt
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Steve Granitz/WireImage
What's Brad Pitt's newest accessory?

A cane – and it's not just for show.

The actor, 48, walked the red carpet at the 23nd annual Palm Springs Film Festival awards gala with the cane on Saturday, and told reporters he has an injured ACL, a ligament in the knee that connects the femur with the tibia.

"I was carrying my daughter [Vivienne] down the hill and I slipped," Pitt said. "It was either her or me."

Though Pitt says he won't need surgery, he may need that cane for a while.

Not that his partner, Angelina Jolie, minds.

"I like the cane," she told reporters on the carpet Saturday, adding that the injury hasn't slowed him down much at all. "He's not that kind of guy. He does everything still."

Jolie also said that Vivienne, 3½, wasn't hurt in the tumble.

"Vivie's okay," she told reporters. "She was absolutely fine."

• Reporting by SCOTT HUVER



  January 8, 2012, 11:28 am

Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Other Desert Campaigners

By BROOKS BARNES
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — The glass trophies were designed by Dale Chihuly. The appetizer was diced green beans and carrots. A press advisory had warned that after 4 p.m. “no media will be allowed to use the bathrooms.”
I had an uneasy feeling about this.
So it’s not the Golden Globes. Or the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Or even the … well, you get the idea. But the Palm Springs International Film Society’s annual prize dinner, held Saturday night here in a bedazzled convention hall, has nonetheless become a major stop in the annual campaign for little gold men.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at the gala on Saturday. 
Chris Pizzello/Associated PressAngelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at the gala on Saturday.

Held while ballots for Oscar nominations are still out, the Palm Springs awards are considered crucial for the fingers-on-the-ledge contingency — solid Academy Awards contenders but those who could still stand to pick up a few more votes from the older showbiz types who have decamped to the desert.
So the crowd from “Young Adult” was there – Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt, Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody — to collect the creative ensemble prize. Glenn Close accepted the Career Achievement Chihuly while pitching “Albert Nobbs.” Gary Oldman, snubbed by the Screen Actors Guild, accepted the International Star Award for “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.”
Palm Springs, partly because it announces the winners of its awards ahead of time, draws a megawatt crowd. Among the A-listers this year were Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Mr. Pitt and Mr. Clooney were both given trophies for their work.
(Mr. Pitt and Ms. Jolie, guarded by a team of private security operatives, politely put up with nonstop pawing from attendees armed with camera phones during the four-hour dinner. “I’ve never seen such rudeness,” said Robert Stafford, a Palm Springs retiree seated at a nearby table. “Let those poor people eat their green bean salad in peace.”)
The event, hosted by the ever-chirpy Mary Hart, raised $1.6 million for the Palm Springs International Film Society. The convention center, decorated with every purple tulip west of Rotterdam (some 14,000 in total), was packed with 1,900 guests, who ate a dinner of short ribs atop a hash brown patty.
Octavia Spencer, picking up the Breakthrough Performance Award for her feisty maid in “The Help,” kicked off the evening with an emotional acceptance speech capped with a joke about the producers of the film, which centers on black maids in the 1960s. She said that a higher power “sent me two white knights — very, very white.”
Michel Hazanavicius, who accepted the Sony Bono Visionary Award for writing and directing “The Artist,” gave a gracious speech thanking the society. “I don’t know who you are, but thank you very much,” he concluded. (He’s French — cut him some slack.)
And Mr. Oldman, who drew a standing ovation from parts of the room, was equally gracious, thanking the society for focusing attention on his espionage drama. “And, of course, for my Chihuly,” he said.


Angelina Jolie Talks Brad Pitt's Injury: "Proud of Him Every Single Day"

Today 11:17 AM PST by  

Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt is still walking with that cane.
But being injured is worth it if it means his children are OK...

Pitt told reporters at last night's Palm Springs International Film Festival gala that he hurt himself when he took a fall while carrying daughter Vivienne.
Angelina Jolie said it's not the first injury of its kind at the Jolie-Pitt household.

"When [Maddox] was younger, I took a fall and cracked my elbow because I wanted to make sure he didn't have the fall," Jolie said. "Every parent has injured themselves. Every parent will stand in the line of fire for their kids so it's a normal thing."
Jolie said Pitt isn't milking the injury at home. "He's not that kind of guy," she said. "He does everything still."


