Diane Keaton to Accept Cecil B. DeMille Award for Woody Allen at the Golden Globes

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Woody Allen has sort of made a habit of never actually appearing at awards shows, whether he's nominated or not. He made a memorable first appearance at the Oscars about a decade ago to present a Nora Ephron-directed "Love Letter to New York in the Movies" short in the wake of 9/11, but other than that, he's been a hard man to find at awards affairs. So it's unsurprising to learn that Allen won't be on hand at the Golden Globes this year to accept the Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement. But someone associated with Allen's best-loved films is taking up the honor in Allen's stead.

Diane Keaton, whom Allen directed to a Best Actress Oscar in 1977's Annie Hall, will accept the Cecil B. DeMille Award on Allen's behalf at the 71st Golden Globes. Even without the Annie Hall connection, she's a perfect fit to do the honors. She's not only one of Allen's exes, she's also among his oldest friends, having worked with him on eight separate occasions, beginning with 1972's Play It Again, Sam through to 1993's Manhattan Murder Mystery.

It's nothing if not admirable that the star-obsessed Hollywood Foreign Press Association would choose to honor a respected filmmaker even knowing he'd be guaranteed not to actually appear at the ceremony to accept the award. Hell, he has four Oscars that had to be delivered to him because he wasn't actually present at any of the ceremonies at which he won them. That's commitment to the anti-awards show principle.

With that said, as a filmmaker, Allen is an undoubtedly excellent choice for this honor.

Via: HitFix