A first-time filmmaker managed to collect an impressive roster of prominent comedy stars for Idiotka, offering a satirical look at the fashion industry and reality television.
Writer-director Nastasya Popov’s movie debuted at last year’s SXSW and has since been playing the festival circuit ahead of its planned theatrical release later this year from Utopia. Anna Baryshnikov stars as Margarita, who lives in her Russian family’s crowded home in a less glamorous section of West Hollywood and considers competing on a reality show for aspiring fashion designers.
Baryshnikov, who is known for the series Dickinson and is the daughter of famed ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, leads a cast that includes such prominent performers as Camila Mendes, Mark Ivanir (Emilia Pérez) and Galina Jovovich, a Russian star whose daughter is Milla Jovovich. Additionally, the film features a supporting cast of rising comedic talent, including Julia Fox (Uncut Gems), Benito Skinner (Overcompensating), Owen Thiele (Adults) and rapper Saweetie.
During an onstage conversation following Idiotka’s screening at the Palm Springs Film Festival on Sunday, Popov offered insight into how the indie project scored such a notable cast for her directorial feature debut. Popov, who grew up with Russian immigrant parents, enlisted a mutual friend to pass along an early draft of the script to Baryshnikov, with the actress then involved in further shaping the lead character. After Baryshnikov filmed a sizzle reel to help the project land funding, Mendes signed on to produce and star.
“Camila was friendly with Benny [Skinner], and he’s of course amazing,” Popov said. “And then I showed up at Julia Fox’s book talk and handed her a letter. It was very DIY and grassroots, but I think our approach was always, ‘We’re making a movie in L.A. What’s the worst they’ll do? They’ll say no to us. So let’s try to get every cool, funny person that we can.’ Enough said yes that then it just became this gorgeous ensemble.”
Nastasya Popov attends the SXSW premiere of Idiotka.
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Popov noted that she shot the film in part at her grandmother’s apartment in Los Angeles. While the movie features dramatic scenes as Margarita navigates her challenging family baggage, it also takes advantage of the comedy that arises from poking fun at reality TV tropes, particularly the onscreen judges and their outsized personalities. Popov cited Project Runway and HBO’s streetwear-focused competition series The Hype as helping to inspire the narrative and comedy.
“It was funny to me to see the evolution of the fashion reality show, and then also think about reality TV as an engine for how artists these days are all expected to just basically bare our soul on a platter,” Popov said. “That’s just right for comedy and also very true to our world and was fun to explore.”
In her review of Idiotka for The Hollywood Reporter, critic Angie Han wrote, “Popov has a great feel for the easy warmth coursing between every member of the family, even in moments of strife, and the cast share a fun and comfortable chemistry.”
“Tonight, we honor someone who has done something very few artists achieve,” began Laura Dern when she took the stage before thousands of guests seated at the Palm Springs Convention Center for the Palm Springs International Film Festival’s Film Awards presented by Kering on Saturday, Jan. 3.
“He has become part of our cultural DNA: We quote him. We reference him. We try to do his voices at parties. And we all have at least one memory of laughing so hard we spilled a drink all over somebody else,” Dern continued, “because Adam Sandler has made the world more joyful, more beautiful, more connected and, thank God, a bit sillier, than it ever dreamt of being before he came along.”
Laura DernCredit: Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Society
Dern pledged that her Jay Kelly co-star’s career “has been about so much more than just comedy.” However, when Sandler came to the podium to accept the Chairman’s Award, he showcased exactly what he does best and brought some of the night’s only levity.
“Like every actor, when I decided to become an actor, my parents were disgusted,” Sandler began, recalling how his father gave him one year to try to make it before coming to working for him as an electrical contractor. He succeeded — but noted that he sometimes thinks about what his life would be like now if he had gone and worked for his dad.
“First off, I’d probably still be married to my wife, Jackie,” he said, “but we’d definitely have a different house. Probably 10 less bathrooms and a few less statues of me. … I would probably still get stopped on the street for pictures, but not because of the fame factor as much as they’ve never seen somebody with that much scoliosis.”
Adam SandlerCredit: Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Society
He went on: “I probably would have not just had a vacation in Hawaii. If I wanted to go swimming, I’d just do it in the pond up the street next to the nuclear power plant. But not all bad news, because then, my penis wouldn’t glow in the dark. Actually, thinking about it, my wife might not want to be with me! … I’d be with, probably, that man right there. Then, he would have divorced me after six months because he couldn’t stand looking at my scoliosis in the nude. But you’re going to miss the glow-in-the-dark penis, buddy!”
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And finally: “I”d probably still have a deal with Netflix. But I’d be paying them a monthly fee, so I could watch Stranger Things,” Sandler said. “I definitely would not be here right now accepting an award for acting. I’d be at a Burger King accepting an award for best customer. … I think I would still have met the Safdie brothers. But only because they were doing a movie about a crazy Jew guy with a glow-in-the-dark penis, and they wanted to study me.”
Fortunately for everyone, Sandler concluded, “it all worked out,” and he’s been doing movies for 40 years.
Jane Fonda Credit: Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Society
Also at the starry annual ceremony, Jane Fonda received a standing ovation when she came out to present the Vanguard Award to the team behind Focus Features’ Hamnet — a film about which she organically raved.
