Santa Barbara

SBIFF Staff Memories
Episode 2: This is Gonna be Great
By Benjamin Goedert, Development Director

I first started working with SBIFF in 2012 as an intern of the development department. During the film festival I was one of the lucky interns assigned to escort talent from their seats to the stage during the Virtuosos Award tribute. This particular year’s lineup included Shailene Woodley, Rooney Mara, Patton Oswalt and Andy Serkis for his motion-capture role of Ceasar in The Rise of the Planet of The Apes.

To get to the stage from the seating area you have to walk through a narrow passageway, briefly stepping out of the audience’s sight. During his interview Patton Oswalt addressed the awkward moment of being out of sight and joked how funny it would be to step out in an entirely different outfit.

Enter Andy Serkis. 

When it came time for Mr. Serkis to take the stage I escorted him from his seat, into the passageway, and out of the audience’s sight. As we shuffled through the passage he paused, ripped off his suit jacket and shirt, handed it to me with a terrific smile and said, “This is gonna be great!”

Without missing a beat he walked on stage and, to thunderous applause, gave his interview completely SHIRTLESS. 

Andy stole the show with his theatrics and the best part of the entire situation was how brilliantly he described his artistic process and eloquently provided insight to his career - completely shirtless. 

This was my introduction to the understanding that you never know the type of surprise that will happen during the film festival. Years later I am still constantly surprised and impressed by the things that happen during each festival event, and am reminded that we are never sure what might happen next but most certainly it is gonna be great.