“Everybody’s born with one or two songs to sing,” Guillermo del Toro told the crowd at the Palm Springs International Film Awards ceremony on Saturday. “That’s it. And we keep repeating them and repeating them until we get them sort of right.”
Del Toro was joined on stage by actors Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth, where they were collectively honored with the Visionary Award for the song the famous filmmaker was born to sing: “Frankenstein.”
But the occasion was a bittersweet one for del Toro, who revealed that he lost his older brother three days before the ceremony. The director compared himself and his sibling to Victor Frankenstein and his Creature, with one having to forgive the other and vice versa at various moments in their lives.
“I’m here because the film speaks about a condition that is purely human, that is proved by the final phase in the film, which says the heart may break and the broken live on,” del Toro said in an emotional speech. “Even a broken heart pumps the blood and keeps you going.”
Del Toro and his cast were honored for their creation in a bustling and cavernous room of glitz and glamour. The sharply-dressed and densely-crowded attendees at the annual star-studded event at the Palm Springs Convention Center, which raised money for and took place on the second day of the Palm Springs International Film Festival (sponsored by Kering), gave out a dozen different awards to some of the year’s biggest contenders. Now in its 37th year, the ceremony has become a key stop on the annual awards trail, jump-starting the season after the holiday break and giving contenders yet another occasion to stand before an eager crowd ahead of Academy Awards voting.
Del Toro noted that he might be absent at several awards functions this season, but that he chose to attend Palm Springs for his family: his brother, his cast and the family he’s made at the annual festival.
“I’ve learned that, if you receive love, you have to be thankful,” he said. “It keeps us alive.”
This year’s honorees included the cast of “Sentimental Value,” recognized with the International Star Award; Amanda Seyfried, recognized with the Desert Palm Achievement Award (Actress) for her work in “The Testament of Ann Lee”; Michael B. Jordan, recognized with the Icon Award (Actor) for his dual performance in “Sinners”; and Kate Hudson, recognized with the Icon Award (Actress) for her turn in “Song Sung Blue.”
When Timothée Chalamet, recipient of the Spotlight Award, walked out to “Marty Supreme” anthem “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” you felt, for a moment, that he at least ruled some part of it. Though Rose Byrne pointed out that 46 was a little old to take home a Breakthrough Performance Award for her work in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” the recognition felt wholly deserved.
Sadly, not all honorees could be in attendance. Leonardo DiCaprio, set to be recognized with the Desert Palm Achievement Award (Actor) for his work in “One Battle After Another,” announced Saturday that the Trump administration’s shocking military action in Venezuela interfered with his air travel from the Caribbean island of St. Barts, preventing his arrival. Co-stars Chase Infiniti and Teyana Taylor accepted DiCaprio’s career award on his behalf, while the actor checked in via a prerecorded video.
Here are other memorable moments from the ceremony.
Adam Sandler imagines his life without acting
The loudest reception of the night went, unsurprisingly, to Adam Sandler, who turned a Chairman’s Award acceptance speech into a hilarious “What if…?” scenario. The “Jay Kelly” star recalled when he graduated with a BFA for acting. At the time, he made a deal with his father that feels ripped out of a Sandler comedy of its own: Sandler would try acting for a year and, if it didn’t pan out, go work as an electrical contractor with his dad.
“I didn’t know very much about electricity or contracting,” Sandler said.
As fate would have it, Sandler “did OK” in the first year, scoring enough acting gigs to put his old man at ease. Reflecting on the career that brought him to the Palm Springs gala, however, Sandler began to wonder what life would have been like if things went the other way.
“First off, I’m thinking I’d probably still be married to my wife Jackie. That’s destiny. True love. Nothing stops that,” Sandler started, before things quickly took a turn. “But we’d probably have a different house: probably, like, 10 less bathrooms and a few less statues of me.”
For around five uninterrupted minutes, Sandler continued following this thread, contrasting the now with the could-have-been. Highlights included the alternate Sandler getting miraculously bad scoliosis, paying for Netflix (rather than Netflix paying him) and, somehow, having a glow-in-the-dark penis.
