Seasoned show business veterans Christina Ricci, Julie Delpy, and Judith Light are all set to be honored this spring. Variety reports that the Vail Film Festival will celebrate women in film during its 14th edition, specifically Ricci and Delpy. And the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center will present its Monte Cristo Award to Light for her work in theater, according to Broadway World.
Ricci will accept the 2017 Vail Film Festival Renegade award, Variety writes. Ricci currently stars as Zelda Fitzgerald in the Amazon series “Z: The Beginning of Everything,” and also serves as an exec producer. The actress has been working steadily since 1990 in projects like Patty Jenkins’ “Monster,” “The Ice Storm,” “The Addams Family,” “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” and “Ally McBeal.”
Delpy will receive the Vail Film Festival Vanguard award for her work (onscreen and off) on over 50 films. Delpy co-wrote and starred in Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunrise,” “Before Sunset,” and “Before Midnight,” and earned Oscar nods for Best Adapted Screenplay for the latter two. Delpy has written and directed “2 Days in Paris,” “2 Days in New York,” “The Countess,” “Skylab,” and “Lolo.” She will next write, direct, and star in “My Zoe.”
“I can’t say I like every film by any male director,” Delpy has said, “which is actually a paradox because no one in Hollywood — no producer in Hollywood — is looking into a woman to be the next [Stanley] Kubrick , because no one believes a woman is a genius. They believe that any young guy that comes up with one OK film can be the next Kubrick, but not a woman.”
The Vail Film fest — which takes place March 30 to April 2 — is also set to open and close the fest with the female-helmed “Carrie Pilby” and “Sticky Notes,” respectively. Starring Bel Powley as a young woman who can’t adjust to life after college, “Carrie Pilby” is directed by Susan Johnson and written by Kara Holden. “Sticky Notes,” written and directed by Amanda Sharp, centers on a backup dancer (Rose Leslie) who goes home to Florida to care for her father (Ray Liotta).
Elsewhere, director Thomas Kail will present Light with the Monte Cristo Award at a gala dinner May 21, Broadway World writes. The event will be hosted by Preston Whiteway, Executive Director of the O’Neill.
“The O’Neill annually bestows its Monte Cristo Award on a prominent theater artist whose lifetime work has had an extraordinary impact on American theater, in memory of its namesake,” according to the source. Past recipients include Meryl Streep, Zoe Caldwell, playwright Wendy Wasserstein, and director Barbara Gelb.
Light first performed at the O’Neill’s 1977 National Playwrights Conference in Wasserstein’s “Uncommon Women and Others.” “Beloved the world over, Judith Light brings artistry of the highest caliber to every role she takes on,” Whiteway emphasized. “We are delighted to recognize her with our 2017 Monte Cristo Award.”
Light, who stars in Jill Soloway’s Amazon series “Transparent,” made her Broadway debut in “A Doll’s House.” She’s also acted in the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Wit in New York” and “Hedda Gabler.” Light took home Tonys and Drama Desk Awards for her work in “Other Desert Cities” and “The Assembled Parties.” Known for her work onscreen in “Who’s the Boss?” “Law & Order: SVU,” and “Ugly Betty,” Light is currently acting in the play “God Looked Away” alongside Al Pacino.
