Leave it to Will Ferrell to turn a prestigious lifetime achievement award into a punchline.
The “Anchorman” star was honored with the Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) on Tuesday night — and he brought the jokes with him.
“The fact that you’d drive up to this hellhole, Santa Barbara, means so much to me,” Ferrell joked as he thanked members of the audience, which included co-stars Kristen Wiig and Octavia Spencer. “I was actually here at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in 1997 with a little ditty called ‘Men Seeking Women’ starring ‘Murphy Brown’s’ Grant Shaud. Straight to DVD. It is good to be back!”
The highlight of Ferrell’s speech was a lengthy story about how he met the late Kirk Douglas in 1986 when Ferrell was just a freshman at USC. He explained the legendary actor gave “a talk” on campus, which Ferrell attended with his friends. “We were kind of leaving and walking through the back of the theater, and happened to come out right as Kirk Douglas was leaving the theater,” he recounted. “We were like, ‘We gotta go say hi!’ I said, ‘One day, I maybe want to do what you do,’ and he looked at me, walked up, put his hand on my heart and he said, ‘You have stories to tell, and one day you’re going to tell them.'” Just as the audience let out a collective, “Aww,” Ferrell then came clean: “Actually, that never happened. Nope, I never met Kirk.”
Ferrell then noted he has one thing in common with Douglas. Neither of them has won an Academy Award. That could change this year if Ferrell’s documentary “Will & Harper,” which chronicles a cross-country road trip he takes with his friend of 30 years, Harper Steele, who recently completed a gender transition, strikes a chord with Oscar voters. It has been named one of the year’s five best documentaries by the National Board of Review and won Best Feature at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards.
Also getting awards buzz for the Netflix film is Kristen Wiig, who co-wrote a song called “Harper and Will Go West.” The tune is nominated for Best Song at the 2025 Critics Choice Awards. Wiig presented the Kirk Douglas Award to Ferrell, stating, “Over many years, his audience, his friends, his family, have come to feel that he is our safe place. In his work, we do find escape, and we know that whatever road we take with him is to a place we want to go. With an ability to make us laugh until we cry, he holds our hand and walks us through more doors into the human experience.”
Octavia Spencer also spoke in tribute to Ferrell. She said of her “Spirited” co-star, “He’s given us some of the most iconic, laugh-out-loud parodies in film history. His ability to make us laugh until our sides hurt is unmatched. But here’s the thing, Will Ferrell is so much more than his comedy. I had the pleasure of seeing this first-hand when we worked together on ‘Spirited.’ I got to see the heart and thoughtfulness he brings to every moment, both on and off the screen.”
Since 2006, the annual Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film has been awarded to a lifelong contributor to cinema through their work in front of the camera, behind, or both. Past honorees are Ryan Gosling, Michelle Yeoh, Martin Scorsese, Hugh Jackman, Dame Judi Dench, Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda, Jessica Lange, Forest Whitaker, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Harrison Ford, Quentin Tarantino, Ed Harris, and John Travolta. Tuesday’s ceremony took place at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara and proceeds from the event benefitted SBIFF’s educational programs.
The 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival will take place Feb. 4-15, 2025.
