Amy Adams to Be Honored by Santa Barbara Film Festival

Amy Adams is being recognized by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for her role in this year’s The Master, SBIFF executive director Roger Durling announced Monday.

At a January 31 ceremony, she’ll be given the Cinema Vanguard Award, reserved for actors who have forged their own path, taking artistic risks and making significant contributions to film, Durling said. Past winners include Nicole Kidman, Peter Sarsgaard, Stanley Tucci, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Ryan Gosling.

Set in the 1950s, The Master depicts a disenfranchised Navy veteran (Joaquin Phoenix) who is taken in by a charismatic spiritual leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and The Cause he preaches.

Adams plays Hoffman’s wife, and Peter Travers said this of her performance in a recent review: “Adams deserves serious award attention for the subtle authority she brings to this so-called dutiful wife. Peggy, the scariest true believer in the Cause, is barbed wire wearing a smile. And Adams makes you feel her sting.”