Video: 2011 Savannah Film Festival closes with honors for Aaron Eckhart and filmmakers
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Actor Aaron Eckhart accepted an Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award. “Many have called him an actor’s actor,” said Danny Filson, the festival’s executive director, in presenting the award.
Eckhart said he once worked with Morgan Freeman. “Every word out of his mouth was perfect,” he said. “Take after take, it was flawless.”
When Eckhart asked Freeman how he did it, Freeman simply replied, “Thirty years.”
“I’m halfway there,” Eckhart said. “After 30-plus movies, I continue to ask, ‘How do you do it? How do you reach perfection?’”
Earlier in the day, Eckhart said he will be filming “The Drummer” on Tybee Island next summer. In it he will play Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys.
Like Wilson, Eckhart himself was a surfer, until his family moved to England for his father’s work. While living overseas gave him life experience to draw on in his acting career, it came at an inopportune time.
“I was just going into the eighth grade when we moved to England,” Eckhart said. “I was just getting interested in girls and sports.”
But while there, Eckhart discovered acting when he auditioned for a school play and got the lead role of Charlie Brown.
Eckhart plans to teach a master class at the Savannah College of Art and Design when he returns next summer. He recently spoke to students at Harvard about the film industry.
“It’s helpful for students to hear it coming from a professional,” Eckhart said. “I majored in theater and got the degree. I feel I give them the perfect advice.”
With credits for films as varied as “Erin Brockovich,” “The Company of Men,” “Thank You for Smoking,” “Rabbit Hole,” “The Missing,” “Battle: Los Angeles” and “The Dark Knight,” Eckhart truly is a good source for inside information.
He encourages students to pursue their dreams. Eckhart himself hopes to someday write screenplays and direct.
“I have a love-hate relationship with acting,” Eckhart said. “I’d like to abandon acting altogether and be much more involved in the subject matter.”
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Source: Savannah Now
