The night was full of onstage reflection as recipients and presenters gave long, heartfelt speeches at the non-televised event.
Colman Domingo, who was presented with the Spotlight Award by good friend Demi Moore, reflected on art’s impact on him as a child and its power to transform lives. The speech was a nod to his recent film, Sing Sing, which tells the story of incarcerated men who find purpose while acting in a theatre group.
Timothee Chalamet, with the chairman’s award for A Complete Unknown, and Gary Oldman pose in the press room.Credit: AP
“I found art when I really needed it to be a parachute to save my life,” Domingo said. “Art saves lives. It saved mine. It will save yours.”
While receiving the Chairman Award, Timothée Chalamet said he feels “clear-sighted” about his career and credits music icon Bob Dylan for indirectly providing him with the perspective he has to work as an actor out of love for the art form.
Chalamet stars as Dylan in A Complete Unknown and spent more than five years preparing for his transformation into the folk musician.
“A wise man once said, ‘They can hurt your feelings if they boo you, they can also kill you with kindness.’ I took my anxiety about tonight as a good sign that I’m actually focused on what really matters. The work and the opportunity to do the work again,” Chalamet said.
Selena Gomez arrives at the awards.Credit: AP
Intermixed with the sentiment, stars also took the time to poke fun at themselves and their peers.
Jennifer Coolidge presented Ariana Grande with the Rising Star award, noting the Wicked actor and pop star was already a household name.
“Hasn’t Ariana already risen?” Coolidge said.
Grande, who endearingly almost dropped the heavy award onstage, said she expected to receive “the withering star” award at age 31 and playfully gave thanks to her “good friends Botox and Juvederm.”
Chalamet, who presented director Denis Villeneuve with the Visionary award alongside Amy Adams, reminded the director that he had worked more production days with the director than actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
Ariana Grande accepts the rising star award for Wicked.Credit: AP
“Perhaps if I could paint a throughline for Denis’ movies is that they just keep getting bigger and better. Apologies to Jake Gyllenhaal once more, who was in the earlier, smaller movies,” Chalamet said.
Kieran Culkin cheekily pointed out he was receiving a Breakthrough Award-Actor for his work in Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain after working in the industry for over 30 years.
“It’s weird to be here, to have been doing this for over 36 years. Perfect time to get my breakthrough award,” Culkin said.
Kieran Culkin accepts the breakthrough performance award.Credit: AP
Mikey Madison received the Breakthrough Award-Actress for her work in Sean Baker’s Anora, while Adrien Brody received the Desert Palm Achievement Award-Actor.
The ensemble cast from “Conclave” took home the Ensemble Performance Award, with director Edward Berger praising unique performances by each of his actors in the religious drama.
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Emilia Pérez earned the event’s Vanguard Award. Actor Alan Cumming lauded the film and said his immediate reaction was, “What the actual (expletive) is going on here?′ I stayed utterly mesmerised until the credits.”
The stars won’t spend too much time in the California desert before travelling two hours north to Los Angeles in time for the 82nd Golden Globe Awards on Sunday.
AP