"I'm proud of him every single day," Jolie said of her hubby, who last night was presented the Desert Palm Achievement Award by his Moneyball costar Jonah Hill.
Jolie told me she's likely to direct again after making her debut earlier this year with In The Land of Blood and Honey.
"It's such a weird thing. I sat down to try to write something and I can't even believe it's become a film," she said. "I do have a pile of things I haven't shown anybody, including one on Afghanistan."

PHOTOS: 2012 Palm Springs Film Fest
 READ: How Many Glasses of Champagne Will Be Poured at the Golden Globes?


Clooney, Pitt kick off 2012 award season

By: MIKE CIDONI LENNOX | 01/08/12 1:14 PM
AP Entertainment Writer

George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and other red-carpet veterans joined some Hollywood newcomers in the Southern California desert this weekend to kick off the two-month-long movie award season at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

"When you're of age: drink," Clooney noted to the newbies at Saturday night's gala awards ceremony. "That's good advice to pretty much anybody."

Among those relative newcomers were Clooney's co-stars from the drama "The Descendants." ''It is the first time we have dressed up all season," said actor Matthew Lillard. "We have a couple months to put on nice dresses and suits."

"Don't forget the shoes," injected actress Judy Greer. "Oh man, am I going to need a massage when the next two months are over."

Clooney, star of both "Descendants" and the drama "The Ides of March," was given the festival's "Chairman's Award" for acting, directing, producing and writing. "They gave me a gavel on the way in," he joked. "And I'm feeling like I might actually get protested now."

Among other honorees: actresses Michelle Williams ("My Week with Marilyn), Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer ("The Help") and Glenn Close ("Albert Nobbs").

Pitt was handed the Desert Palm Achievement Award for his performances in "Moneyball" and "The Tree of Life." Gary Oldman ("Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy") was dubbed International Star of the Year - the significance of which seemed to baffle its recipient.

"I am on an international stage, rather than a local one," Oldman noted. "I guess that is what that means?
Or perhaps he simply no longer needs a passport.

"Who designed the award?" Oldman asked. "Maybe I have just that and it gets me through customs."

As excited as Jolie was to support partner Pitt — the latter walking with a cane, following a skiing injury — home in LA was where their hearts were. "We are rushing back to the kids tonight," Jolie explained. "We have a birthday party in the morning with our daughter."

Next stops on the entertainment honors gauntlet include Wednesday's People's Choice, Thursday's Critic's Choice, Friday's Los Angeles Film Critics and Sunday's Golden Globes awards.

"I found that the last time I was (at the Golden Globes), it was a very fun day," said actor and director Kenneth Branagh, a Globe nominee for his performance in "My Week With Marilyn."

"The fact that it is a smallish room by comparison with some of the bigger awards rooms means that it has an intimacy and a kind of slightly raucous quality that is very, very carefully adhered to," Branagh explained. "I was very intoxicated."

Pitt, Clooney trade barbs at Palm Springs Film Festival

By Andrea Mandell, USA TODAY

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – It's going to be a fun road to the Oscars this year.

One look at the A-list crowd at Saturday night's Palm Springs International Film Festival gala confirmed it, as Hollywood favorites including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Tom Hanks and Michelle Williams descended on the festive night to officially open awards season.

"It's quite a way to start," said Williams in the desert air, as a crowd of fans cheered behind her. "It's pretty overwhelming, actually."
"It's a little like Cannes," mused Gary Oldman on the red carpet, speaking against a backdrop of palm trees and mountains.

The evening was also an early chance to see what good-natured ribbing Golden Globes category-mates Pitt and Clooney had in store for each other. (Indeed, Clooney referenced their two-time Sexiest Men Alive status from the stage.)

"I'm just glad George is going to be around because there's no one more fun," said Pitt backstage, after Jonah Hill, who flew in from the East Coast for the evening, presented him with the Desert Palm Achievement award for his work in Moneyball and Tree of Life.

On the red carpet, Clooney, who arrived with girlfriend Stacy Keibler, threw out some skepticism over Pitt's latest skiing injury, which resulted in a twisted knee and forced Pitt to arrive at Palm Springs with a cane.
His plan to thwart Pitt? "I don't have any great plans yet, but I'm going to work on it. He's in a cast so he's already hobbled. He's going for the sympathy vote," Clooney joked. Pitt's rebuttal? "Absolutely. I'm going to work it for all I can get," grinned Pitt backstage. "By the way, I told him that. He took my line."

Pre-show, Jolie arrived hand-in-hand with Pitt and was equally chatty, excited to bring her directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey to screen in Washington soon. With both she and Pitt nominated for Globes, does it change the awards experience for her? "It's fun either way," she said. "It's fun when it's just one of us and it's fun when you're (there as) a family."

