Adrien Brody was momentarily overcome with emotion at the destruction underway in a Los Angeles deluged by fire. Jim Jarmusch was angry. Others taking the stage tonight at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards sent love from across the country.
“We are all worried about our friends in LA,” said Jarmusch at the gala. “Climate crisis is brought to you by climate deniers … They are telling us that woke is a negative thing, and I would just like to say it’s time we wake the f-ck up!”
He was presenting NYFCC’s Best Screenplay award to Sean Baker’s Cannes Palme d’Or-winning Anora. Accepting, Baker said “all our are our hearts and prayers” are with those affected.
Ditto Brady Corbett, who received the nod for Best Film. He said he understands, that his house burned down eight years ago and took years to rebuild.
Adrien Brody, accepting the Best Actor award, struggled at first to get the words out.
“My heart goes out to all the families.” he said. “This is our community. So I just want to thank, to commend, the bravery of the first responders and the sacrifices, and their meaningful work that deserves our recognition. And I just want to share that my thoughts are with everyone affected by this horrific event. They are in my prayers.”
It was an inevitable, running theme in a bi-coastal industry at tonight’s event as Hollywood and greater Los Angeles are being scorched by raging wildfires that have burned thousands of homes, flattered neighborhoods and forced many tens of thousands to evacuate.
David Sims, the head of the New York Film Critics Circle, opened by saying, “We’re thinking about our colleagues in LA. It’s a strange night. It was a very, very strange day. But I am very, very glad that everyone is here.”
The NYCC winners were announced in December.
LA industry events have been canceled or postponed from film premieres to the Critics Choice Awards set for Sunday to the start of Oscar voting next week to name a few.
The shoutouts at the NYFCC event was a far cry from last night’s National Board of Review awards ceremony also in New York when the extent of the threat from the multiple fires was not yet clear.
Earlier tonight, a new fire was growing in Hollywood Hills with mandatory evacuations in place.
