Dec. 3, 2002, New York, NY–RICHARD DREYFUSS will be the Regal Entertainment Career Achievement Honoree at the 2003 Sarasota Film Festival, it was announced today (12/2) by Festival Executive Director Jody Kielbasa and representatives of the event’s sponsors, AMC and Comcast Cable. The gala Black-Tie event, generously underwritten by Bank of America, will take place on Saturday night, February 1, 2003 at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, the official hotel of the Sarasota Film Festival, and will be the culmination of 10 days of films, events, panels and parties of the 5th Annual Sarasota Film Festival.
“We are thrilled to be able to announce that Richard Dreyfuss will be joining us in Sarasota this year,” exclaimed Kielbasa. “Richard has had, and continues to have, an outstanding career in film, television and, most recently, stage. It is sure to be an unforgettable evening. He is someone we have been hoping to entice down to Sarasota for a few years, and I’d like to thank AMC and Comcast Cable for helping to arrange it. I’d also like to thank Regal Entertainment, Bank of America and Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, for all their help and assistance.”
Richard Dreyfuss worked his way up through bit parts (“The Graduate” 1967, etc.) and TV before gaining attention with his portrayal of Baby Face Nelson in John Milius’s “Dillinger” (1973). He gained prominence as a college-bound young man in “American Graffiti” (1973) and as a nervy Jewish kid with high hopes in “The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz” (1974). By the second half of the 1970s, Dreyfuss was established as a major star, playing leads (and alter-egos) for Steven Spielberg in two of the top-grossing films of the 70s, “Jaws” (1975) and “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” (1977). He won a Best Actor Oscar in his first romantic lead as an out-of-work actor in “The Goodbye Girl” (1978). Dreyfuss also produced and starred in the entertaining private eye movie “The Big Fix” (1978). After a brief lull in the early 80s, a well-publicized drug problem, and a succession of commercial disappointments, “The Competition” (1980), “Whose Life Is It Anyway?” (1981), “The Buddy System” (1984), a clean and sober Dreyfuss re-established himself in the mid-80s as one of Hollywood’s more engaging leads. He co-starred with Bette Midler and Nick Nolte in Paul Mazursky’s popular “Down And Out In Beverly Hills” (1986). That same year, Dreyfuss provided the narration and appeared in the opening and closing “bookends” of Rob Reiner’s nostalgic “Stand By Me.” He quickly followed up with “Nuts” opposite Barbra Streisand, Barry Levinson’s “Tin Men” with Danny De Vito, and “Stakeout” with Emilio Estevez (all 1987). Dreyfuss continued working steadily through the end of the 80s and into the 90s, most notably in Mazursky’s “Moon Over Parador” (1988), Spielberg’s “Always” (1989), Postcards From The Edge,” and “Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead” (both 1990). He appeared as a member of an ensemble that included Holly Hunter, Gena Rowlands, and Danny Aiello in the romantic comedy, “Once Around” and opposite Bill Murray in the successful comedy, “What About Bob?” (both 1991). Dreyfuss has also remained active in the theater (“Death And The Maiden” 1992) and on TV. He returned to features in the adaptation of Neil Simon’s play “Lost In Yonkers” (1993) and followed with a supporting turn as the querulous political opponent of “The American President” (1995). Dreyfuss received some of the best notices of his career as a determined, inspiring music teacher coping with a deaf son and the demands of his career in “Mr. Holland’s Opus” (1995). He recently starred in the television series “The Education of Max Bickford,” and has just finished a stint on the New York stage in “The Exonerated.”
The Sarasota Film Festival (SFF) is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization with year round activities, culminating in an annual celebration of film each January. Hosted by Regal Cinemas Hollywood 20 in beautiful Downtown Sarasota, SFF provides programming and events for film enthusiasts of all economic, cultural and educational backgrounds. With the support of a passionate arts community, SFF is promoted internationally attracting regional and national press. Dedicated to exploring the best new stars of Independent film, this 10-day festival, running January 24 – February 2, 2003, will present a non-stop schedule of films, premieres, symposiums and parties.
Tickets for the event are $250 and are available by calling the Sarasota Film Festival at 941-364-9514 or by logging on to www.sarasotafilmfest.com or by going to The Sarasota Film Festival Box Office in Sarasota Main Plaza, adjacent to Hollywood 20 at 1991 Main Street, Suite 108 directly across from Crisper’s Restaurant. The Box Office will officially open on December 4, and will be the place to get all your Sarasota Film Festival tickets and information.
AMC is a 24-hour, movie-based network, dedicated to the American movie fan. The network, which reaches over 83,000,000 homes, offers a comprehensive library of popular movies and an increasingly visible, critically- acclaimed, slate of original programming that is a diverse, movie-based mix of original series, documentaries and specials. AMC has more than doubled its original programming over the past 3 years and garnered many of the industry’s highest honors, including seven Emmy awards. AMC is “TV for movie people.”
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