PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) – The first star-studded film-award ceremony of the new year was literally something to sing about.
While not an honoree himself, actor-producer Brad Pitt stole the spotlight with a sing-along for a few moments Saturday night at the annual black-tie gala for the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Pitt traveled some 100 miles east of Los Angeles to the desert town of Palm Springs, California, to introduce actor David Oyelowo, an honoree at the gala whose profile is only now on the rise stateside.
Pitt is a producer of director Ava DuVernay’s historical epic “Selma,” in which British actor Oyelowo portrays civil-rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The festival honored Oyelowo with its Breakthrough Performance Award for an actor.
In his introduction, Pitt professed his admiration for Oyelowo – both as colleague and friend – and, at one point, Pitt led the audience in a sing-along with lyrics spinning around Oyelowo’s often-mispronounced last name. (It sounds like “oh-yellow-oh,” by the way.)