She began by asking the audience members to plant their feet on the ground and take a deep breath in — because the director of Hamnet asks audiences to do a breathing exercise before they see her film. “I understand why,” Fonda said. “This world right now, it seems to shrink us, to corset us, to put scales over our heart. And what the breathing exercise does is it lets you open up.”
Chloé Zhao, Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal Credit: Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Society
Fonda recalled how she first saw Hamnet upon her son’s urging that she see it immediately — and she urged the crowd to see it, or see it again. “This is what film is supposed to be,” Fonda said. “This is a perfect film, in my opinion.”
Then, Hamnet director Chloe Zhao and actors Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal came up to humbly accept.
Rose ByrneCredit: Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Society
The night kicked off with Meghann Fahy’s presentation of the Breakthrough Performance Award to If I Had Legs I’d Kick You star Rose Byrne. “We premiered the film at Sundance almost a year ago,” Byrne said. “Prior to that, [director] Mary [Bronstein] worked to get this movie made for eight years.”
Byrne joked about how she was receiving the “breakthrough award” at age 46. “Forty-six is definitely the wrong side of 40 to breaking through anything in this business, so it makes it even cooler! I’m so honored.”
The cast of Sentimental Value (Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgard, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning) received the International Star Award from Joachim Trier.
Timothée Chalamet accepts the Spotlight Award, Actor from Josh Safdie Credit: Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Society
Timothee Chalamet received the Spotlight Award from Marty Supreme director Josh Safdie, whom he went on to praise. “This man’s a genius!” Chalamet said. “What’s cooking in this man’s mind is unbelievable.”
Paul Feig gave the Visionary Award to the Frankenstein team (director Guillermo del Toro and cast members Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth). “Collaborating with Guillermo del Toro on Frankenstein has been the honor of a lifetime,” Isaac said. “Guillermo makes bold, impossibly rich films pulsing with emotion and humanity. “This project has been his 50-year dream.”
Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth and Guillermo del Toro Credit: Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Society
Mahershala Ali presented the Career Achievement Award to Ethan Hawke. “He plays the notes between the notes,” Ali said, noting how he’s thrown himself into his projects for four decades. Hawke reflected on the film industry, including early encounters with actors like River Phoenix.
Hawke returned to the stage to award the Desert Palm Achievement Award Actress honor to The Testament of Ann Lee star Amanda Seyfried. The Abba song “Dancing Queen” played as Seyfried took the stage. “That music will never stop following me!” she quipped. “And I’m fine with that.”
Amanda Seyfried (R) accepts the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress from Ethan HawkeCredit: Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Society
Past Palm Springs honoree Colman Domingo presented the Icon Award to Sinners star Michael B. Jordan — who expressed concern for a male guest taken out on a stretcher by paramedics.
Jack Champion presented the Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award to Miley Cyrus — who recalled how she’d volunteered to James Cameron that she would write a song for him, leading to the Avatar hit.
Miley CyrusCredit: Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Society
After opening with a few notes of the song, Cyrus praised the celebratory nature of the Palm Springs Awards gala, where people weren’t competing with each other. “It is truly the most elegant Palm Springs party I have ever been to. There are fewer drag queens than I would have liked,” Cyrus joked, “but I’ll be stopping by Tucans on my way back to L.A. to get my fix.”
Desert Palm Achievement Award recipient Leonardo DiCaprio wasn’t able to fly there (rumored to have been on account of the travel delays caused by U.S.’ capture of the Venezuelan president). However, his One Battle After Another co-stars Chase Infiniti and Teyana Taylor praised him before he delivered pre-recorded remarks in a video.
Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti Credit: Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Society
Finally, Rob Marshall presented the night’s final award, the Icon Award, Actress, to Song Sung Blue star Kate Hudson.
“To Adam Sandler: I’ve been looking for a glow-in-the-dark penis for decades,” Hudson joked from the stage. “And Jackie Sandler’s a very lucky woman.”
Kate Hudson accepts the Icon AwardCredit: Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Society
The director, on hand to receive the Visionary Award at the annual star-studded event, was joined on stage by his Frankenstein stars Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth, as he spoke about how, at 61 years old, “I’ve come to believe that everybody’s born with one or two songs to sing. That’s it, and we keep repeating them and repeating them until we get them sort of right. And Frankenstein was the song I was born to sing.”
Del Toro told the crowd at the Palm Springs Convention Center how he approached the iconic tale by “making it about fatherhood and forgiveness, because I believe that we want to be forgiven and forgive. And now, very recently, something has became very clear to me. Three days ago, I lost my older brother but I’m here, and I’m here because the film speaks about a condition that is purely human; that is proved by the final phase in the film, which says the heart may break and the broken live on. Even a broken heart pumps the blood and keeps you going.”
“My brother and I played Victor and the creature on many moments in our lives,” he said in reference to Frankenstein‘s two main characters, and “many years ago, we granted each other love and granted each other peace. So I’m here for family.”
The filmmaker — who skipped the event’s red carpet — didn’t reveal his brother’s name or any details about his death, but announced “I may be absent at a few functions this [awards] season, but not this one. I’m here because this is family,” as he gestured to his stars. “Life gives you a family on the way.”
