Darkest hour focus features 2

Oscar best actor frontrunner Gary Oldman will receive the 29th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival’s (PSIFF) Desert Palm Achievement Award.

Oldman, who plays Winston Churchill in Working Title and Focus Features’ Darkest Hour, will collect the honour at the annual film awards gala on January 2, 2018.

Oldman received the International Star Award at the 2012 Palm Springs International Film festival. Prior actor recipients of the Desert Palm Achievement Award include Jeff Bridges, Daniel Day-Lewis, Colin Firth, Matthew McConaughey, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck and Eddie Redmayne.

In the years they were honoured Bridges, Day-Lewis, McConaughey, Penn, Affleck and Redmayne went on to win the Oscar for best actor. Cooper, Firth and Pitt earned nominations.

Oldman’s roles include Sirius Black in the Harry Potter franchise, Commissioner Jim Gordon in Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, Dracula, Beethoven, Pontius Pilate, Lee Harvey Oswald, Joe Orton, Sid Vicious, and George Smiley.

As previously announced by the festival, Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) will receive the Rising Star Award, Actor; Wonder Woman herself Gal Gadot will collect the Rising Star Award, Actress; and Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) will collect the Spotlight Award, Actor.

The festival runs from January 4-15, 2018.