2023 Palm Springs Film Awards: Standout speeches

There was plenty to say for those who took the stage at the 2023 Palm Springs Film Awards Thursday, the first Palm Springs International Film Festival event in three years. But a few speeches particularly stood out.

Brendan Fraser gets nostalgic

Hong Chau, who played Liz in "The Whale," presented the Spotlight Award, Actor, to one of the best speakers of the night: her castmate Brendan Fraser.

“I kept hearing this funny word over and over, ‘renaissance,’ but what does it mean? Does it mean people lost interest in him? That we stopped caring? No, I don’t think so," she told the packed room at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

“Brendan Fraser is beloved, he always has been, and that hasn’t changed,” she added.

The sentiment was fitting for Fraser, who is enjoying a resurgence and renewed interest of late.

“Renaissance your way onto the stage!” she told her castmate.

Some stood to applaud Fraser, who was emotional and joked about his award looking like “Monkeybone,” the cartoon his character created in the 2001 black comedy of the same name.

Fraser opened up about his arrival to Los Angeles over 30 years ago and how it didn’t take him long to find representation in Hollywood by an agent who was “puzzled” when the actor arrived with his college degree.

“I will show up to work with my diploma in my hand for the next 32 years,” Fraser said.

Sarah Polley credits Eric Idle for once saving her life

English actor and comedian Eric Idle quipped "I like Palm Springs, it'll look nice when it's finished" to laughter and applause before presenting director Sarah Polley with the Director of the Year award for her film "Women Talking."

"I suspect and hope this (award) will be the first of many," Idle said.

Polley took the opportunity to discuss her experiences working on Terry Gilliam’s "The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen" when Idle saved her 9-year-old life on the set, enduring dangerous stunts at the demand of Gilliam.

"I think many people in this room tonight have similar stories that they have told themselves or others about ways in which they stood up," Polley said.

Austin Butler remembers the Palm Springs Tennis Club

"Elvis" actor and Breakthrough Performance Award, Actor, recipient Austin Butler shared his connections to Palm Springs during his acceptance speech.

"When I was a kid, the only vacation my family and I ever went on every other year was a timeshare of my grand parent's at the Palm Springs Tennis Club, so some of the happiest memories from my childhood were right here in Palm Springs ... so standing on this stage tonight is extra special."

Before presenting Butler with his award, "Elvis" director Baz Luhrmann said, "When I share this secret, please don't share it with the studio ... I thought ... 'I'm never going to find someone who can play Elvis, that is never going to happen, because that character is almost impossible to realize.' Then the miracle of Austin Butler happens."

Sam Rockwell discusses Colin Farrell's 'phermomones'

While Sam Rockwell lauded actor Colin Farrell before presenting him with the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor, for "The Banshees of Inisherin," he asked the crowd if he knew what "pheromones" were and said Farrell had "pheromones like Prince or Elvis Presley."

"Colin is an actor with great skill, talent, a deep commitment to his work, wickedly funny and makes me belly laugh on occasion," Rockwell said.

During his speech, Farrell replied to Rockwell with "You really lost me with the phermone thing."

Viola Davis channels 'The Shawshank Redemption'

While accepting the Chairman's Award for acting and producing "The Woman King," actor Viola Davis mentioned the "business" and the "work" side of being an actress and compared it to Tim Robbins' character in "The Shawshank Redemption" escaping from prison crawling through urine and excrement.

"Sometimes the journey for Black actors is having that little hammer and chisel chipping away at that block, which is an industry that says 'you can't lead a global box office,' 'oh, that character is interesting but we really don't want to see the complexity of that,' 'not pretty enough' and 'you're not enough.' We chiseled away and tried to swim through their p--s and s--t because the hammer and the chisel is all we've got," Davis said.

Features editor Niki Kottmann contributed to this report.

Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: 2023 Palm Springs International Film Festival: Standout speeches