Diary Item - May 2001 - The Palm Dog AwardsHONOUR AT LAST FOR OUTSTANDING FOURLEGGED PERFORMANCES AT CANNES FILM FESTIVAL.
Highly Commended: Delgado from Brit flick Large | |||
 |
THE FIRST PALM DOG AWARDS HONOUR FOR THE OUTSTANDING FOURLEGGED PERFORMANCES AT CANNES FILM FESTIVAL has been scooped by Otis the canine lead in The Anniversary Party written by, starring and directed by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming. | ||
|
"This is great, this is wonderful. I was feeling flat and hearing the news that Otis had won the Palm Dog really lifted my spirits" enthused Jennifer, the owner of Otis. The actress turned writer-director will be taking the trophy Palm Dog black leather collar back home to her companion Otis. "He's part Pitbull, part Retriever, part everything" explained Jennifer of her beloved hound's heritage. 6 year old Otis is clearly a dog going up in the world. |  | ||
 | The jury, which included Derek Malcolm of the Guardian and Dana Thomas from Newsweek, recognised the professionalism of Otis for his pivotal role in the ensemble piece. "Not only was Otis a key player, we particularly appreciated the ground breaking portrayal of Otis as a family member" read the judges citation. | ||
|
The Palm Dog was created to at last reward a section of the acting fraternity so shamelessly ignored at all film festivals, not to mention the Oscars? It's not the fact that for the same screen time rewards can be limited to 'treats' and 'nibbles', what really grated is the lack of recognition. Where are the dog gongs? |  | ||
 |
As Good As It Gets is one of the most scandalous cases examples of oversight. Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt collect Oscars and Verdelle, who suffered abuse from bully boy Jack and a trip down the rubbish chute, was totally overlooked. | ||
|
Jury chairman Mutley decided enough is enough and instituted the Palm Dog awards to reward the best dog performances at the worlds foremost film festival. |  | ||
 | Now for the first time at Cannes the four legged in film will get the recognition they deserve and winner Otis, a handsome Palm Dog black leather trophy collar. | ||
|
The jury also recognized the performance of plucky little Delgado. The pampered pooch pushed himself to the limit with such exploits as sniffing cocaine, grooving at a suburban rave house party and finally lapping up Nutella from the most intimate of places. The judges felt that little Delgado deserved a citation for pushing canine acting roles to the limit. |  | ||
Pop goes Mutley.
Arriving to play the prestige Olympia venue in Paris, top chanteuse Dido got in touch with show tickets, followed by an invite back to the hotel for an after-show moment. Synchronicity was such that our limos, travelling separately, arrived in front of the Royal Monceau, just down from the Arc de Triomphe at the same moment.Dido's fab team stood round as we snuggled up and then took the snap. More fab still I learned that the songbird was leaving that very night to her next gig and had made extra special time for me. Wowed was I.