Forest Whitaker will receive the Joel Siegel Award and Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke will receive the Louis XIII Genius Award at the 19th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards on Thursday night, the Broadcast Film Critics Association announced on Tuesday.
Whitaker will accept his award from Oprah Winfrey, his co-star in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.” The Joel Siegel Award is named after the late film critic and honors a star who has also done exceptional humanitarian work. Previous honorees include Sean Penn, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle.
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Director-writer Linklater and actor-writers Delpy and Hawke collaborated on the acclaimed trilogy of “Before Sunrise” in 1995, “Before Sunset” in 2004 and “Before Midnight” in 2013. They will receive their award from Matthew McConaughey, who has worked with Linklater on films that include “Dazed and Confused” and “Bernie.”
The Louis XIII Genius Award, sponsored by the Louis XIII cognac brand, honors “an unprecedented demonstration of excellence in the cinematic arts,” according to a BFCA release. It was first awarded last year to Judd Apatow.
The Critics’ Choice Movie Awards will take place on Thursday evening, about 12 hours after Oscar nominations are revealed, at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. It will be telecast on the CW network at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
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The BFCA is the largest film critics’ organization in the United States, made up of more than 280 radio, television and internet critics and journalists.