Trending
WAILEA -- Riding the crest of "Avengers: Endgame's" record-shattering $1.2 billion opening weekend where he plays Ant-Man among all the other Marvel superheroes, Paul Rudd will receive the Nova Award from the 2019 Maui Film Festival.
He is the first honoree to be announced by founder and director Barry Rivers for this year's 20th annual festival, returning June 12-16 to the Wailea Resort and the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. He will accept the plaque at an opening-night tribute June 12 at the Celestial Cinema located on the Wailea Gold & Emerald Golf Course.
The award "honors a film artist for their astonishingly original and seamless performances, and the way they consistently infuse each character that they embody with insight, humanity and wisdom." Previous recipients include Jessica Chastain, Claire Danes, Zooey Deschanel, James Marsden and Evan Rachel Wood. Following the award presentation, the festival will screen its opening-night premiere, "Fantastic Fungi: The Magic Beneath Us," a documentary about mushrooms.
"With empathy, compassion, grace, kindheartedness and, as we've all enjoyed so many times, a perfect sense of comedic timing, Rudd breathes life into characters in blockbusters and picture-perfect indie films that delight us," Rivers said. "In short, Paul Rudd is a true original. We couldn't be more pleased than to be honoring him with the the 2019 Maui Film Festival Nova Award."
Rudd was seen on the Celestial Cinema screen last year co-starring with Steve Coogan in "Ideal Home," which won the audience award as best comedy feature. At the other end of the box-office spectrum, "Ant-Man" and "Ant-Man and the Wasp," which he starred in and co-wrote, grossed more than $500 million and $620 million, respectively. Directed by Peyton Reed, the role earned a Critics Choice nomination for Best Actor in an Action Movie and an MTV Movie Award for Best Hero.
Rudd played Ant-Man in Marvel's "Captain America: Civil War," which grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, before last week's juggernaut, Marvel's "Avengers: Endgame." Directed by the Russo Brothers, it's the first film to pass $1 billion in its opening weekend and made almost $1.8 billion in its first week.
Rudd will next star as a man trying to become a better person, with unanticipated consequences, in Netflix's limited comedy series "Living With Yourself," premiering this fall.
Memorable recent roles include "The Catcher Was a Spy," which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, where he played professional baseball player and top-secret spy Moe Berg, who helped the U.S. win the race against Germany to build the atomic bomb in World War II. He also starred in Netflix's "Mute" with Alexander Skarsgard and Justin Theroux.
He was part of the "Anchorman" team with Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, David Koechner and director Adam McKay. He was also a stalwart in Judd Apatow comedies including "This is 40" and "Knocked Up," winning numerous comedy awards and nominations en route to grossing more than $300 million worldwide.
Other film credits include "Role Models" (co-writer), "Wanderlust" (producer), "Our Idiot Brother," "I Love You, Man," "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Clueless," "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet," "Cider House Rules," among many others.
He has numerous award-winning and nominated stage credits from Broadway to London's West End, working with such actors as Michael Shannon, Kate Arrington, Edward Asner, Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper and Jessica Lange; and playwrights and directors including Craig Wright, Neil Labute and Nicholas Hynter.
And on television, he co-wrote and co-created Starz's critically acclaimed series "Party Down," played the recurring role role of Mike Hannigan on "Friends," and won a Critics' Choice Award as a guest performer on "Parks and Recreation," among his other credits.
Maui Film Festival also announced the addition of Alaska Airlines as a Signature Sponsor for 2019, joining its long list of local, national and international supporters. The festival will be announcing more honorees in weeks to come. For more information, tickets and passes, visit www.mauifilmfestival.com.
* Freelance journalist Rick Chatenever can be reached at rickchatenever@gmail.com.