Virtuous Award Ceremony at the Arlington Theater

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Reviewed by Ashley Gatimu. Viewed at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara on February 6, 2016.

The Virtuous Award Ceremony is held every year at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for up and coming actors that achieve breakthrough performances. It’s one of those events where people dress lavishly, enjoy a night at a beautiful theater, and watch some of their favorite performers accept an outstanding award. It’s pretty much the talk of the town. Past precipitants include great actors like Bri Larson, Eddie Redmayne, and Viola Davis. This year’s award presentation was held inside the beautiful Arlington Theater on State St., where hundreds of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of their favorite celeb. Every year the list seems to keep getting better and this year was not a disappointment. Among the 2016 honoree’s were Elizabeth Banks, Paul Dano, Joel Edgerton, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Jacob Tremblay, and Alicia Vikander.

To start off the night Elizabeth Banks came on stage wearing a very elegant red, long dress with red lipstick to match. Banks, who is also a director (Pitch Perfect 2) has been recieving a lot of high acclaim for her work this past year. Video clips from Love and Mercy were shown on the big screen to highlight her acting performance. When asked if she felt bad about the real life family the actors were portraying, she simply said no and didn’t have the slightest remorse.

Due to the SAG/Director Awards in Los Angeles that night, Joel Edgerton (first time director, The Gift) was unable to attend the Santa Barbara show. However there was a pre-recorded segment that was shown to the audience. In the recording he thanked everyone that helped contribute to his award and appreciated the recognition.

Paul Dano was next in line and a couple short clips from his movies Youth and Love and Mercy appeared on the big screen. When asked about a video clip of him singing in a movie he admitted to being nervous at first to showcase his talents.

The person with the most round of applause came next, O’ Shea Jackson. He was a crowd favorite from the start of the show. When seated he was asked the question we all had on our minds that night. “How do you feel about the Oscar controversy?” To which he had a simple reply. “We were only going for the Best Picture category. Because in doing so I would be honoring my dad. That’s it. Nothing else.” The crowd went burst into a round of applause. Jackson admitted to taking acting classes for two years before starting the film, and he even had to audition for the part. It seemed all the hard work he put into making this film happen was all to make his dad proud. He says that him and his father have a closer relationship now.

Jacob Tremblay looked ever so happy to be in attendance and looked cuter than ever rocking a suit. He dished on meeting people from the Star Wars movies and says Johnny Depp is the coolest person he’s ever met. Tremblay opened up about his friends teasing him about his new fame, asking him silly questions like if he owns a yacht.