Of course, cool things happen when you put Dennis Hopper in charge of a film festival. Still, usually Las Vegas is all about climbing on bandwagons. This is a town that never is the first to do anything. But today I am taking a little civic pride in our film festival, CineVegas, for getting a jump on the Academy in being all about Helen Mirren. Last June I was in the audience covering at the Palms as CineVegas honored Mirren for her lifetime achievements with the festival's Marquee Award. After the screening of a film in which she played Ayn Rand, a Q&A was held between Mirren and a New York Times' film critic. Mirren discussed playing Queen Elizabeth (a couple Queens Elizabeth, actually) in great detail. She also talked interestingly about being a not young woman in a youth obsessed business. Today CineVegas has that Q&A (with the always cool Dennis Hopper presiding in the background) up for all to see on its myspace.
(Photo by Sarah Gerke)