Donostia Award for DeVito

San Sebastian to celebrate comic actor, director and producer's lifetime in film.

by Amber Wilkinson

Danny DeVito will be presented with Donostia Award on September 22
Danny DeVito will be presented with Donostia Award on September 22 Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival
American actor, director and producer Danny DeVito is to be honoured with a Donostia Award for lifetime achievement at San Sebastian Film Festival

The Get Shorty and Batman Returns star - who will play the ringmaster in Tim Burton's upcoming live-action remake of Dumbo - will receive his accolade on September 22 and present animated film Smallfoot - about a Yeti who becomes convinced that mysterious creatures called 'humans' really exist - at the Velodrome the next day.

The award recognises his five-decade career in theatre, film and TV. The Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner is known for his roles in television series Taxi and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and movies including One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Terms of Endearment, Romancing The Stone, Twins, Ruthless People, and Tin Men.

In addition to high-profile roles in mainstream cinema, including The Penguin, he has worked with directors as varied as Milos Forman, Brian de Palma, Robert Zemeckis, Barry Levinson, Francis Ford Coppola and Todd Solondz.

He has also directed – and starred in – films including The War of the Roses (1989), Hoffa (1992), Death to Smoochy (2002), Throw Momma From The Train (1987), Curmudgeons (2016), Duplex (2003), The Ratings Game (1984),and The World’s Greatest Lover (1977) as well as producing films by Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh and Forman.

A principal of Jersey Film’s 2nd Avenue, the successor company of Jersey Films which produced Erin Brockovich (2000) which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, Pulp Fiction (1994), Out of Sight (1998), Freedom Writers (2007), Garden State (2004), Along Came Polly (2004), Living Out Loud (1998) and others. DeVito served as a producer and co-starred in Get Shorty (1995) Man on the Moon (1999), Be Cool (2005), Even Money (2006) and Drowning Mona (2000).

One of his first roles in the seventh art was One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). He earned fame for his part in the TV series Taxi (1978-1983), he was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Emmy every year the show was on and took home one of each.

The 66th edition of the Spanish festival will run from September 21 to 29.

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