Apr 14, 2008 9:00 am US/Eastern
Fest Honors The Career Of John Leguizamo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) ―
Versatile and charismatic
actor John Leguizamo was at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia Thursday night to receive
an Artistic Achievement award for his long and distinguished career.
From the big screen to the
small screen to the stage to the page, John Leguizamo is not content with just
one medium. He's portrayed the decant life of Toulouse-Lautrec in Moulin
Rouge, a vivacious drag queen in To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything,
Julie Newmar and had an unforgettable role in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam.
Leguizamo has also had a heralded
career on the stage with "Freak", "Spic-O-Rama", and "Mambo Mouth". When you factor in his television roles
("House of Buggin', E.R."), his novel ("Pimps, Hos, Playa
Hatas and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends") and his directing debut
with Undefeated, it is hard to imagine how John Leguizamo has one second
of free time.
A sold-out crowd packed the Prince Music Theater Thursday to get a look at
his latest film, The Take, directed by Philadelphia-native Brad Furman.
Prior to the screening, Leguizamo was awarded an Artistic Achievement honor by
the Philadelphia Film Festival.
"Coming from where I came from, my demographics were
against me, statistics were against me, but I didn't know that so I went ahead
and did what I was going to do," Leguizamo told the crowd.
Among his many roles, Leguizamo discussed being the only man
to have shot several top celebrities on camera, including Harrison Ford in Regarding Henry and his unforgettable
scene in Donnie Brasco.
"I'm the only person to have killed Al Pacino on
camera. That's an honor, thank you for that," he joked. "I'm going to
kill each A-list actor until they have to use me."
During his latest role in The Take, Leguizamo plays an ordinary man whose life is changed after
being shot in the head during a violent armored car robbery. To prepare for the
role, Leguizamo talked with patients in Philadelphia
who had suffered a similar frontal lobe injury.
"From that point we were trying to get it to be as real
and as detailed as possible," Leguizamo said.
Director Brad Furman talked about what it was like to have
Leguizamo star in his first feature-length film.
"He's a wonderful person, he's incredibly committed,
he's incredibly loyal. He gave me tremendous confidence throughout the process
to follow my instincts," Furman said.
The Take is now in
limited release. Leguizamo can soon be seen on Broadway in Spike Lee's "Buffalo
Soldiers.
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