If Cinema Is a Reflection of Reality, Why Don’t I See Steve McQueen When I’m Shaving? Dept.: Today’s the day (or, rather, Friday, March 12, is the day, and that’s still a few days away as we write, but you get our drift). The SXSW 04 Film Festival and Conference has arrived, bringing with it some serious legends in form of inductees to the Texas Film Hall of Fame 2004, which will be held this evening at Austin Studios. That said, one late addition to an already overflowing cosmology of stars on hand for the ceremony is Ethan Hawke, who will be inducted by friend and Austinite Richard Linklater. Others already slated to enter the hallowed ranks include actress Judith Ivey (Washington Square, Devil’s Advocate), to be inducted by Treat Williams; screenwriter Edwin “Bud“ Shrake, inducted by Dennis Hopper; and actor/director/producer/ ghost dog Forest Whitaker, inducted by Jonathan Demme. In addition, New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell will present the Tom Mix Honorary Texan Award to Robert Duvall, and Ali MacGraw will be accepting this year’s Frontier Award on behalf of the cast and crew of the greatest story ever told (sorry Mel, but Steve McQueen trumps your guy hands down), The Getaway. The whole shebang kicks off this evening at 5:30pm. Be there, or be from somewhere else, pardner… Word from SXSW Film 04 HQ is that there’s a slew of ultrafamous possible attendees who we just can’t quite tell you about yet pending confirmation (would somebody please strike the letters TBA from the goddamn alphabet already?), but what we can tell you is that a local director might or might not conceivably have a somewhat newish “film” screening somewhere at some point in time and that a gangly, white-haired NYC auteur who’s no stranger to Austin (aka paradise) just might be unspooling something with what could be considered to be moving images of a Jack and a Meg and a guy whose surname rhymes with White (at least we think that’s right) some night, and furthermore, keep your hooves crossed, because if all goes well, the Festival just might go to Hell. Boy, that was tough. So sneaky, these SXSW types. As for what we can really tell you, vis-à-vis the new shizzit, is that Greg Pritikin (director of the great and vastly underrated Dummy) will be hosting a TBA on Saturday, March 13, 11am, at the Paramount, with The Station Agent’s Peter Dinklage and Jane Lynch (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind), and that Film Threat‘s Chris Gore will be doing the same (sans Dinklage and Lynch) on Tuesday, March 16, 2pm, at the Alamo. Festival passes are still available for a measly $50 only at Waterloo Video, but they’re going fast. Seriously. If you don’t have one yet, why the hell are you still reading this? You should be in your car driving like a cheetah on crystal meth to Sixth and Lamar to ensure you get your pass. Oops. Too late. We just bought the last one for our girlfriend. (Just kidding. We’re single. But get a move on, would you? Jesus, you’re a slowpoke.) Go to www.sxsw.com for too much information… Get Yer Estrogen on Dept.: There are, shockingly, other things going on besides the 500-pound SXSW gorilla in our living room. One of them is Ladyfest, the premier floating art/film/music festival, which has issued a call for entries for films, bands, art, spoken word projects, and workshops. Submission deadline is Wednesday, March 31, and all pertinent information is available online at www.ladyfesttx.org… Finally, for everyone who asked, yes, that was Crispin Glover at the Caucus Club the other night. He’s in town working on Michael Philip‘s film Drop Dead Sexy all month long. Our advice to you is to try to locate a copy of his ultra-rare book Ratcatching and have Willard himself autograph it. At least that’s our plan for the duration.
This article appears in March 12 • 2004.