Indie Wire - April 26, 2009
There were a few minor groans and a lot of last-minute refillings when the open bar closed during SFIFF‘s Midnight Awards reception as the guests of honor to took their seats for a Q&A. The awards honor young actors, this year focusing on Evan Rachel Wood and Elijah Wood.
As the audience nursed their last drops of wine, some bullet points were gleamed from the duo:
— Evan holds a black belt in Taekwondo. So does her mom. The one time they sparred, Evan split her mom’s lip and burst into tears.
— Both Evan and Elijah’s mothers have been on set during their love scenes, on “13” and “The Ice Storm,” respectively. For Evan it was the infamous topless scene. For Elijah, his mom looked on while he and Christina Ricci “exchanged tongues.”
— At a CostCo—where Elijah goes to print photos—a fan approached him, complimenting him on staying a vegetarian. She had watched him on Leno the night before. Elijah wasn’t on Leno, and is not a vegetarian, realizing the fan was confusing him forToby Maguire. But the fan was so committed in her praise that he went along with it.
— Evan said one Halloween a woman confused her for Evan Rachel Wood. “But you’re hotter,” she told the actress.
— Evan is in talks to star in Julie Taymor‘s Broadway production of “Spider-Man.” “It’s gonna be this rock and roll circus show,” she said. Taymor directed Evan in her last film “Across the Universe.” Just before Evan’s topless scene in that film, Taymor took her into another room, “to see the goods.” They were apparently approved.
— Elijah has been attached to an Iggy Pop biopic for four years, a passion project of his. The film begins during Iggy’s years starting the landmark punk band The Stooges. “It’s hard,” said Elijah. Despite Pop’s blessing, “this has been really hard to get this made.” Elijah then announced the awards would now be a fundraiser.
— If a biopic of their lives were to be made now, Evan joked that she would want to be played by Dakota Fanning. Elijah would pick Daniel Radcliffe.
— Evan starred in Woody Allen‘s “Whatever Works” as Larry David‘s wife. “It’s more like a “Harold and Maude” thing,” the 21-year-old said. After which, she apologized to the audience for conjuring that image.
— Elijah has a love for horror movies, and would like to be in one. He’d also like to play a more fleshed-out villain than the one in “Sin City.”
— Evan’s dream role would be Janis Joplin and she has the pipes for it. At one point in her early career some producers thought of grooming Evan to be a pop diva. Evan quickly bowed out of that.
At the end of the night exec director Graham Leggat presented each with the Midnight Award—a martini shaker.
“It’s genuinely functional,” exclaimed Elijah as Evan unsuccessfully juggled the award with her mic. The lid of the shaker hit the floor with a loud twang, to which Leggat announced “I hereby declare the bar open!”
Applause.
3 images added to gallery
