The Palm Springs International Film Festival honored Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, and Julia Roberts at their 25th annual awards gala Sunday, January 5.
Tom Hanks was given the Chairman’s Award for his role in “Captain Phillips”, and offered a typically astute insight into awards season, “to be invited to the Palm Spring International Film Festival is an honor and a delight beyond words and sometimes beyond reasoning. It means without a doubt that the holidays have come to an end, and for a few lucky people, the celebrity meal train is just beginning.”
Meryl Streep was recognized with the festival’s Icon Award, while Julia Roberts was given the Spotlight Award for her role in August: Osage County.
Meanwhile Sandra Bullock took an acting honour for her turn in “Gravity,” “So I Googled myself and I read the comment section so I could get some tidbits of what people think of me and share them. And apparently Julia and I are in a dispute over George Clooney. We talked about this, right? It’s shared custody and we're both fine with it.”
“12 Years a Slave” picked up two honors for its director, Steve McQueen, and actress Lupita Nyong’o, who took home the Breakthrough Performance Award.
“American Hustle”, the other Academy Award tip, was awarded “Best Ensemble Cast”, collected by Bradley Cooper. Cooper described the meaning of the film in his acceptance speech, “this is a movie that celebrates life, that celebrates survival, that celebrates romance, love, heartbreak, and ultimately renewal. I think it’s the kind of movie that reminds me that we love going to the movies.”
Also recognized at the gala were U2, who received the Sonny Bono Visionary Award, and Bruce Dern, who got the Career Achievement Award.
