HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Oct. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The 15th annual
Hollywood Film Festival and
Hollywood Film Awards, presented by Starz Entertainment, have
announced that Oscar winner George
Clooney will be honored with the "Hollywood Actor Award" for
his critically acclaimed performance in Alexander Payne's "The Descendants."
(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111012/DC84918)
Clooney will be recognized at the festival's Hollywood Film
Awards Gala Ceremony, which is scheduled to take place at the
Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly
Hills on October 24, 2011.
"George Clooney delivered a
flawless and passionate performance in Alexander Payne's human drama, 'The
Descendants.' Clooney continues to shine as one of Hollywood's most gifted actors. We're
delighted to honor him at this year's Hollywood Film Awards," said
Mr. Carlos de Abreu, Hollywood Film Festival Founder and Executive
Director.
THE DESCENDANTS: From Alexander
Payne, the creator of the Oscar-winning "Sideways," set in
Hawaii, "The Descendants" is a
sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic journey for Matt King (George
Clooney), an indifferent husband and father of two girls,
who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when
his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement
with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to
sell the family's land that was handed down from Hawaiian royalty
and missionaries.
ABOUT GEORGE CLOONEY:
George Clooney is recognized as much
for his global humanitarian efforts as he is for his
accomplishments in the entertainment industry.
Clooney has won an Oscar (Best Supporting Actor, "Syriana"), two
Golden Globes (Best Supporting Actor, "Syriana" & Best
Performance by an Actor in a Comedy, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"),
and received four Oscar nominations (Best Director & Best
Original Screenplay, "Good Night, and Good Luck"; Best Actor,
"Michael Clayton" and "Up In the
Air").
Clooney stars in Fox Searchlight's "The Descendants," directed
by Alexander Payne. The film
premiered at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival, screened at the 2011
Telluride Film Festival, and will be the closing night film at the
New York Film Festival.
Clooney's other acting credits include "Up in the Air,"
"Michael Clayton," "Fantastic Mr.
Fox," "Out of Sight," "Batman & Robin," "One Fine Day," "From Dusk 'Til Dawn," "Burn After Reading," "Intolerable
Cruelty," and "Oceans 11-3."
Clooney co-starred, co-wrote, and directed Sony's political
thriller "The Ides of March," which
was the opening night film at the 2011 Venice Film Festival and
which also screened at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival. The film was
produced by Clooney's Smokehouse Productions. Other Smokehouse
films include "The American," "The Men Who Stare at Goats," and the
upcoming "Argo."
Clooney made his directorial debut in 2002 with "Confessions of
a Dangerous Mind," winning the Special Achievement in Film Award
from the National Board of Review. In 2006, he received Academy
Award nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay for "Good
Night, and Good Luck." That same year Clooney received his Oscar
for Best Supporting Actor for "Syriana." It was the first time in
Academy history that an individual had received acting and
directing nominations for two different films in the same year. Two
years later, Clooney directed "Leatherheads," a Smokehouse
production.
Among the many honors Clooney received was the 2007 Peace Summit
Award, given at the eighth World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize
Laureates. In 2008, Clooney was designated a U.N. Messenger of
Peace.
In January 2010, Clooney
co-produced the "Hope for Haiti Now!" telethon, which raised more
than $66 million, setting a new
record for donations made by the public through a disaster-relief
telethon. In 2010 Clooney received the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of
Hope Award for his dedication to humanitarian efforts in
Sudan and Haiti. In December of 2010, Clooney - along
with the United Nations, Harvard
University and Google - launched "The Satellite Sentinel
Project," an effort to monitor human-rights violations between
Southern and Northern Sudan.
The Hollywood Awards Gala launches the awards season. In the
past eight years a total of 73 Oscar nominations and 27 Oscars were
given to the honorees of the Hollywood Awards.
The 2011 Hollywood Film Festival has also announced that they
will honor five-time Oscar nominee Glenn
Close with the "Hollywood Career Achievement Award," Academy
Award-nominated actress Michelle
Williams with the "Hollywood Actress Award" for "My Week
with Marilyn," Academy Award-nominated actor Christopher Plummer with the "Hollywood
Supporting Actor Award" for "Beginners," Academy Award-nominated
actress Carey Mulligan with the
"Hollywood Supporting Actress Award" for "Shame," actor
Joseph Gordon-Levitt with the
"Hollywood Breakthrough Actor Award" for "50/50," and actress
Felicity Jones with the "New
Hollywood Award" for "Like Crazy." Other honorees include the cast
of "The Help" (Viola Davis,
Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison Janney, Chris
Lowell, Ahna O'Reilly, Octavia
Spencer, Emma Stone,
Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Cicely
Tyson, and Mike Vogel). Also,
Berenice Bejo, Jean Dujardin, Elle
Fanning, Amber Heard,
Andrea Riseborough, Shailene Woodley and Anton Yelchin will receive the "Hollywood
Spotlight Awards," Director Michel
Hazanavicius, Producer Letty Aronson, Screenwriter Diablo
Cody, Film Composer Alberto Iglesias, Cinematographer Emmanuel
Lubezki, Editor Stephen Mirrione,
Production Designer James Murakami, and Visual Effects Supervisor
Scott Farrar will be honored at
their annual Awards Gala. In addition, Gore Verbinski's "Rango"
will be recognized at the Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony.
About Starz Entertainment, LLC:
The festival and awards presenter is Starz Entertainment, LLC, a
premium movie and original programming entertainment service
provider operating in the United
States. The company offers 17 premium channels including the
flagship STARZ® and ENCORE® brands with approximately 19 million
and 32.9 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs
in total more than 1,000 movies and original series every month
across its pay TV channels. Starz Entertainment is recognized as a
pay TV leader in providing HD, On Demand, HD On Demand and online
advanced services for its STARZ, ENCORE and MOVIEPLEX brands. Starz
Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC,
which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation and
is attributed to the Liberty Starz tracking stock group (NASDAQ:
LSTZA).
For more information please go to www.HollywoodFestival.com.
SOURCE Hollywood Film
Festival