2024 Ingmar Bergman Lifetime Achievement Award

This award is named after Bergman because when I was set to establish an award of its type his last film blew me away and was nominated for many awards. The idea then is that it’s not a parting shot but rather recognition of someone still very much at the top after many, many years.

Christopher Lloyd

During the 2023 SAG-AFTRA I continued going to the movies, there were many reasons for this. Most notably was the fact that as studios hoarded, postponed, and canceled releases movie theaters needed attendees to whatever they could screen to stay afloat. The strike also meant that films from smaller production companies and distributors landed on more screens. One such release, Camp Hideout, landed on many multiplex screens this summer including one near me that allowed me see yet another fine performance by Christopher Lloyd where I otherwise would’ve had to rent or otherwise stream it. 

Christopher Lloyd has had roles large and small that would’ve made legends of any actor had those been his only roles such as his turn as Taber in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (a film whose ensemble cast is far too often under-appreciated because of the magnetism and prowess of its leads), Dr. Brown in the Back to the Future series, and the singular Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Uncle Fester in the original cinematic incarnation of The Addams Family.

He’s found his home on screen playing offbeat, disparate supporting characters onscreen while also continuing a lengthy and accomplished career on stage. His output has never slowed, and through the years he’s shown himself to have the rare ability of making anything he’s in better and adds gravitas to the given film. He’s also had some excellent turns in smaller, less well-known projects as of late such as The Tender Bar and I am not a Serial Killer.

More evidence of the continued prolific nature of his output can be see in the upcoming tab on his IMDb page which lists eight credits as of this writing. Lloyd represents a breed of highly skilled character actor that is becoming far too rare a thing and deserves recognition for that reason.

Harrison Ford

I had just finalized my selections for these lifetime achievement awards this year when I watched discovered, unbeknownst to me, that Harrison Ford was receiving the same honor at the Critics Choice Awards that I was watching, which to me sealed this decision as something that was fated. 

The feeling that we as a moviegoing public owe thanks has been growing amongst many, myself included. While some might cynically you could call his recent appearances a farewell tour of his most memorable roles, he’s not phoned it in by any means, but rather delivered time and time again as he always has. In these films he’s brought new dimension to characters he’d played several times over like Han Solo, Indiana Jones, and Deckard the latter in Blade Runner 2049 was impactful far beyond his fleeting moments on screen.

Even before reprising characters he made household names, Ford earned BAM Award nominations as Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in Ender’s Game (he was also nominated for Best Cast in the same film) for bringing the steel, single-mindedness, intimidation required of Colonel Graff.

Aside from originating and defining iconic characters on celluloid he’s also played Jack Ryan on two occasions, a role that like Bond has been passed from actor to actor. And it’s not as if he only has been memorable in franchises as James Mangold pointed out in his introductory speech listing many of the films he’s been in evokes him Witness, Presumed Innocent, Air Force One, Regarding Henry, The Fugitive even Working Girl to an extent though it’s a film very much not about his character but part of its success if having him as a presence in the story. 

And it’s not as if he’s slowing down or averse to taking on new things, he’s recently branched out into prestige television with Apple’s Shrinking and Paramount+’s 1923 and he will be the latest living legend to join the MCU in the next in the next Captain America film. I hope he’ll continue lending his considerable talent and touch of Old Hollywood star-power to more and varied projects for years to come.