Jeffrey Wright receives Montecito Award – The Hollywood Reporter

Honoree Jeffrey Wright poses with the Montecito Award during the 39th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival at Arlington Theater on February 15, 2024 in Santa Barbara, California.

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The 39th Santa Barbara International Film Festival wrapped up Sunday, but one of its highlights came three days earlier, with the latest tribute to directors who have served as the festival’s backbone.

On Thursday evening, inside the historic 2,000-seat Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara, the veteran stage and screen actor… Jeffrey Wright – who was nominated for an Academy Award for the first time in his nearly 30-year film career, for his leading performance in Cord Jefferson‘s American fantasya drama about race in America – was honored with the festival’s Montecito Prize after a very interesting retrospective conversation with SBIFF Executive Director and avid fan Bright Roger Dorling.

Wright, 58, has spoken of how he was raised by his mother and aunt, and never thought about acting until he attended Amherst College, where he began to fall in love with the profession (and abandon the idea of ​​going to law school). He then received a full scholarship to NYU Tisch, which led him to move to New York, but after only two months he left school in order to participate in the program Lorraine Hansberry Playing, believing that real-world experience was more important.

After seven years of working primarily in theater (including in… John HousemanReference Company), with a few small film parts in between, Wright landed the game-changing part of Blaise, a gay nurse, in George C. WolfeBroadway production of Tony KushnerHistorical play Angels in America. “This is where my political science degree came in handy,” Wright said, noting that the show “was a perfect marriage of my interests.”

Interestingly, it was on the same day he served his notice Angels Which Wright heard about Basquiatwhich was to become Julian SchnabelWright’s directorial debut and Wright’s first major film vehicle. After scrutiny for the supporting role of Benny, which he eventually played Benicio del ToroWright was chosen as the artist to bear his name. Jean-Michel Basquiat, and immersed himself first in the task, including drawing for several months in Schnabel’s studio. 28 years later, Wright sees Basquiat And American fantasy As “notebooks”. (Schnabel revealed this in a congratulatory video Basquiat Soon to be released on Blu-Ray by the Criterion Collection – in black and white!)

Other major filmmakers began seeking him out. there was Ang me‘s Ride the devil And John Singleton‘s The slot (replacing John Leguizamo (in the role of a Dominican drug dealer, who learned his accent by spending a lot of time in Washington Heights, he says). And then Mike Nichols The calling came, as he cast Wright in a 2003 limited series adaptation on HBO Angels in America In the same role he played on stage a decade ago. (No other actors from the Broadway production were asked to reprise their roles.) Wright says playing the role on screen was a completely different matter – not least because he filmed his part during the day and then spent his nights on Broadway in Topdog/Underdog — and particularly relished the opportunity to give a great speech while his character took care of it Al Pacino‘s Roy Cohen.

In the 20 years since then, Wright has not worked, largely by choice, as he once did. But he still manages to juggle plenty of small roles in big movie franchises, including James Bond (three films as CIA agent Felix Leiter, vs. Daniel Craigwho was working with him Invasion When Craig was chosen) hunger Games And Batman (Scenario for 2022 Batman Reminds him of 70s movies) Two prominent drama series on HBO, Empire Corridor And The west (which he says “taught me to work efficiently” and “is in many ways a documentary”); And two Wes Anderson Movies (latest 2023 Asteroid citywhere he delivers a towering, pitch-perfect speech captured in one take).

However, every now and then, Wright takes on leadership roles that have given him more of an opportunity to remind people how talented he is. These include 2008 Cadillac recordsIn which he played a musician Muddy water; 2018 Crooked, in which he played a prison inmate, was filmed in a real prison and appeared alongside real prisoners; Especially American fantasy, Jefferson’s directorial debut. “The irony, all that stuff was great,” Wright explained. “But for me, the heart is family. That’s what attracted me to it. Because it was the life I was living when I got the script. In fact, like his character in the film, Monk, Wright has recently been taking care of his deteriorating mother, who once cared for him – he said “I was that guy for a while” – and the film helped him come to terms with his life. What he went through: “Making this film was part of the rebuilding process for me.”

Dorling, who did a masterful job of contextualizing Wright’s career and making Wright comfortable enough to open up, then turned the proceedings over to Wright American fantasy com. costar John Ortiz. Ortiz said he had admired Wright for years, especially in the New York theater community, and had dreamed of working with him for 27 years before landing the role of Monk’s literary agent. He called that concert “an opportunity of a lifetime” and Wright “my artistic brother,” and presented Wright, who was visibly moved, with a statuette for the festival.