Christopher Plummer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jessica Chastain, and Felicity Jones to Be Honored at the Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Sept. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 15th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, presented by Starz Entertainment, are pleased to announce honorees that will be recognized for their achievements at the festival's Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony, which will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 24, 2011.

Academy Award-nominated actor Christopher Plummer will receive the "Hollywood Supporting Actor Award," for "Beginners," actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be honored with the "Hollywood Breakthrough Actor Award," for "50/50," actress Jessica Chastain will be honored with the "Hollywood Breakthrough Actress Award," for "The Tree of Life," "Coriolanus," "The Debt," "The Help," and "Take Shelter," and actress Felicity Jones will receive the "New Hollywood Award" for "Like Crazy."

"It is extraordinary that all of these honorees have contributed their talent to such high quality films, and it is a great pleasure to honor them for their work," said Carlos de Abreu, Founder of the Hollywood Awards Gala.

The Hollywood Film Awards Gala launches the awards season. In the past eight years a total of 73 Oscar nominations and 27 Oscars were given to the honorees of the Hollywood Awards.

The 2011 Hollywood Film Festival has also announced they will honor the cast of "The Help" (Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison Janney, Chris Lowell, Ahna O'Reilly, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Cicely Tyson and Mike Vogel) with the "Hollywood Ensemble Acting Award," Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, Editor Stephen Mirrione, Production Designer James Murakami and Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Farrar at their annual Awards Gala. In addition, Gore Verbinski's "Rango" will be honored at the Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony, along with additional honorees to be announced in the coming weeks.

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER

Christopher Plummer has long been one of the most respected actors in theater and film. In 2008, Alfred A. Knopf published Plummer's memoir, "In Spite of Myself," which became one of the most acclaimed autobiographies of recent years. He has also written for the stage, television, and the concert hall.

Mr. Plummer's first film was Sidney Lumet's "Stage Struck," with Henry Fonda and Susan Strasberg. His notable movies since then have included John Huston's "The Man Who Would Be King," in which he portrayed author Rudyard Kipling, Anthony Mann's "The Fall of The Roman Empire," Guy Hamilton's "Battle of Britain," Sergei Bondarchuk's "Waterloo," Nicholas Ray's "Wind Across the Everglades," Robert Mulligan's "Inside Daisy Clover," Robert Wise's Academy Award-winning "The Sound of Music," opposite Julie Andrews, Blake Edwards' "The Return of the Pink Panther," with Peter Sellers, Daryl Duke's "The Silent Partner," Bob Clark's "Murder by Decree," in which he played Sherlock Holmes and for which he won the Genie Award (Canada's Oscar equivalent) for Best Actor, Jeannot Szwarc's "Somewhere in Time," with Christopher Reeve; Nicholas Meyer's "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" and "Inside Man," Taylor Hackford's "Dolores Claiborne," Terry Gilliam's "Twelve Monkeys" and "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," Ron Howard's Academy Award-winning "A Beautiful Mind," Atom Egoyan's "Ararat," Douglas McGrath's "Nicholas Nickleby," Jon Turteltaub's "National Treasure," Gary David Goldberg's "Must Love Dogs," Stephen Gaghan's "Syriana," Terrence Malick's "The New World," Michael Schroeder's "Man in the Chair," for which Mr. Plummer was named Best Actor at the Palm Beach International Film Festival; and Michael Mann's "The Insider," as Mike Wallace.

For his portrayal of novelist Leo Tolstoy, opposite Helen Mirren, in "The Last Station," written and directed by Michael Hoffman, Mr. Plummer received Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Spirit Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

Most recently, he was seen starring alongside Ewan McGregor in writer/director Mike Mills acclaimed comedy/drama "Beginners."

He again stars as the legendary John Barrymore in the feature "Barrymore," directed and adapted by Erik Canuel from the William Luce play for which Mr. Plummer won a Tony Award. The film recently premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. Next he will star with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara in David Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," due out in December 2011.

ABOUT JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT

Joseph Gordon-Levitt will next be seen in "50/50," a comedy directed by Jonathan Levine that stars Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick and Bryce Dallas Howard. He will then star in the action thriller "Premium Rush," directed by David Koepp, who also co-wrote the script. He recently wrapped production on "Looper," for which he reunited with his "Brick" director, Rian Johnson, and will star opposite Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt. He is currently in production on "The Dark Knight Rises," the third and final installment in the Batman series, which will be directed by Christopher Nolan. Gordon-Levitt was also recently cast as Robert Todd Lincoln in the film "Lincoln" alongside Daniel Day-Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones, which will be directed by Steven Spielberg.

