Nia Long and Kenny Loggins were among the well-deserving recipients Wednesday of the Coronado Island Film Festival’s Leonard Maltin Industry Tribute Awards — an event that doubles as an awards ceremony, and a lesson in how films are made.
Maltin and the festival take care to select honorees both above and below the line to reflect both the glamor and hard work of the filmmaking process. This year’s event, held at the historic Hotel del Coronado’s stunning Crown Room, also honored producer Coco Francini, costume designer Amy Roth, and casting director Victoria Thomas. Many shared personal memories of Coronado Island and nearby San Diego as they detailed their rise and successes in the film industry.
They also provided insights into their philosophies about the work. Take, for example, Long’s description of the craft of acting:
“For me, acting is a series of choices that represent truth. That’s all it is. If it doesn’t feel real to me, I’m not going to say it. If it doesn’t feel good in my soul, I don’t even know how to do it properly. And so I’m so grateful to have a career for this long, where I’ve been able to stand in my truth, and it always hasn’t been popular for me, but I didn’t care. Because for me, it is the integrity that makes the work great.”
Long, presently starring as Katherine Jackson in the biopic Michael, brought the house down with a candid admission to fellow honoree Kenny Loggins, whose music she grew up listening to: “You are the first white man I ever had a crush on.”
Meridee Book, the CEO and artistic director of the Coronado Island Film Festival, kicked off the night by noting that the fest “is where the art and science of cinema converge.”
“Every honoree that you will meet tonight has mastered both the instinct to tell the truth and the discipline to put it on screen,” Book added.
Maltin, meanwhile, noted the long connection between Hollywood history and Coronado Island, a setting for films and playground for Hollywood stars going back a century. (Placards all over the sidewalks of Orange Avenue, the island’s main street, note past guests from Sylvester Stallone to Charlton Heston to Judy Garland to Greta Garbo to Marilyn Monroe.)
Malton joked about Jack Warner “turning over in his grave” at Warner Bros. being sold to Paramount — but noted that talent perseveres through all kinds of change.
“Every year, festivals like this showcase young filmmakers and real talent that we didn’t know about just six months earlier,” Maltin said. “Talent will float to the top somehow, and festivals like this are not only a necessity, but a vehicle that has to be supported.”
The honorees went up one at a time to accept their awards and to sit down for chats with Maltin, one of our most respected film historians and critics. As anyone who has seen his interviews knows, Maltin has an incredible skill at capturing crucial insights into someone’s work in just a few questions. That was certainly the case Wednesday, as the honorees noted that they very much reciprocated his admiration of their work.
Here are a few of the highlights from each of the honorees.
Coco Francini, Industry Impact Award
Producer Coco Francini recalled that when she was growing up, her dad lived on Coronado Island, so she would visit him on summers and weekends. She joked that growing up she would try to sneak into the Hotel del Coronado’s pool.
“I don’t think I expected to be let back in to accept an award. So thank you to the Hotel del for not backlisting me,” she deadpanned.
Francini became a very successful producer whose credits include Mrs. America, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, and the new Mouse, one of the festival’s closing-night films.
Maltin noted that when he and his wife first moved to Los Angeles, more than 40 years ago, someone told him at a party that anyone can print business cards and claim to be a producer. So he asked Francini to explain what a producer actually does.
“We’re like the steward of the project,” she explained. “You come in at different times for different projects, of course. But at its core, it’s taking a seed and planting in the ground, and watching it grow and pruning it and taking care of it. That’s kind of what I like to do. It’s from the beginning to the end to the to the DVD release. … It’s really kind of a Swiss Army knife situation.”
She added: “You just bring the actor coffee, and you negotiate the soundtrack deal, and everything in between.”
Maltin also asked her to share what Quentin Tarantino always says when he wants another take.
“If we’re going to do one more, when we think we have it, he says, ‘We’re going to do one more, because we love making movies. And we all shout it.”
Amy Roth, Artistry in Costume Award
Amy Roth’s aunt was Ann Roth, the celebrated Hollywood costume designer who won Oscars for The English Patient and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. She recalled her aunt taking her to the set of Miloš Forman’s Hair when she was a child in the 1970s.
“It had a huge impact on me. I was in a tiny little town in Winchester, Virginia, and suddenly I was in the middle of Central Park recreating the 1960s… that was magic, magic.”
She so wanted to be part of it that she became a very in-demand costume designer with credits including Motherless Brooklyn, Top Five, Mrs. America, and two current award contenders playing at the festival — Paper Tiger and I Play Rocky.
She shared a fascinating insight into dressing characters — and by doing so, building those characters.
“What we wear is never simply what we wear,” she explained. “It can reflect who we are, where we’ve come from, and sometimes what we cannot say aloud. As a costume designer, my job is to help actors find their way into the character’s skin by discovering the details, imperfections, and contradictions that make someone human. I’ve had the privilege of working with extraordinary directors, actors, and artisans. Filmmaking is a true collaboration, and every person behind the scenes helps bring a story to life. Our work may not always be visible, but it is woven into every frame.”
When Maltin asked her the best advice she received from her aunt, Roth quipped: “Never wear that shirt again.”
She doubled down, adding that her aunt has a boldness she deeply admires.
“Sometimes she’ll say, ‘Have fun tonight. Don’t do your hair like a puff ball.” It’s good advice.”
