Charles Finch honoured Benicio Del Toro at A Rabbit’s Foot Annual Filmmakers Dinner, with support from Marc Lotenberg, founder of DORSIA, and in the company of friend and peer Robert De Niro. Other guests included Cuba Gooding Jr., Jean Pigozzi, Joel Edgerton and previous A Rabbit’s Foot cover star Jeremy O. Harris, who all arrived to celebrate Del Toro’s career and his brilliant performance in Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme.
Last night, Charles Finch and A Rabbit’s Foot welcomed a magnificent gathering of guests from across the world of cinema, art and culture to celebrate the release of Issue 11: Riviera, for an intimate dinner at Fred l’Ecailler.
Supported by Dorsia and Marc Lotenberg, the evening saw Benicio Del Toro—sitting across from his his friend and peer Robert De Niro—receive our Silver Rabbit pin. As he accepted his award, he mentioned his great pride in receiving it in front of of De Niro, whom he called one of his “heroes.”
He described one of his early experiences of working with De Niro in a heartfelt anecdote on the power of silence while acting. “I went in to do my first reading with De Niro,” he said. “I had two lines, and he had four lines. And he took out his line, and then he scratched my line, and then he scratched his line, and then he scratched my line. I said, ‘well, now I don’t have any lines.’ He said, ‘it’s gonna be better.’ I took that to heart and made a career out of saying nothing.’
The Annual Filmmakers Dinner—a continued tradition—honoured Del Toro following his performance in Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, and in tribute to a career of thrilling performances. Del Toro is the cover star of the 11th issue, and is predicted to win top actor prizes at the Cannes Film Festival this year.
Other guests included Cuba Gooding Jr, playwright Jeremy O. Harris, tycoon and photographer Jean Pigozzi, and Australian actor Joel Edgerton. They mixed with our long-time contributors Natasha A Fraser and Peter Bradshaw, as well as photographer Akila Berjaoui. The evening also gathered Industry leaders including Alexa Chung, Melita Toscan du Plantier, Robin Baum, Lisa Taybach, Michael Barker, Ted Hope, Roeg Sutherland, Sanford Panitch, Efe Cakarel, Tom Bernard, and Tom Hooper. The large group mixed over the restaurant’s famous seafood menu, courtesy of the tireless work, and charm, of Fred and his team.
The festivities spilled into the brightly-lit street late into the evening, and guests took home the newest, independently-published edition of A Rabbit’s Foot. The issue observes the artistic legacy of the Riviera and Provence, with interviews featuring disco legend Amanda Lear, photographer Derek Ridgers, Durga Chew-Bose on her adaptation of Bonjour Tristesse and other stories that capture the splendour and magic of Le Sud.
