HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – In "Dog Years," an aging actor is forced to come to terms with the reality that his fame has passed him by after reluctantly agreeing to travel to Nashville to receive a lifetime achievement award.
Burt Reynolds, the real-life actor who portrays the fading Vic Edwards in the film, was also presented with a lifetime achievement award Friday during opening night of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Unlike his character, however, Reynolds remains a bona fide superstar, as beloved today as he was when he was the world's top box-office draw for five years running from 1978 to 1982. Just ask the throngs of people who flocked to the red carpet at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino just to meet and take photographs with South Florida's most-prominent thespian.
Reynolds, 81, became the first two-time recipient of the festival's award, having previously been honored in 1991.
"I've lived about four or five lives and I'm thrilled to have another one from here, because this is my home and always has been and always will be," Reynolds told Local10.com.
For writer-director Adam Rifkin, "Dog Years" was a passion piece and a chance to work with the man he grew up idolizing.
"When I was growing up, Burt Reynolds was my hero," Rifkin said. "He was the biggest movie star in the world. He was in all the coolest films."
Rifkin, wearing a No. 22 "Mean Machine" T-shirt as a tribute to Reynolds, who wore the shirt in his 1974 film, "The Longest Yard," said he had always wanted to create a fantastic role for his childhood hero. The 50-year-old filmmaker, whose previous directing credits include "The Chase" and "Detroit Rock City," hadn't met Reynolds when he "rolled the dice" and wrote the script for "Dog Years" with Reynolds in mind.
"I said to his manager, please tell Burt that if he doesn't want to do this movie, I'm not making it. I only wrote it for Burt," Rifkin recalled. "And his manager said, 'Well, I'll send it to him. I can't promise you what he'll say.' And the next day, I get a call from Burt Reynolds."
Rifkin said Reynolds told him that the movie "mirrors his real life in certain ways, warts and all."
"I hope I'm not quite where he is in the film," Reynolds said of his character. "But I'm getting there."
"Dog Years" debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, but it seemed appropriate that the movie was selected to open the world's longest film festival, which runs through Nov. 19.
"I can't speak for Burt, but he sure seems happy to be celebrating the movie here in his hometown," Rifkin said.
Actually, Reynolds calls neighboring Palm Beach County home, but the "Smokey and the Bandit" star has gone above and beyond to make Florida the setting for many of his best-known movies through the decades, including "Semi-Tough" (1977), "Smokey and the Bandit II" (1980) and "Striptease" (1996).
Although he was born in Michigan, Reynolds has called South Florida home since his family moved to Riviera Beach in 1946, when his father became chief of police. Even when he moved west to California, Reynolds was never far removed from his Florida roots.
He was a regular guest on former Florida State University head football coach Bobby Bowden's weekly television show. Reynolds played football at FSU and helped his alma mater create its acclaimed film school. He also has an off-campus dormitory named after him.
The now-shuttered Burt Reynolds & Friends Museum was based in Jupiter, which was also where the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre operated from 1979 to 1989. It was on the stage now known as the Maltz Jupiter Theatre that Reynolds invited his famous friends -- Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Charles Durning, Carol Burnett and fellow FSU alumnus Robert Urich among them -- to perform.
His Burt Reynolds Institute for Film & Theatre still hosts classes for acting students in North Palm Beach.
So while his pseudo-authentic persona of "Dog Years" may be a faded star, Reynolds' star is apparently still burning bright, particularly in his home state.
"It's a very touching film," Reynolds said of his latest movie. "A lot of famous directors have seen it and they all cried, so I guess that's good."
Graham Greene was also honored with a lifetime achievement award after a special screening of the documentary "Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World" earlier in the evening.
The Canadian-born First Nations actor received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role as Kicking Bird opposite Kevin Costner in the 1990 Best Picture winner, "Dances with Wolves." Greene's friend and guitarist Stevie Salas, who appeared in and served as executive producer on "Rumble," joined him for the presentation of the award.
"I've had, like, seven achievement awards," Greene, 65, said. "I think people are trying to tell me something."
Although "Dog Years" isn't likely to be mentioned in the same regard as "Deliverance," "Smokey and the Bandit" and countless other Reynolds-led movies of the 1970s and early 1980s, Reynolds is still pleased with the final product.
"I'm very proud of it," he said. "I hope the people like it."