Awards Daily talks to SCAD Lacoste Film Festival Etoile Award recipient Miranda Richardson about what she looks for in a part and her passion for falconry.
Before learning she would be honored with the Etoile Award (or “Star Award”) at the SCAD Lacoste Film Festival, Miranda Richardson says she had no idea the arts school in France’s Luberon Valley existed.
“It’s just delightful,” says Richardson. “It’s like a secret, which is now not a secret. Of course, it makes you want to be a student again, with the privileges and resources. It makes me want to come do something like photography or painting.”
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Richardson says she remembers what being a student was like at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and is jealous of the energy and excitement the students at SCAD have.
“It’s not that you’ll never feel that free again, but the lack of responsibility is huge. It may not feel like it, but it’s fabulous. And it’s always summer.”
Over three days, the SCAD Lacoste Film Festival shows a mixture of classic and new releases, welcoming talent like Richardson to speak with students about process and how they got where they are, although the actress admits she doesn’t go to a lot of film festivals.
“The one I would like to go to is Telluride. I would love to do that. I think that would be a very special atmosphere. And maybe Buenos Aires. Cannes is beyond crazy and quite frenetic. You just have to kind of gird your loins for something like that. At least I do. It’s not my happy place. You know why you’re there and what you’ve got to do and achieve, look at the camera, and get on with it. You might get to see some other great movies, but honestly I don’t think there’s ever time. Unless you’re on the jury or something. When you’re working on something, you’re working for your project.”
At the SCAD Lacoste Film Festival, audiences were treated to Robert Altman’s Kansas City from 1996, starring Richardson, in celebration of her award. Richardson says when it comes to parts, she’s looking for something different each time, joking that some people probably think she’s looking for roles where “she’s just being mean again.”
“Obviously, the writing on the page is what I’m interested in and whoever’s attached. I have to do something where it opens up my thinking. I’m reading something at the moment, I can’t talk about it, and it’s a really good premise. Historically accurate, but fairly recent times, a political thing there. A person who’s obviously conflicted and somebody who’s trying to do good but is actually doing more harm by trying to do good. That’s an interesting mix. All the elements might not be there yet, but it might be still worth pursuing. Something like that you can grab hold of, and it’s not something I’ve quite seen.”
Speaking of things you can hold and are rarely seen, did you know that two-time Academy Award nominee Miranda Richardson is a falconer? After a chance encounter at a tennis tournament with a kestral (small falcon) when she was 11, she discovered a passion.
“I sat with it for three hours. I was fascinated and in love with this beautiful thing. It was so quiet but okay. During the course of those three hours, she eventually moved to the toe of my boot to use as a perch, then I couldn’t move, and then she came up here [on her shoulder]. Like Long John Silver’s parrot and I could hardly breathe. Then I saw another kestral flying around the church tower, and I thought that must be her mate. So I stood up really, really slowly. She didn’t move, and I walked with her slowly out of the tennis court and watched her take off with her mate. I immediately thought, I need more of that.”
Richardson immediately started researching (“Remember libraries?”) and found a book by a man who ran a falconry center.
“What’s not to like? I’ve never lost a fascination for them. They are incredibly beautiful, very hard to know. You can’t cuddle them like a dog or cat. There is something unknowable, but something just so other and beautiful and designed for the job as well, which is admirable. Something so perfectly designed to do with what it has to do. I want them to like me, which is fatal. That’s anthropomorphizing. You’re their provider, and they get used to you, and there are rewards. You reward them for what they’re doing for you.”
Richardson’s falconer story sounds like a movie itself, but she says she’s only gotten to use the skill on film once.
“I did it in the tele once, a historical drama. I said, could she have a falconer to supplement the diet in this place? And they said, yeah, good idea.”
2024 SCAD Lacoste Film Festival runs June 27-29.