Santa Barbara International Film Festival Executive Director Roger Durling wore a kilt at Sunday night’s Virtuosos Awards at The Arlington Theatre. It was a charming touch alongside the A-list actresses dressed in couture finery on the red carpet. 

The film festival has grown in stature under Durling’s 23 years at the helm, and is now a stop on the awards circuit leading up to the Oscars.

Virtuosos Awards are given to actors whose film performances this season have propelled them into the spotlight. Local favorite Jane Lynch presented the awards at the end of the evening.

The interviews with the six honorees were led by the affable and genuinely enthusiastic Dave Karger, a Turner Classic Movies host, now in his 16th year as moderator. 

“This year’s group is the most fascinating yet,” he said.

“Unrecognizable” Amy Madigan

Madigan wore red leather stiletto boots with jeans, an oversized gray blazer and a green silk tie. Nominated for an Oscar in 1986 for “Twice in a Lifetime,” she’s nominated again 40 years later for the horror film “Weapons.” 

“But your character, Aunt Gladys, doesn’t appear until over an hour into the film,” Karger said.

“That script was such a surprise to me,” Madigan said. “She’s great, so confident, and I didn’t have to worry about what a woman my age looks like.” 

In the film clip, the character is shown wearing prosthetics, red wigs, lime green glasses and dramatic makeup. 

“Bette Davis was my inspiration, and once we cut the bangs on the wig, I knew we had it,” Madigan said. “It is a supreme compliment when people say they don’t recognize me.” 

Chase Infiniti’s First Film

The first scene Chase Infiniti shot for her film debut in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” was with Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays her character’s father. Teyana Taylor, fellow Virtuosos Award winner and Oscar nominee, portrays her mother.

“I said, ‘Paul, what are you doing to me?’” she recalled. “But we had six months of casting and testing before shooting, and I had been in the room with him and Leonardo, and all those wonderful actors. It was like a masterclass every day.”

Regarding the fight scenes, she made a surprising admission: “I knew some martial arts, but had actually worked as a kickboxing instructor.” 

She’s now a brand ambassador for Louis Vuitton, and wore a pink custom strapless LV dress with a dramatic, asymmetrical, pleated skirt. 

Norwegian Improvisation

All of the lead cast members in the Norwegian film “Sentimental Value” received Oscar nods, including Virtuosos Award honoree Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas. 

The film is also up for Oscars in Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Film Editing and International Feature Film.

“We were all together when they were announced,” she said. “I had my 4½-year-old son in my arms, and it was such a happy moment.” 

She shared that director Joachim Trier (“Oslo Trilogy”) allowed improvisation on the set, which proved useful during an emotional scene with her sister, played by Renate Reinsve.

“I really wanted to hug her, but I didn’t want to ruin the take,” Ibsdotter Lilleaas said. “My instincts were right. Hugging her is what love feels like. I also say ‘I love you’ in the most intimate way it can be said in Norwegian.”

Jacob Elordi’s Creative Process

Fans screamed as 6-foot-5-inch Australian actor Jacob Elordi strode on stage, and not because he played the monster in Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein.” He also stars in HBO’s “Euphoria” (with fellow Virtuosos Award honoree Sydney Sweeney).

Karger asked about preparation for “Frankenstein.” 

“I came to the project quite late and only had four weeks to get ready,” Elordi said. “I retreated from the world, made collages and kept notebooks. I was in a flow state while I worked to figure out what the f— to do.” 

“You figured it out,” Karger replied, to audience applause. 

Elodi has received BAFTA, Critics Choice and Oscar nominations. 

“I could hear the whispers of his voice in the script,” he said. “I was inspired by John Hurt in ‘The Elephant Man,’ with a voice coming from something torn inside, breathy and beautiful.”

Sydney Sweeney as Real-Life Boxer

In “Christy,” two-time Emmy nominee Sweeney portrayed real-life Christy Martin, a famous female boxer in the 1990s who was the victim of abuse and attempted murder by her husband. 

“I read the script and thought, ‘There’s no way this is real,’” she said. “This will be the most special movie I’ve ever done, to tell that story. I am so proud of it.” 

She spent three months training and studying Martin’s fights.  

“We used the real combos in the film, blow for blow, and I was up against real fighters. There were bloody noses, and I got a concussion,” the petite Sweeney said.

Martin’s reaction to the film was most important to her.

“It is amazing to have her on my side,” Sweeney said. “I don’t care what anyone else says; if Christy loves it, that’s it.” 

Teyana Taylor a “Force”

The audience roared their approval as Taylor strode across the stage in a shimmering and gauzy white Ashi Studio Couture gown with a flowing long train. 

The singer-actress who portrays Perfidia Beverly Hills in “One Battle After Another” won the Golden Globe, is an Oscar nominee and graces the cover of Vanity Fair magazine this month. 

“I am still trying to process it all,” she said, “and I’m filled with gratitude. I’m taking nothing for granted.” 

Playful and vivacious, she responded to Karger’s comment about being considered “a force.”

“I’m really shy,” she said, and the audience tittered. “Now Sean Penn, he’s a force!”

She recognized that Perfidia, a member of a far-left revolutionary group, is a polarizing figure. 

“People have opinions, and I knew this would shake the table and spark dialogue,” she said. “It’s necessary for what is happening right now.”

Wagner Moura and Brazilians in the House 

In the film clip from “The Secret Agent,” Brazilian actor Wagner Moura stares into the camera and says, several times, “I’d kill him with a hammer.”

But Moura was peaceful and thoughtful during his interview and delighted by the enthusiastic greetings shouted from Brazilians in the audience. 

“It is so beautiful to see how Brazilians are excited about it,” he said. “It’s an important moment for Brazilian film, and it is having an impact in the U.S.”

The film’s director, Kleber Mendonça Filho, was in the audience. Moura recalled that they met 20 years ago at the Cannes Film Festival. 

“He was the mean film critic who gave me bad reviews,” Moura said, laughing. “We became friends.”

The film won this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Maura won a Golden Globe and both are Oscar-nominated. 

Wunmi Mosaku on Lessons Learned

Wunmi Mosaku is expecting her second child and beamed as she entered the stage wearing a silky red pantsuit by House of Bibiré. 

She admitted that it wasn’t until the last day of shooting that she discovered that Ryan Coogler wrote the role of Annie in “Sinners” especially for her.

“He saw a trailer for a film I was in, and apparently said, ‘There’s our Annie,’” she said. 

Born in Nigeria and raised in the United Kingdom, she revealed that she thinks daily about the lessons she learned from playing Annie. 

“It was profound. I found a part of myself and my ancestry while making this film,” she said. “I felt connected to Nigeria, and to what we’ve retained, and someday, I am going to be a future ancestor.”