Dwayne Johnson, Teyana Taylor, del Toro Honored at Creative Impact Awards

As the sun began to peek through the clouds following a flash flood in the desert, stars and filmmakers gathered Diversity10 Filmmakers to Watch and the Creative Impact Awards Brunch at the Parker Hotel in Palm Springs on Sunday morning.

The annual event, held the day after the Palm Springs International Film Awards, honors Dwayne Johnson with the “Creative Influence in Acting” award, Teyana Taylor with the Creative Contribution to Breakthrough Performance Award and Guillermo del Toro with the “Creative Influence in Directing” award.

Colman Domingo presented the award to Dwayne Johnson, saying: “Congratulations my friend, you are a real rock!”

Johnson then told a story about fellow honoree del Toro, and when he attended his first Golden Globes as a host, The Shape of Water was nominated that year.

Johnson was surprised to find himself up front at the “Shape of Water” table, where he met del Toro, who was “so nice to me,” Johnson said. After del Toro won the Golden Globe for Best Director, he walked straight up to Johnson, hugged him and exclaimed, “We did it!”

“And I said, 'We did it!' and I’ll never forget it, and after that everyone came up to me and congratulated me,” Johnson laughed.

Johnson was honored for his portrayal of MMA fighter Mark Kerr in “Crushing Machine”, saying: “It changed my life in a way I didn't expect, revealing a lot of new things to me.”

Johnson spoke about Kerr, who overdosed twice, the effects of drug addiction and dealing with pressure. He counts 15 friends he has lost, who died from drugs or committed suicide. He said. “This role gave me a higher level of empathy… and an awareness that, you know, who's really going through something right now? Everyone. We all go through it.”

“This goes for everyone who goes through this and struggles,” Johnson concluded.

Teyana Taylor was introduced by her One Battle After Another co-star Chase Infinity, who said her role as Perfidia Beverly Hills “really burned a hole in the screen.”

Taylor said 20 years of her career being celebrated as a breakthrough “is a little ironic.” She called out to her two young daughters at the table, exclaiming, “Are you talking on the phone?”

Speaking about her decision to quit music five years ago because she felt locked out, she compared herself to the plug-in fragrance Glade. “Why should I only plug in the bathroom when I can make the whole room smell good?”

“You're going to plug me into every outlet! I want every square foot!” she said. “I have been fortunate to work with many incredible directors, but none as impressive as Paul Thomas Anderson.” According to her, Taylor is preparing to shoot her first feature film.

Oscar Isaac introduced del Toro, saying that in Guillermo's cinema, “transformation is constant,” adding that he has “redefined what genre cinema can be” and takes “poetry to the point of horror.”

Del Toro spoke about his “religious experience” as a child when he first saw James Whale's Frankenstein, and then said he was very grateful to have Sarah Karloff, the daughter of the iconic Frankenstein star, as a guest at the brunch.

“Sometimes the world becomes so complex that it can only be explained by the power of monsters,” he said. “We live in such times now.”

“A director must have two skins—a thick skin for business and the world, and a thin skin for his colleagues and their hearts,” del Toro said, citing pithy quote after pithy quote.

“It’s not just the size of the screens, but the scale of the idea,” he continued. “Ambition includes failure – it's very close to success. There are no numbers on the door. You knock on that door and it opens and it's either the supermodel of your dreams or your mom in curlers.”

He directed his next speech to Diversity 10 Directors to Watch Saying: “Be kind, be involved, believe in your art. When people tell you art isn't important, it's always a prelude to fascism. They think they can degrade everything that makes us a little better, a little more humane. And that in my book and in my life includes monsters.”

Diversity Chief film critic Peter Debruge unveiled 10 directors to watch this year, explaining that award winner Dave Green was stuck in Puerto Rico due to flight restrictions. All the directors were present at the brunch except Greene and Harry Lighton.

Directors to Watch: Akinola Davis Jr. (Shadow of My Father); Beth de Araujo (“Josephine”); Jan-Ole Gerster (“Islands”); Sarah Goer (“Happy Birthday”); Dave Green (Coyote vs. Acme); Chandler Levack (Mile and Kicks); Harry Lighton (Pillion); N. B. Mager (“The Raging Madman”); Kristen Stewart (Chronology of Water) and Walter Thompson-Hernandez (If I Gone, They'll Miss Me).