Last Station Opens Palm Springs Film Festival 2010 Interviews
// January 8th, 2010 // Comments Off // Film Festivals
by Marla Lewin
Left to Right: Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren Photo taken by Stephan Rabold, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
I am at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and got to spend opening night interviewing the creative team responsible for this year’s opening night film. I had already seen The Last Station back in November in Los Angeles for the Tribute to Christopher Plummer so this was a wonderful opportunity to meet with these talented people. My first interview was with Bonnie Arnold the producer who secured the book that launched the project originally and assembled the team.
Marla: You may remember we met at the AFI screening in Los Angeles after the tribute to Christopher Plummer. We wrote about the film at that time and said that Helen would get a nomination for her performance. That was before the Golden Globes and now both she and Christopher Plummer were nominated. (more…)
The 21st Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Academy Award winners Marion Cotillard with the Desert Palm Achievement Actress Award and Quentin Tarantino with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award, named after the Festival’s founder. The Awards Gala will kick off the 2010 awards season on Tuesday, January 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Hosted by “Entertainment Tonight’s” Mary Hart, the Awards Gala will also honor Jeff Bridges, T Bone Burnett, Mariah Carey, Morgan Freeman, Anna Kendrick, Helen Mirren, Jason Reitman and Jeremy Renner.
Quentin Tarantino made a bold debut with Reservoir Dogs, a cops and robbers tale that Tarantino wrote, directed and produced on a shoe-string budget. Following the film’s success, the screenplays that Tarantino wrote during his tenure as a video store clerk became hot properties including True Romance and From Dusk Till Dawn. Tarantino co-wrote, directed and starred in Pulp Fiction, which won the Palme D’Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, numerous critics’ awards and a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. Pulp Fiction was nominated for seven Academy Awards® including Best Picture and Best Director, and Tarantino received an Academy Award® for Best Screenplay. Tarantino also wrote and directed Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vol. 1and Kill Bill Vol 2. Tarantino will receive the Sonny Bono Visionary Award. His most recent film is Inglourious Basterds. 
