Dwayne Johnson, Teyana Taylor and Guillermo del Toro received Creative Impact Awards at Variety's brunch in Palm Springs. The event, held at the Parker Hotel, also celebrated ten emerging directors amid a cloudy morning following a desert rain. Honorees shared emotional stories and advice during their acceptance speeches.
The Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch and Creative Impact Awards brunch took place on Sunday morning at the Parker Hotel in Palm Springs, the day after the Palm Springs International Film Awards. Despite a recent desert deluge, attendees gathered as the sun emerged, honoring achievements in film.
Dwayne Johnson received the Creative Impact in Acting Award for his role as MMA fighter Mark Kerr in “The Smashing Machine.” Presented by Colman Domingo, who quipped, “Congratulations, my friend, you are a rock!”, Johnson recounted a memorable encounter with Guillermo del Toro at the Golden Globes during the “The Shape of Water” nominations. Del Toro, upon winning best director, hugged Johnson and exclaimed, “We did it!” Johnson reflected on the role's personal impact, noting Kerr's two overdoses and the toll of addiction. He shared losing 15 friends to drugs or suicide, saying, “This role gave me a greater level of empathy…and the realization that, you know who is really going through something right now? Everyone. We’re all going through it.” He dedicated the award: “This one goes out to everyone who’s going through it and who’s fighting.”
Teyana Taylor was awarded for Breakthrough Performance as Perfidia Beverly Hills in “One Battle After Another,” introduced by co-star Chase Infiniti, who said her role “truly burned a hole through the screen.” Twenty years into her career, Taylor found the honor ironic and shouted to her daughters at the table, “Are you on your phone?” She discussed retiring from music five years ago, feeling confined like a “Glade plug-in scent,” adding, “Why only plug me in a bathroom, when I can make the whole room smell good?” Taylor praised director Paul Thomas Anderson and revealed plans to direct her first feature film.
Guillermo del Toro earned the Creative Impact in Directing Award, introduced by Oscar Isaac, who lauded his redefinition of genre cinema with “poetry to horror.” Del Toro recalled his childhood “religious experience” watching James Whale’s “Frankenstein,” with Sara Karloff as his guest. He stated, “Sometimes the world gets so complicated, you can only explain it with the power of monsters. We are in a time like that right now.” Offering wisdom, he said, “A director has to have two skins — a thick one for the business and the world, and a thin one for their collaborators and their heart.” To the 10 Directors to Watch, he urged, “Be kind, be involved, believe in your art. At a time when people tell you art is not important, that is always a prelude to fascism.”
Variety chief film critic Peter Debruge introduced the emerging directors: Akinola Davies Jr. (“My Father’s Shadow”), Beth de Araujo (“Josephine”), Jan-Ole Gerster (“Islands”), Sarah Goher (“Happy Birthday”), Dave Green (“Coyote vs. Acme”), Chandler Levack (“Mile End Kicks”), Harry Lighton (“Pillion”), NB Mager (“Run Amok”), Kristen Stewart (“The Chronology of Water”) and Walter Thompson-Hernández (“If I Go Will They Miss Me”). Most attended, though Green was delayed in Puerto Rico and Lighton absent.
