The red carpet has been rolled out in Santa Barbara for the last two weeks, as some of the hottest names in Hollywood have come to town for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
It always has some big Hollywood names, like Cate Blanchett and Colin Farrell this year.
But, there are also some new faces who have grabbed the industry’s attention with big performances. What’s it like for these new stars? Some of them talked about it with KCLU News.
One of the names catching a lot of buzz is Austin Butler, who played Elvis Presley in the acclaimed Baz Lurman movie Elvis. He started his career in teen sitcoms. Elvis is his first big film, but it earned him a Golden Globe, as well as an Academy Awards nomination.
"The interesting things is it only ever happens one day at a time." said Butler. "You're just tackling whatever is in front of you that day." He said that when he does interviews, it gets him thinking about how he got to where he is today.
Butler says it has been a career-changer. "In a number of different ways," said Butler. "One of the most positive is that I get to work with people I always wanted to work with."
Stephanie Hsu also finds herself in the position of being a first-time Oscar nominee for her starring role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. She plays the daughter of a woman who suddenly is asked to save existence, by looking at alternate versions of her life.
She talked about the first time she read the outside of the box script.
"It's maybe a testament to maybe how weird I am, because I really understood it," laughed Hsu.
Kerry Condon admits she’s a bit overwhelmed. The Irish actress has appeared in a number of TV series, and stage plays. Now, she’s up for an Academy Award for the period movie The Banshees of Inisherin. It’s the drama about a man who decides he needs to move on from someone who was one of his best friends. Condon plays the jilted man’s sister.
"You never really know what the public wants, so yeah, I'm really surprised that everyone loved it as much as they did," said Condon.
Danielle Deadwyler received rave reviews from many critics about her role as Emmett Till’s mother in the drama Till. The movie tells the real-life story of the abduction, torture, and murder of the 14-year-old boy in 1955. The boy, who was black, and supposedly offended a white woman. His killers were acquitted by an all-white jury, but later in a magazine article they admitted doing it.
Many thought Deadwyler would receive an Academy Award nomination for her role. She didn’t, and there’s been criticism of it. But, she said she tried to make the best of a difficult role.
"Anytime you take on a historical person, or event, you want to work with the family...you want to get it right," she said.
German actress Nina Hoss co-stars with Cate Blanchett in the Academy Award nominated movie Tar. Blanchett plays an acclaimed conductor who becomes embroiled in controversy, and Hoss plays her wife. Hoss said the acclaim that’s come with the movie, and her performance is humbling.
"It's been an intense, and beautiful experience," said Hoss. "Life changing...I don't know...but you get to meet people you really admire."
Those are some of the new voices from Hollywood, walking the red carpet at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The festival wraps up its 11-day-long run on Saturday.