Gordon-Levitt's additional film credits include Christopher Nolan's Academy Award-nominated action-drama "Inception," "Hesher," "(500) Days of Summer," "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," "Miracle at St. Anna," "Stop-Loss," "The Lookout," "Killshot," "Shadowboxer," "Brick; "Mysterious Skin," and "Manic. Early in his career, Gordon-Levitt won a Young Artist Award for his first major role, in Robert Redford's drama "A River Runs Through It." He went on to co-star in "Angels in the Outfield," "The Juror," "Halloween H20," and "10 Things I Hate About You."

ABOUT JESSICA CHASTAIN

Jessica Chastain recently co-starred in "The Tree of Life," this year's Palme d'Or winner at Cannes, written and directed by Terrence Malick and starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, "The Help" written and directed by Tate Taylor, in which she co-stars with Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison Janney, Chris Lowell, Ahna O'Reilly, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Cicely Tyson and Mike Vogel, as well as "The Debt" with Helen Mirren and Sam Worthington. She will next be seen in the feature films "Coriolanus," directed by and co-starring Ralph Fiennes, "The Wettest County" opposite Tom Hardy and Shia LaBeouf, and "Take Shelter" co-starring with Michael Shannon.

Chastain attended the Juilliard School where she starred in "Romeo and Juliet." At the senior class Juilliard showcase, Chastain landed a coveted talent deal with Emmy Award-winning executive producer and writer John Wells. After completing a pilot for Wells and director P.J. Hogan, Chastain returned to the stage in the Los Angeles Wadsworth Theatre production of "Salome," where director Estelle Parsons and Al Pacino cast Chastain to play the title role of Salome opposite Pacino. Continuing the collaboration, she starred in the recent film version, "Wilde Salome," directed by Pacino. Chastain's work in "Salome" received enormous critical attention and led to her being cast in the dynamic title role in "Jolene" directed by Dan Ireland. The film also stars Rupert Friend, Frances Fisher, Dermot Mulroney and Michael Vartan. Chastain won the Best Actress Award at the 2008 Seattle Film Festival for this role.

ABOUT FELICITY JONES

Felicity Jones earned a Special Jury Award for acting when "Like Crazy" debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. She reunites with Drake Doremus for his follow-up, a currently untitled film she is shooting in New York with Guy Pearce and Amy Ryan. Jones also recently completed several additional projects including "Hysteria," with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy and Rupert Everett; "This Beautiful Fantastic," directed by Joel Hopkins and written by Simon Aboud; and "Cheerful Weather for the Wedding," directed by Donald Rice based on Julia Strachey's 1932 novella, with Mackenzie Crook, Elizabeth McGovern and Luke Treadaway.

Additional film credits include the following: Page 8, a thriller by award-winning director David Hare; The Chalet Girl, a romantic comedy with Ed Westwick, Bill Nighy and Brooke Shields; Julie Taymor's film adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, also starring Dame Helen Mirren, Ben Whishaw and Alfred Molina; Albatross, directed by Niall MacCormick and co-starring Julia Ormond; Cemetery Junction, a comedy written and directed by the award-winning partnership of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, alongside a stellar cast including Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson and Matthew Goode; Soulboy, a coming-of-age drama directed by Shimmy Marcus; Cheri, directed by Stephen Frears, co-starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates and Rupert Friend; Brideshead Revisited, directed by Julian Jarrold, opposite Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw and Hayley Atwell; and Flashbacks Of A Fool, with Daniel Craig, Harry Eden, rapper Eve, Keeley Hawes and Olivia Williams.

ABOUT STARZ ENTERTAINMENT, LLC:

The festival and awards presenter is Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie and original programming entertainment service provider operating in the United States. The company offers 17 premium channels including the flagship STARZ® and ENCORE® brands with approximately 19 million and 32.9 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs in total more than 1,000 movies and original series every month across its pay TV channels. Starz Entertainment is recognized as a pay TV leader in providing HD, On Demand, HD On Demand and online advanced services for its STARZ, ENCORE and MOVIEPLEX brands. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation and is attributed to the Liberty Starz tracking stock group (NASDAQ: LSTZA).

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SOURCE Hollywood Film Festival