Video:James Franco, Richard Jenkins, and Kristin Scott Thomas
with Rebecca MurrayJames Franco received the 'Breakthrough Actor' Award & Kristin Scott Thomas the 'Hollywood Actress of the Year' Award at the 12th Annual Hollywood Film Festival. Richard Jenkins, who gets my vote as one of '08's best actors, also hit the red carpet.See Transcript
Transcript:James Franco, Richard Jenkins, and Kristin Scott Thomas
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the 12th Annual Hollywood Film Festival Awards Gala.
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
It's such a good character-driven story. I would imagine you don't get that meaty of a script that often. Is that what jumped out?
Richard Jenkins: "Yeah. It's an amazing script and when I read it I said to my wife, 'You have to read this and tell me if it's as good as I think it is,' because I was just really blown away by it."
And you get to play the drums, too.
Richard Jenkins: "I do. Badly, but I play them."
How difficult was that?
Richard Jenkins: "Not bad. I played when I was younger so I kind of relied on that."
Working on that film, did you know anything about the immigration laws and what was happening to these people? The detention and all that?
Richard Jenkins: "I didn't. It was new to me. You know, Tom McCarthy the writer/director had been involved in it and introduced to all of us. It was new."
Working with a writer/director, does that change anything for you because you're more able to talk to him about the script?
Richard Jenkins: "Yeah, it was great. We did two weeks of rehearsal and he's very collaborative, really interested in your ideas. Yet at the same time he knows the movie he wants to make. So it's always great. It's amazing."
What are we going to see you in next?
Richard Jenkins: "I just finished on Thursday a movie called Waiting for Forever with Rachel Bilson and James Keach directed it."
That'll be interesting.
Richard Jenkins: "It was good. Very nice. Blythe Danner and I play the husband and wife."
James Franco – Winner of the 'Breakthrough Actor' Award
James Franco: "It's been nothing but great the past year. I got to do two movies that I'm very proud of. You know, I'm just happy that I'm not ashamed of them and they actually turned out to be really good. They're like the first movies I've done in a while where I can be like honestly to people like, 'Go out and see it,' – and mean it."
Kristin Scott Thomas – Winner of the 'Hollywood Actress of the Year' Award
Kristin Scott Thomas: "I'm thrilled. I'm absolutely thrilled. It's so exciting. It's so great because it draws attention to this film and I'm really…the film is very important to me. It was a film where somebody took a great risk hiring me because I'd never actually proved that I could do this before. I took a risk with him because he'd never actually made a film before. So everyone was trying out something new, and it seems to have paid off."