Following Pamela Anderson a few days ago, Joel Edgerton was celebrated at the Deauville American Film Festival where he received the festival’s Talent Award on Thursday evening.
Edgerton, who was also in Deauville with director Chris Bentley to present the French premiere of “Train Dreams,” his Netflix drama in which he stars alongside Felicity Jones, received the award from the hands of Golshifteh Farahani, the French-Iranian actor who is presiding over the 51st edition of the festival. The pair starred together in Ridley Scott’s Old Testament epic “Exodus: Gods and Kings.”
In his speech, Edgerton alluded to his upbringing in the rural suburbs of Sydney and how his early passion for cinema helped him become an artist and break through in an industry he wasn’t born in.
He said he “grew up a long way from here… on the other side of the world” and “rarely had traveled until my teenage years. But films from around the world traveled to me.”
“When I was very young, movies were a chance to escape — to other worlds, into other lives. To be transported away from my real life,” he said. “As I got older, I got more interested in the ways cinema could also reflect real life and its experiences. I suspect the best of the films that captured my imagination as a child did both: transported but also reflected.”
The Australian actor said humbly that “I never thought of myself as talented” and had “always seen myself as one of the lucky ones.”
He continued: “Lucky enough to deeply love going to work as an actor, a writer and occasionally a director. And I share this honor with the extraordinary people I’ve been lucky enough to work alongside, been challenged by and learned from.”
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Although he didn’t get political, Edgerton said festivals were more important than ever because they “celebrate a connection of cultures” and because film “connects people across cultures, across oceans and across languages.”
Earlier in the day, Edgerton inaugurated the dedicated beach cabin he’s been offered by the Deauville festival on the Promenade des Planches, as per tradition.
The festival will wrap this weekend with the screenings of Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague” and Rebecca Zlotowski’s “Vie Privée” starring Jodie Foster.
From Variety US