Diane Lane brings star power to Sarasota Film Festival

In her first film, Diane Lane starred in a romantic story that revolved around a road trip that started in Paris.

In her latest, she stars in a romantic story about a road trip that ends in Paris.

Despite some similarities in the films, Lane has come a long way from “A Little Romance,” that first film about teenage love, to “Paris Can Wait,” the film she’s bringing to the Sarasota Film Festival this weekend.

“Paris Can Wait” is the Closing Night Film in this year’s festival. It’s set to screen at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Sarasota Opera House. Lane will be at the red carpet event before the film, and she’ll attend the film. Earlier in the day, she’ll be at Florida Studio Theater for an installment of the festival’s “In Conversation With ...” series.

In the new film, she plays the vaguely discontented wife of a powerful film director, played by Alec Baldwin. It’s been called a romantic comedy, but that’s not the best pigeonhole for it, she said.

“It’s a road trip movie, absolutely,” she said in a phone interview. “My character’s husband is a film producer, and he’s very neglectful, perhaps by habit. She has an earache and can’t get on a plane to go to the Cannes Film Festival.”

She apologizes about her inability to offer a concise synopsis of the movie’s story. She says she’s just bad at doing that. When she talks about the film, she speaks less about the plot and more about the characters, their motivations and emotions, and the changes they go through in the course of the story.

But essentially, she said, because her character can’t fly, she accepts a ride across France from a business associate of her husband.

“He’s not really a friend, but she knows him, or knows who he is at least,” she said. “It’s kind of like, ‘OK, I’ve seen you around.’ ”

It’s supposed to be a seven-hour trip, but given the title, and the fact that it’s at least partly a romantic comedy, it’s easy to guess the basics of what happens.

Lane’s film career began with a high-profile starring role in “A Little Romance” in 1979. It was directed by George Roy Hill, who had previously directed “The Sting” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Among her co-stars was Laurence Olivier. Even as a 13-year-old she knew enough about Olivier to be intimidated.

“I was quite afraid,” she said. “I had seen as much of his work as I could, on film. I watched his ‘Hamlet,’ I watched ‘Rebecca,’ ‘Wuthering Heights,’ ‘Marathon Man.’ I watched the one he did with Marilyn Monroe (‘The Prince and the Showgirl’).”

She knew the eyes of the world would be on her in her first film, but her nervousness didn’t show. She earned rave reviews for her performance, even from critics who didn’t especially like the film itself, and a few years later Time magazine famously proclaimed her “The Next Grace Kelly.”

She’s been in a lot of hugely popular films since then, including “Under the Tuscan Sun,” “The Cotton Club,” “The Outsiders” and “Unfaithful,” and some respected little films, including “Indian Summer.”

She said she’s especially happy with “Paris Can Wait.”

“I think it’s the kind of film people will appreciate right now,” she said. “It’s light and it’s charming. It’s a breath of fresh air in terms of a film experience.”

Details: Red carpet at 5 p.m., film at 7 p.m., April 8, Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota. $25-$48 members, $30-$60 nonmembers. “In Conversation With Diane Lane” 2:30 p.m. April 8, Florida Studio Theatre, 1241 N. Palm Ave., Sarasota. $25 members, $30 nonmembers, 941-366-6200, sarasotafilmfestival.com.

This story was originally published April 5, 2017 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Diane Lane brings star power to Sarasota Film Festival."