Monday is when all the good news sprinkles from Internet heaven. And this Monday is starting off with good news that’s better than expected.
While the rest of Dallas was recovering from storm damage and the Ebola nightmare, the Dallas Film Society was facing its own challenge.
Quick recall: Back in August they announced that Academy Award nominee Toni Collette was going to be on stage at the Perot Museum for The Art of Film on Friday, November 21. It was great news that Toni would be TAOF’s first female to discuss film with interviewer Elvis Mitchell and have dinner with locals film lovers.
Then a couple or three weeks ago, an OMG situation developed. Toni was filming in another country and the schedule demanded that she be on set on Saturday, November 22. Despite today’s jet capabilities, there was no way that Toni could be in Dallas and abroad ready to film within the time allotment.
Yipes! After so much planning and scheduling, DFS President/CEO Lee Papert, Artistic Director James Faust and the team had to pull a pretty darn good rabbit out of their hat.
Guess what? They did just that. Thanks to connections and a lot of emails and phone calls, they managed to get Marisa Tomei. In addition to being twice nominated for the Academy Award for In the Bedroom and The Wrestler, she took an Oscar home for her breakout role in My Cousin Vinny.
The 5’4” actress has been in everything from comedies (The Paper, What Women Want, Alfie, Anger Management, Someone Like You, Wild Hogs) to very heavy dramas (The Ides of March, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead). The Brooklyn-born Tomei has worked with everyone including Robert Downey Jr., Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Mel Gibson, Joe Pesci, Richard Attenborough, Michael Keaton, Hugh Jackman, Greg Kinnear, Jack Nicholson, Jude Law, John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, William H. Macy, Sidney Lumet, John Cusak and Mickey Rourke.
Here’s a recent Daily Beast interview with Marisa and it sounds like she’s going to be a terrific guest. This interview may just be one of the best ever for the five-year-old program. Congratulations to the DFS for a very nice recovery.
* Photo provided by the Dallas Film Society