Johnny Depp has made a surprise appearance at the London Film Festival to give a career honor to horror icon Christopher Lee.
Depp called Lee “a national treasure” and “a genuine artist” as he presented the 91-year-old actor with a British Film Institute Fellowship on Saturday.
He said it had been “a childhood dream come true” to work with Lee. The two actors appeared together in Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow,” ”Dark Shadows” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
Lee returned the compliment, calling Depp one of the few younger actors “who is truly a star.”
Lee’s 250 movie roles include Dracula in a series of Hammer Films thrillers, Bond villain Scaramanga in “The Man With The Golden Gun,” the founder of Pakistan in “Jinnah” and Saruman in “The Lord of the Rings.”
During a ceremony at London’s Banqueting House, the festival gave its best-picture prize to Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski for “Ida,” the story of a novice nun in 1960s’ Poland.
Pawlikowski, best known for English-language films “Last Resort” and “My Summer of Love,” said he had been warned that “making a film in Poland, in black and white,” with a little-known actress would be a bad career move.
“But that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
The first-feature prize went to Anthony Chen’s Singapore family drama “Ilo Ilo,” and screenwriter Jonathan Asser was named best British newcomer for prison drama “Starred Up.”
The documentary trophy went to Paul-Julien Robert’s “My Fathers, My Mother and Me,” a personal portrait of Europe’s largest commune.
The 57th London Film Festival included 235 features, including Paul Greengrass’ hijacking drama “Captain Phillips,” Alfonso Cuaron’s space odyssey “Gravity,” Joel and Ethan Coen’s folk saga “Inside Llewyn Davis” and Steve McQueen’s hard-hitting “12 Years A Slave.”
The 12-day festival ends Sunday with “Saving Mr. Banks,” starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as “Mary Poppins” author P.L. Travers.
“A Complete Unknown,” “Wicked,” “Sing Sing,” “Baby Reindeer” Among Guild of Music Supervisors Award Winners
The Guild of Music Supervisors held its 15th annual awards ceremony on Sunday night (2/23) at the Wiltern Theatre in L.A., honoring the best achievements in music supervision and songwriting with feature category winners including โWicked,โ โA Complete Unknown,โ โI Saw the TV Glowโ and โSing Sing.โ Among the TV category winners were โBaby Reindeer,โ โEnglish Teacherโ and โAgatha All Along.โ
Stephen Schwartz was awarded the Icon Award to celebrate his contributions to the music and film industry. Schwartz performed his song โBeautiful Cityโ on stage from his musical โGodspell.โ Music producer and supervisor Bonnie Greenberg took to the stage to accept the Legacy Award for her outstanding career in music supervision. Music supervisor and executive at EA Games Steve Schnur won the most awards for the evening with two wins for his work on video games EA Sports FC 25 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Keeping their promise of live performances from Best Song nominees, Oscar-nominees Abraham Alexander & Adrian Quesada performed their nominated song โLike a Birdโ from โSing Sing,โ which took the prize for Best Song Written and/or Recorded for a Film. Danielle Ponder performed her nominated song โEgรบnโ from Apple TVโs โManhunt,โ and the artist Role Model gave a rousing performance of their song โSally, When The Wine Runs Outโ as the Spotlight artist of the evening.
The complete winners list for the 15th Annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards is as follows.
FILM
Best Music Supervision in Major Budget Films
Maggie Rodford - โWickedโ
Best Music Supervision in Mid-Level Budget Films
Steven Gizicki - โA... Read More