Many of Hollywood’s biggest stars are set to gather in Los Angeles Sunday night for the annual Governors Awards.
The event, put on by the film academy’s board of governors, is honoring the late Quincy Jones, James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, filmmaker Richard Curtis and casting director Juliet Taylor. It's also a de-facto campaign stop for Oscar hopefuls as awards season gets underway.
Broccoli and her brother Wilson are following in her father’s footsteps receiving the rarely given Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, celebrating the work of producers. Albert "Cubby” Broccoli accepted his own trophy (then a bust of Thalberg) at the 1982 Academy Awards as they looked on from the audience.
"It’s very humbling,” Broccoli told The Associated Press. "I think of so many people who have come before us, so many people I wish had been given the honor who aren’t with us anymore.”
Curtis, a writer and director known for his contributions to romantic comedies like "Love, Actually,” "Notting Hill” and "Four Weddings and a Funeral” is being recognized for a lifetime of charitable work with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Getting an Oscar was a lifetime dream for him - as a teenager he used to try to shield himself from the news so that he could watch the broadcast the next night in the U.K.
"This is particularly a special award, but it’s not work for which one expects praise or needs praise,” he said.
Taylor is even less accustomed to being publicly celebrated for her contributions to cinema as a casting director. In her over four decades of work, she cast classics like "Annie Hall,” "Working Girl,” "Sleepless in Seattle” and "Schindler’s List.” While she’s excited about the honorary Oscar, she’s even happier that her peers are soon going to be regularly recognized. Starting with films released in 2025, the film academy will give a new competitive Oscar to casting directors.
The Governors Awards are often an emotional affair. With no television cameras or band there to play you off during a speech, it’s a night where friends and colleagues get to pay tribute to that year’s honorary Oscar recipients, many of whom are later in life. But this 15th event took on an added sadness when Jones earlier this month. There are still plans to honor Jones on Sunday with a tribute to his life, work and legacy.
Associated Press