Bruce Dern in a scene from Alexander Payne's Nebraska
Dern will receive the Career Achievement Award at the 25th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival at its annual Awards Gala. Previously announced honorees Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughey will also receive their awards at the event, taking place January 4.
The recipient of the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival in May for his lead role in Alexander Payne's Nebraska, Dern plays an aging father who takes to the road with his son (Will Forte) in pursuit of a dubious fortune. After receiving a sweepstakes letter in the mail, the cantankerous father (Dern) thinks heās struck it rich, and wrangles his son (Forte) into taking a road trip to claim the fortune. Nebraska had its U.S. premiere at the 51st New York Film Festival last month. It is currently in release via Paramount Vantage.
“Bruce Dern is truly a one of a kind performer,” said Palm Springs International Film Festival chairman Harold Matzner. “His skill at capturing the essence of a character, no matter how complex or unorthodox, is unique and unparalleled. In over 80 feature films, this talent is vividly reflected in such classic roles as the deranged pilot plotting a mass attack in Bloody Sunday, or the scarred Vietnam vet who returns home to find his wife embroiled in an affair with another man in Coming Home. In his latest cinematic endeavor Nebraska, certainly deserving of Award recognition, Dern brings his consummate acting gifts to the role of an inscrutable elderly father who, with his son, journeys to claim a million dollar prize, while ultimately coming face to face with his past.”
Dernās film credits include Wild River, Wild Angels, They Shoot Horses, Donāt They?, Drive, He Said, The Cowboys, The King of Marvin Gardens, The Great Gatsby, Coming Home, Monster, Twixt, Django Unchained, Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Silent Running, Smile, Middle Age Crazy, That Championship Season, Tattoo, The āBurbs, The Haunting, All The Pretty Horses, Masked and Anonymous, Down in the Valley, Astronaut Farmer, The Cake Eaters, After Dark My Sweet, Harry Tracy, On the Edge, Laughing Policeman, Posse, Black Sunday and The Driver.
Past Career Achievement Award honorees include Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, Clint Eastwood, Sally Field, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren. The Palm Springs International Film Festival takes place January 3 – 13.
