Inside AFI Awards With Ariana Grande, Colin Farrell and Kristen Bell

The AFI Awards have always been the softest place to land during awards season.

A roster of honorees — 10 films and 10 television shows — is announced weeks in advance, so if a contender snags an invite to the Four Seasons ballroom, they’re a winner. American Film Institute CEO Bob Gazzale came quick with the reminder during Thursday’s event.

“I don’t know if anyone’s told you, but you won,” the long-serving and well-respected executive explained to generous laughter from an A-list crowd. “There’s no envelopes, there’s no speeches, there’s no sweat. We simply tell you, ‘you’re great,’ we tell you why and then we run a clip. Then in the dark, you cheer and you applaud and you scream for each other. You appreciate and you love each other. That’s what this room is about, and it’s never been anything different. It’s about community. It’s about camaraderie; never a competition.”

Gazzale added that everyone’s equal, except for one special guest, Harrison Ford, who has a head above the rest thanks to ownership of AFI’s Life Achievement Award, which he picked up 25 years ago. “So, I think we should start the day by giving just a little extra love to Harrison Ford,” Gazzale said in kicking off a huge round of applause for the veteran actor who was seated with the Shrinking team, a TV finalist.

As it turned out, Han Solo wasn’t the only hero in the room.

During his opening remarks, Gazzale paid respects to the catastrophic Los Angeles wildfires, which devasted the city and forced a postponement of the AFI Awards from early January to this week. “No moment of silence will heal the hearts of our friends and neighbors and colleagues who lost everything,” he said. “But we can stop for a moment and we can be grateful.” He then paused to acknowledge the presence of L.A. firefighter Tim Larson, who stood to soak up a heartfelt and electric standing ovation.

Larson hails from Los Angeles City Fire Department Station 23, located at 17281 Sunset Blvd. in Pacific Palisades. Larson’s company was the first unit to be called into action when the Palisades Fire broke out on Jan. 7, and he answered the call to come to the AFI Awards as a plus-one of actress and humanitarian Kristen Bell. She strategized the special moment and invited Larson to sit at the table with her fellow honorees from Netflix’s Nobody Wants This including show creator Erin Foster, Adam Brody and Jackie Tohn. Also at the table was Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, who sat between Foster and Bell. Larson’s appearance at the table carried extra emotional weight considering Brody’s Palisades home was among the thousands of homes destroyed in the blaze, and the show itself is set and filmed in the city of Los Angeles.

Bell not only welcomed the uniformed Larson to the starry event, she escorted him around the ballroom, introduced him to her fellow actors and got plenty of photographic evidence along the way which she will make into a photo book to share with his three sons, ages 17, 23 and 25, who are much more tuned into pop culture than their father. Though he’s not far behind. “I’m out of my mind, it’s unbelievable,” Larson told The Hollywood Reporter of his outing. “I couldn’t be happier seeing stars and people I’ve watched my whole life. I’m really lucky to be here. I am just a fireman who goes to work and tries to do the best job that he can everyday. I just wish we could’ve saved one more house.”

Most of the stars looked like they couldn’t be happier seeing other stars. Speaking of that camaraderie that Gazzale mentioned, the AFI Awards are a hotbed of hugs, handshakes and congratulations as celebrities reach across the aisle to say hi to film friends or small screen pals or vice versa. Available Ayo caught up with Ariana Grande (who exited the bathroom alone and went straight over to say hello to Ralph Fiennes), Jeff Goldblum spent quality time with Jodie Foster before blowing a kiss to Jesse Eisenbergwho seemed to be one of the lunch’s most beloved guests. Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav took a call in corner not far from where Brody photo-bombed Foster sisters Erin and Sara. Lunch was being served and Adrien Brody and Edward Norton paid no mind as they hung out in the ballroom doorway for an extended conversation that was interrupted briefly by a lively Harrison Ford.

Star gazing is always fun at the AFI Awards but so are the film and TV presentations. Honorees are feted by a reading of the AFI’s official rationales in selecting the projects along with a highlight reel for each. (Also of note is the “march of time” sizzle reel, seen below.) Rich Frank, former president of Disney Studios and founder of Frank Family Vineyards and vice chair of AFI, handled the small screen portion of the program while Washington Post chief film critic Ann Hornaday doled out the praise for the big screen honorees. The TV honorees included Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Hacks, A Man on the Inside, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Nobody Wants This, The Penguin, Shogun, Shrinking and True Detective: Night Country with a special distinction saved for Baby Reindeer. The 10 film honorees included Anora, The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Emilia Pérez, Nickel Boys, A Real Pain, Sing Sing and Wicked Part 1.

The latter film with its exclamation point of a musical finale delivered a triumphant close to the ceremony — thanks in large part to Cynthia Erivo‘s “Defying Gravity” riff — which saw just about every highlight reel received with hearty applause. Even for Emilia Pérezwhich has been embroiled in a scandal due to social media posts from star Karla Sofia Gascon. The actress skipped the AFI Awards and is not expected to attend any of Hollywood’s high-profile awards events this weekend, like the Critics Choice Awards, DGA or PGA awards events. Also absent from today’s event were Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Selena Gomez, Kieran Culkin, Mikey Madison, Felicity Jones, Jean Smart, Ted Danson, Donald Glover, Monica Barbara and more.

The closing benediction came courtesy of founding director of AFI George Stevens Jr., who was fresh receiving the presidential medal of freedom from President Joe Biden last month at the White House in Washington D.C. Stevens paid tribute to the late David Lynch, who died less than a month ago at age 78.

“Let’s remember the remarkable legacy of cinematic creativity that David left for us,” Stevens said. “The mystical beauty that we found in living his dreams. As we leave this ceremony with David in our hearts, let us dedicate ourselves to restoring our devastated movie capital and to making certain that the movies — in all their forms — not be afraid of grace and beauty, and rise to new heights to entertain and enlighten the world.”