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Sunday, April 24, 2011
THE SAN FRANCISCO
INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (APRIL 21-MAY 5)
Midnight Awards Fete Saldana
and Collins, Hilariously
Zoe Saldana (left), Clifton Collins Jr. with his girlfriend on the red carpet at
the Midnight Awards late last
night in San Francisco.
Omar P.L. Moore
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Sunday,
April 24, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO
LATE LAST NIGHT the
54th San Francisco International Film Festival
presented their annual Midnight Awards, honoring Zoe Saldana and Clifton Collins
Jr. at the W San Francisco before a crowd of about 200. The
S.F. Film
Society's awards bash was their fourth and perhaps liveliest as New
York Times best-selling author Beth Lisick interviewed both actors separately.
Select clips of each actors' films were shown.
The Midnight Awards are formal but also informal and light-hearted, a speakeasy
entertainment event honoring typically younger actors who have made key
contributions to both independent and Hollywood film in their careers.
Ms. Saldana talked about her upcoming film with Luc Besson, "Colombiana", a
hard-hitting action movie which the actress described as in the mold of Mr.
Besson's "La Femme Nikita".
"I think that coming from New York -- I'm from Queens, New York -- in my mind I
have this notion that I'm this badass. So I sort of gravitate naturally
toward these roles that resemble women that I've known in my mind or throughout
history who I've admired. I remember growing up as a kid I was never the
damsel-in-distress for Halloween. I was never a princess. I was
never Juliet. I was Ellen Ripley or Sarah Connor. I was either a
black Ninja or a white Ninja."
Ms. Saldana, who talked at length -- often she said that "I'm a Latina, I love
to talk" -- was a slender, engaging presence, her wedding ring sparkling in the
light. Ms. Saldana has appeared in such films as
"Avatar",
"Star Trek",
"The Losers" and "Pirates Of The Caribbean".
Later, Ms. Saldana, repeatedly
describing herself as "deep down, an alpha male", would say that "I'm neither
man nor woman, I'm an artist."
Presented by Nathan Brown, one of two Midnight Award chairmen, Ms. Saldana
received her award -- a margarita shaker -- the top of which dropped off and hit
the floor twice,
ala Real Madrid football Copa del Rey style.
Fortunately, unlike Real's trophy, it didn't get crushed by the ground or a
moving bus.
Clifton Collins Jr. held court hilariously with a lengthy story about his
experience on Mike Judge's comedy
"Extract" in a scene where he had to have one
of his most intimate body parts exploded off.
"I read the script and I was like, Mike . . . how the f*** are you gonna do this
s***? I mean, we're talking about my balls here!"
Beth Lisick, best-selling author and host
of the S.F. Film Society's Midnight Awards
late last night in San Francisco.
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
The actor went into graphic detail about himself, a stuntman and a tale
involving explosives and size 31 and 32 pants, which had the mainly black-tie
audience here convulsing with laughter.
Describing Mr. Judge as a sensitive, unpretentious Midwesterner, Mr. Collins,
who believed a stuntman would do the specific part as a stand-in, said, "okay,
Mike, I've got two balls. I'll do it for you."
The process turned out to be easy.
"I did it in one take."
Mr. Collins, presented with his Midnight Award by Midnight Award chairman
Michelle Moretta, has also played a role in which his character had one arm ("Sunshine
Cleaning"), as well as roles in "Capote" and
"The
Perfect Game" among numerous other films.
Mr. Collins, a Los Angeles native whose grandfather was also an
actor-entertainer in Hollywood, said that he "didn't turn down a whole lot of
stuff" early in his career.
"Warner Brothers and Icon, they would praise something like a "187" (the 1997
drama he starred in as a gang-banging hoodlum opposite
Samuel L. Jackson.)
And it's just very weird, you know, it's a double-edged sword," Mr. Collins
said, citing the disapproval he got from the Latino community for playing such
roles.
"But I'm very proud, and they're my peers. I hung out with a lot of
gangbangers so I was like, I was wanting to emulate their -- speak out for them,
have a voice. And do it accurately and not be Hollywood."
The 54th San Francisco International Film Festival continues through May 5
Read this story
here, which includes a
photo slideshow
Previous:
Opening Night at SFIFF54, with Ewan McGregor and Mike Mills
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