Tom Hooper and Mychael Danna to Receive Palm Springs Festival Honors

Director Tom Hooper and composer Mychael Danna will be honored at the 24th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival on Jan. 5.

Hooper, whose Les Miserables already has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, including best picture, and four SAG Award nominations, will receive the Sonny Bono Visionary Award at the annual film festival. Hooper won an Academy Award for directing 2010’s best picture winner The King’s Speech. Hooper also has worked on several award-winning HBO projects throughout his career, including John Adams, Longford and Elizabeth I. His other work includes The Damned United, Red Dust, Prime Suspect 6, Daniel Deronda, Love in a Cold Climate, Cold Feet and EastEnders.

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Past recipients of the Sonny Bono Visionary Award include Danny Boyle, Quentin Tarantino, Michel Hazanavicius, Baz Luhrmann and Gus Van Sant.

Danna, who created the score for Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, will receive the Frederick Loewe Award for Film Composing.

Danna has worked with Lee on and off for 15 years and received a Golden Globe nomination for his original score for Life of Pi. He has scored two of Lee’s other films —The Ice Storm and Ride With the Devil.  

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Danna also co-wrote the film’s original song, “Pi’s Lullaby,” with singer-songwriter Bombay Jayashri, who performs it in her native Tamil language.  

Past recipients of the Frederick Loewe Award for Film Composing include T-Bone Burnett, Alexandre Desplat, Danny Elfman, Randy Newman and Diane Warren.

Hosted by Mary Hart, the gala will honor previously announced recipients including Richard Gere, Bradley Cooper, Helen Mirren, Sally Field, Helen Hunt, Naomi Watts, Robert Zemeckis and the cast of Argo. The Palm Springs Film Festival runs Jan. 3 to 14.