Good spirits were in abundance as awards were handed out. When Melissa McCarthy (who has plenty of Oscar buzz for her performance in Bridesmaids), arrived, she admitted to her own fan moment.
"I'm geeking out a little," said McCarthy. "We just saw The Artist and we just saw the lead actors pass. I literally gasped."

Meanwhile, Tom Hanks, who presented the director of the year award to his Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close director Stephen Daldry, was hoping to find a former co-star. "I've gotta find Charlize at some point because I cast her in a movie I directed about 16 years ago called That Thing You Do," he said.

Later, Clooney, accepting his chairman's award for his work in The Descendents and The Ides of March, spoke of his love of his job, a sentiment echoed by many who took the stage that night.

Octavia Spencer grew emotional accepting her breakthrough performance award for The Help, speaking of her 16-year journey to the Palm Springs stage. And prolific newcomer Jessica Chastain shed a few tears after Al Pacino, who cast her in her first film, presented her with the Spotlight Award, calling her a "prodigy."
But there were cracks, of course.

Onstage Williams disclosed that when she was starting out, an agent tried to persuade her to change her name to Michelle Montana. "Or Michelle Montaigne. I always think I came this close to a career as a porn star," she joked.
And Spencer threw a line out to her fellow male award winners. "I'd be remiss if I didn't say — I'm single, gentlemen," she grinned from the podium.

Before Jeff Goldblum presented Glenn Close with the career achievement award, she spoke on the red carpet of bringing her indie film Albert Nobbs to life. "I struggled all those years and suddenly it seemed like it was the right time and it started to take on a life of its own,' she said. "I'm just so proud and wonderfully relieved and (have) a great sense of closure."

Kenneth Branagh, who presented Williams with the desert palm achievement award for My Week with Marilyn, discussed why the film, in which he plays Sir Laurence Olivier, has struck a chord with audiences. "It appeared to be one thing on the surface, a kind of biopic in miniature, but in practice it was quite a revealing piece about celebrity and about what you might call the price of fame," he said.

Meanwhile, before Patton Oswalt accepted the vangaurd award for creative ensemble (presented by Olivia Wilde) for Young Adult with Theron, director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody, he marveled that "a major studio put out a movie that was — it wasn't even that the movie was so dark, it was that it was not trying to get the audience to love it. And because of that it becomes more fascinating. For a studio to get behind that, especially these days, it's kind of miraculous."

Oldman also shared some news about his latest hit, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. A second installment, he says, based on John le Carré's third novel Smiley's People, is in talks after the success of the film. "It's an artistic endeavor, and it's an indie movie, but it's actually making money," he said. "People are seeing this movie and that makes me very proud."

With the Globes only a week away, many of the stars said they were excited.

"I love this time of year, I love it," said Spencer. "I love getting all the magazines and flipping through and seeing who thought what was the best (dress). And now I'm a little worried!"

Clooney planned on bringing Keibler, and has no qualms with the no-holds-barred returning host Ricky Gervais.

"I really like him, he makes me laugh," Clooney said. Plus, "It's always a fun show because everybody gets a little smashed, so you never know what they'll say."

 

Palm Springs Festival Attendee Dies of Heart Attack

4:51 PM PST 1/8/2012 by Jane Kellogg 
 
Palm Springs International Film Festival Logo - P 2011

A man suffered a heart attack in the crowd when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie arrived on the festival's red carpet and was later pronounced dead at Desert Regional Medical Center.

A man attending the red carpet event before the 23rd Palm Springs International Film Festival’s Awards Gala on Saturday collapsed and was pronounced dead after being taken to Desert Regional Medical Center, according to local reports.
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As Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie arrived on the red carpet, hordes of fans crowded the couple, taking pictures and asking for autographs. Pitt and Jolie happily stopped to oblige, despite Pitt walking with a cane due to a recent accident.

Amidst the chaos in the crowd, an older male collapsed to the ground. In video posted of the red carpet arrivals, one man can be heard yelling, "Everybody back away from him! Back away from him!" while someone else yells "Back up!"

As THR reported last night, the Palm Springs Fire Department received an emergency call for medical aid during the opening ceremonies for the gala. The fire department originally reported the spectator to be female: "While responding, the Fire Department got an update of CPR in progress," a release from the Fire Department reads. "Fire unit arrived on scene and found CPR in progress on a female spectator of the Film Festival." Local news source My Desert later confirmed that the victim was male.
 

 

 

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