SLO Film Festival to honor screenwriter of ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’
The screenwriter who brought iconic movie characters Han Solo and Indiana Jones to life is coming to the Central Coast.
Lawrence Kasdan will receive the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival’s highest honor this spring.
Kasdan, 71, is slated to accept the King Vidor Award for Career Excellence on March 21 at the Fremont Theatre in downtown San Luis Obispo, according to a news release. The evening kicks off with the George Sidney Independent Film Awards and concludes with a screening of “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” at the Fremont and an after-party at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art.
Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewisz will present the award to Kasdan before hosting an on-stage discussion of the filmmaker’s prolific career.
“When we have the opportunity to honor someone who has almost as long and diverse a career as the award’s namesake, King Vidor, I feel honored too,” festival director Wendy Eidson said, adding that she’s a “big fan” of Kasdan’s work.
Past recipients of the King Vidor Award, named after the Oscar-winning director of “War and Peace,” include Josh Brolin, Jeff Bridges and Morgan Freeman. In 2019, the honor went to actor Alfred Molina.
Kasdan kicked off his screenwriting career in the early 1980s with a pair of legendary blockbusters: “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” (Coincidentally, Molina made his big-screen debut in “Raiders.”)
Kasdan had a hand in many of the iconic movies of the 1980s and ’90s, writing and directing “Body Heat,” “The Big Chill,” “Silverado” and “Wyatt Earp.” He also penned the screenplay for “The Bodyguard.”
More recently, the four-time Oscar nominee shared screenwriting credits for “Solo: A Star Wars Story” with son Jonathan Kasdan. His other son is Jake Kasdan, who directed “Jumanji: The Next Level.”
Film festival attendees will get chances to see two of Lawrence Kasdan’s movies in San Luis Obispo.
The documentary “Last Week at Ed’s,” which chronicles the closing of Ed’s Coffee Shop in West Hollywood, screens March 19 at the Fremont Theater and March 20 and 21 at the Palm Theater in San Luis Obispo. Kasdan directed and produced the short film with his wife, Meg.
On March 21, the festival will screen “The Big Chill,” which Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote, directed and produced, at Downtown Centre Cinemas in San Luis Obispo.
The San Luis Obispo International Film Festival runs March 17 to 22 at venues across San Luis Obispo County. For more information, visit slofilmfest.org.
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 9:57 AM with the headline "SLO Film Festival to honor screenwriter of ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’."
