Wearing a red cocktail dress, her hair in elegant chignon, Diane Lane accepted the Sarasota Film Festival’s Award for Excellence in Cinema on Saturday night, introduced by Rosanna Arquette. A screening of her new movie, Eleanor Coppola’s Paris Can Wait, followed, and a few minutes in, Lane as Anne was dressed for dinner in a romantic inn, wearing the same dress and coif, a sly nod, perhaps, to the movie’s realism. Based on Coppola’s true road trip with a business associate of her husband through the gastronomic riches of France, Lane as Coppola’s stand-in portrays the film’s central character, proper but beguiled by a Frenchman who pays more attention to her than does her work-obsessed husband. Alec Baldwin performs that role, almost a reprise of his Hal in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine. In the post-screening Q&A, Lane called Baldwin a “hero,” rescuing the production after another actor pulled out. What could be bad? Three days on location in the south of France, a wet dream for any foodie.

Festival President Mark Famiglio’s annual dinner ensued. As Chairman, he is a gracious host, knowing you can only follow a movie like this one with a sumptuous meal. Among the many guests: Stanley Tucci was just in from London; Aisha Tyler, attended Sarasota with Emmett Hughes, writer and star of her riveting directorial debut, Axis, set in a car in traffic addled L.A. Rosanna Arquette, radiant in the romantic comedy, Born Guilty, danced a happy dance with Lane. Kenny Anderson, star of the documentary Mr. Chibbs, the inspiring story of his life and career in the NBA, was on hand with producer Barry Greenstein, his director Jill Campbell—and wife Natasha. With a hoop set up on the Sarasota Opera House stage, some guests gamely grabbed the ball, and let us say, Diane Lane showed herself to be a woman of many talents.

Regina Weinreich

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