Virtuosos Awards Ceremony

Reviewed by Linda Lopez.  Virtuosos Awards Ceremony at the Arlington Theater.

Outside the Arlington Theater, spotlights and cameras were popping at the upcoming stars on the red carpet.  Inside the theater, the audience was waiting in high anticipation for the ceremony to begin.  Finally, SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durley opened the festivity by introducing the emcee for the Virtuosos Awards TV’s well-known Dave Karger of EW.  After welcoming the audience, Karger announced the winners of the award:  Demian Birchir, Rooney Mara, Melissa McCarthy, Patton Oswalt and Shailene Woodley.  Regrettably, and displayed with dismayed murmors from the audience, Melissa McCarthy was unable to attend because of laryngitis.

Before the awards were presented, film clips were shown followed by one-on-one interviews with Dave Karger and each of the winners.

Demian Bichir for portraying Carlos Galindo, a gardener in East L.A., in “A Better Life.”  Bichir said that when he got this role from the producer Chris Weitz, he thought he was being summoned to be a vampire in the movie “Full Moon,” because he met with Weitz when Full Moon was being filmed.  Weitz then divulged to Bichir that he wanted him to play the gardener in “A Better Life.”  To prepare for the role, Bichir gained 20 pounds and studied with real-life gardeners, among whom he already knew, fondly called his “paisonos.”  He also said that he learned how to operate gardening equipment and did his own stunts, i.e., climbing palm trees.  Bichir said that the movie is dedicated to the 11 million human beings in this country who are helping everyone to make this a better country.  Bichir has been nominated for an Oscar for best actor in a leading role.

Rooney Mara for her role of Lisbeth Salander, an anti-social computer hacker, in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”  In real life, there is little resemblance between Rooney and Lisbeth, which attests to Rooney’s acting abilities.  Her first major motion picture was “The Social Network,” directed by David Fincher, who then later picked Rooney to portray Lisbeth in his movie “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

Patton Oswalt in “Young Adult” in playing Matt Freehauf, a permanently-crippled victim of teen violence.  Oswalt said that his relationship and connection with co-star Charlize Theron provided the perfect chemistry in making “Young Adult” click.

Andy Serkis for “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” in his performance-capture role of Caesar, a chimpanzee.  Serkis surprised the audience by walking out onto the stage with no shirt, exposing his already hairy chest.  Quite appropriate considering he played an ape.  Serkis explained the technical aspects of performance-capture in film, and may become a standard in the film industry.

Shailene Woodley’s portrayal of Alexandra King, the teen-aged daughter in “The Descendents.”  Woodley portrayed a typical “I hate the world” teenager in this film.  In real life, Woodley divulged that she is nothing like the character Alexandra.  Woodley said that she is optimistic and surrounds herself with upbeat people.  However, she is attracted to playing in opposite roles to her real self, i.e., she’s the “yin” and the other is her “yang.”

Although absent, a film clip of Melissa McCarthy in her role as Megan in “Bridesmaids.”  McCarthy has been nominated for an Oscar in the best supporting actress category.

Following the one-on-ones, the momentum of the ceremony started to wane, when all the winners were brought back on stage to sit in fixed chairs lined up in a row and awkwardly exposed to the audience.  When Karger asked if they had the chance to act in a performance-captured role, who would they want to play.  Simultaneously, a hushed silence descended on stage as if everyone suddenly became tongue-tied.  Oswalt broke the awkwardness with some jokes.  Serkis spoke the most because he’s an expert in performance-captured roles.  Overall, it was as if Karger was pulling teeth to get responses from the rest of the actors.

It was a relief when Karger introduced director Chris Weitz to present the awards.  But when each winner received their award, the awards were presented too far back in the shadows of the stage.  At the end, Karger announced that it was time to take a group photo shot of the winners.  But at the end, the energy of the audience had been depleted and everyone was hurrying out of the theater.