Actually, the bit about his shining member came up a few times in Sandler’s speech. And in other people’s, too.
“I’ve been looking for a glow-in-the-dark penis for decades, and Jackie Sandler is a very lucky woman,” Kate Hudson said while accepting her award.
Jane Fonda gets teary-eyed, meditative over “Hamnet”
Jane Fonda had no shortage of kind words for “Hamnet.” Yet before she presented Chloé Zhao, Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal with the Palm Springs Vanguard Award for the film, Fonda started the audience off on a quieter note. Mirroring an exercise Zhao has led before screenings of her latest drama, Fonda led the Palm Springs crowd in a guided meditation.
“This world right now, it seems to shrink us, to coarse us, to put scales over our hearts,” Fonda said, adding that “Hamnet” makes those scales fall off.
The Hollywood legend quickly got emotional as she spoke about the movie, one she described as “perfect” and “what film is supposed to be.” She praised the communal experience, urging all in attendance to see it in a crowded theater — a repeated notion for films throughout the night.
“I was taken somewhere that I have never been before,” Fonda said. “You have to be prepared. I feel so proud of being in this business of moviemaking when I see a film like ‘Hamnet.’”
By the time Buckley took the stage, she seemed to be in tears herself. As often seems to be the case with “Hamnet,” it was hard not to succumb to the emotion of the film while in the room.
“I always think on a set that we’re all on a journey to try to be just half a millisecond of magic where all humanity in the room in some secret way collides and the shaggy things get touched and come to the surface,” Buckley said. “We did, and I felt it.”
Ethan Hawke won’t call Career Achievement Award his own
The night’s Career Achievement Award went to Ethan Hawke, seen this year in “Blue Moon.” When Hawke entered the spotlight, however, he refused to accept his career as his own — at least, not entirely.
“There is something about an award like this that makes me incredibly reflective of the people who actually made this career that you’re honoring,” Hawke started. “I am a consistent element, yes, but there were so many people sewn into the fabric. I never did anything alone.”
Hawke pointed to a number of people throughout his career who ushered him into being the thoughtful and celebrated actor that took the stage in Palm Springs. He pointed to the late River Phoenix, whom he caught “practicing (his character’s) walk” for Joe Dante’s “Explorers,” for a lesson in physicality. He pointed to Richard Linklater and Julie Delpy for broadening his understanding of film history while filming “Before Sunrise.”
“I stand here in front of you a sum accumulation of all the individuals that helped shape me,” Hawke shared.
A social activist and endlessly eloquent speaker, Hawke continued to emphasize the importance of community and collaboration in the current political moment.
“Technology has made advances so quickly that what first seemed like an advance suddenly feels like a retreat. Truth is hard to hear inside the Tower of Babel, but we know it when we see it, when we hear it,” he said. “We are not as fragile as we feel, and there is so much fun to be had, and there is so much life to live.”
Miley Cyrus is happy to be along for the ride
Taking the stage wearing sunglasses, Miley Cyrus began to sing along to the orchestra’s performance of “Dream As One.” Cyrus came to the Palm Springs gala to receive the Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award for the song, which she sings over the credits of “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”
“(This) is truly the most elegant Palm Springs party that I have ever been to,” Cyrus started. “There are fewer drag queens than I like, but I’ll be stopping by Toucans (Tiki Lounge) on the way back to LA to get my fix, OK?” The crowd burst into applause.
Cyrus — who was happy to be at an awards ceremony without the stress of waiting to find out if she won — reveled in her new ability to refer to “my friend James Cameron.” She called the opportunity to play in the sandbox of his massive blockbuster franchise “the joy of a lifetime.”
“I just want to thank you all for recognizing their work that I’m totally backpacking off of,” she said. “They worked on this movie for 16 years. I’ve been involved for like a month, and I get to go to all the same events.”
And when the ceremony ended after a little more than three hours, most of the honorees headed straight back to Los Angeles for Sunday’s Critics Choice Awards, which would be starting in less than 20 hours. Awards season doesn’t stop.