Victoria Thomas, Excellence in Casting Inaugural Award
Victoria Thomas said her film career started very close to Coronado Island, when she was studying film at UC San Diego. She praised one of her professors, painter and film critic Manny Farber, for “the beginning of my thinking that I could actually pursue a career” in the movies.
She got her first shot when she went to film school at UCLA and made the cult hit Repo Man with several fellow students.
“I sort of got thrown into the deep end of the pool, so I had to learn how to swim,” she said. “Maybe I made some mistakes, but you know: I think it’s all turned out OK.”
That understatement got a big laugh, since she’s worked on films including True Stories, Sid and Nancy, Django Unchained, Hidden Figures, Fences, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. She also cast two current awards contenders, Misty Green and Michael, the latter of which earned more than a billion at the box office. (Among those she helped cast was Long.)
She said she likes the back and forth with directors about who to cast: “Hopefully my vision helps you create yours.”
Bettina Sherick, the founder and president of Hollywood In Pixels, introduced Thomas, and noted that the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences just introduced an Oscar for casting.
“Your career is a testament to the power of casting as an art form,” Sherick noted.
Nia Long, Leonard Maltin Award
Long reflected on a career that started with her breakout roles in Boyz N the Hood, Friday, and Love Jones. She had the biggest hit of her career this year with Michael, in which she plays the matriarch of the Jackson family and the mother of perhaps the most debated figure in the history of pop culture.
“Here’s what I understand about being a woman,” she told Maltin. “I know what it means and feels to care more than we should. I know when it’s time to speak, and when it’s time to observe, and I know what it feels like to love children unconditionally, And that is who Katherine Jackson is.”
Maltin asked her about the lessons she teaches her own children.
“I tell myself — because sometimes I have to teach myself — that the world is changing, but I don’t have to change,” she said. “I tell myself that I can still be my authentic self, be open to new ideas and a new way of doing things, but I don’t have to adjust the core of my self, my authenticity, to suit what’s popular right now. And I think the best thing that we can do as artists, no matter what type of art you do, is to stick to the thing that got you stuck.”
She also recalled being on the set of Michael and realizing — “Oh, we’re making that movie. This is going to be good.”
Kenny Loggins, Legacy Award
Loggins, who has sold more than 25 million albums and won two Grammy Awards, is often known as the King of the Movie Soundtrack because of his hits across several hits, including Caddyshack’s “I’m Alright,” Top Gun’s “Danger Zone,” and the title track from Footloose.
He held the audience in the palm of his hand with stories of how all those songs came to be.
He described working with Barbra Streisand on A Star Is Born, in which she performed his composition “I Believe in Love.” (Alan and Marilyn Bergman wrote the lyrics.) He met Streisand’s then-partner, Jon Peters, while working with her. When Peters executive produced Caddyshack, he reached out to Loggins for a song.
While Loggins was riding high from that success, his songwriting partner Dean Pitchford brought him a script, inspired by an Oklahoma small town’s ban on dancing. It became Footloose.
“As a favor to my friend, I wrote a theme song with him. We wrote for what we thought was a barn scene halfway through the movie, where they leave town and they go out to find a place to dance,” Loggins recalled.
“But I didn’t know that it was in the credits to the movie until I saw the movie. And Dean and I were sitting there, and all of a sudden it starts with the feet tapping, and the the drum started. And I turned to him and I said, ‘Home run.’
Agreed — here’s the opening.
Loggins said there was a “cattle call” to make music for Top Gun — he remembers an early screening that was full of rock stars, vying for the chance to make a song for the film.
When he saw the opening scene, with planes taking off and landing from an aircraft carrier, he knew everyone would try to write a song for it. So he decided to write a song for the iconic volleyball scene instead — and got the gig. The scene, of course, includes Loggins’ song “Playing With the Boys.”
But as he was in the studio recording the song, he got the call from the person who had gotten the job of writing the opening song. It was Giorgio Moroder, asking Loggins if he would sing “Danger Zone.”
Top Gun had special resonance with the audience, since parts of it were filmed on Coronado Island.
Loggins said several artists had been up for the job, including REO Speedwagon, Jefferson Starship, and Toto.
“Toto was asked to do it, but the attorneys couldn’t agree on it,” Loggins said. “I didn’t bother calling my attorney.”
Early in his career, his speed as a songwriter sometimes led Hollywood bigwigs not to take him seriously. He recalled that he once wrote a song called “Desperado” (not to be confused with the Eagles song of the same name) in a single night, hoping it would be used in a film.
“The director looked at me and said, “You can’t write a song in one day’,” Loggins recalled.
“I said, ‘Yes — I just did.’”
Loggins’ kicker: “He’s a f—ing idiot and he’s not in this room tonight.”
But the singer-songwriter added a more serious takeaway: “Don’t underestimate those kids that walk into your office with something to say.”
As the ceremony wrapped, the DJ put on “Footloose,” and the dancing began.
You can read more about the Coronado Island Film Festival here and read more of our film festival coverage here.
Main image: (L-R) Merridee Book, Kenny Loggins, Nia Long, Coco Francini, Amy Roth, Victoria Thomas, and Leonard Maltin attend Coronado Island Film Festival’s Leonard Maltin Industry Tribute Awards at Hotel Del Coronado. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Coronado Island Film Festival)
