The honorary event was held on Friday as awards season kicks off this month
Amy Sussman/Variety via Getty
Penélope Cruz, Sean Penn, Emma Stone.
Penélope Cruz, Sean Penn and Emma Stone were among the stars in attendance at Variety’s Creative Impact Awards and 10 Directors to Watch brunch.
The event was held on Friday during the 35th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival in celebration of the most influential actors and directors working in Hollywood this past year.
Honoree Cruz, 49, was presented with an award by Penn, 63, who described the Ferrari star as an “acting animal” with great “intuitiveness and an imagination” during a speech.
“I’ve seen Penélope in English-speaking films, Spanish-speaking films, Italian-speaking films. I speak reasonable English, minimal Spanish, no Italian at all. And yet … I don’t remember looking at a subtitle once,” Penn said.
“I also remember having understood every word she ever said on screen … that sort of clues me into what it is about Penélope, because when she wants us to understand, we do, [and when] she wants us to feel, we feel because she lets us,” he continued.
Amy Sussman/Variety via Getty
Sean Penn.
Related: Penélope Cruz Braves the Paris Rain in All White and High Heels for Chanel Show: See Her Glam Look!
In her speech, Cruz spoke of her early passion for acting and how she first found her way into it through ballet as a child.
“I feel very lucky to make a living out of acting,” she said. “… I was asking the teachers to allow me to play Carmen when I was four, they called my parents. Then it was through acting. I feel so lucky. Being able to stay a student for the rest of my life because that’s what we are.”
Cruz went on to thank Michael Mann for choosing her to “play such a complex character” as Laura Ferrari in the director’s latest film.
“[She] represents so many women out there, not only in the period of Ferrari, but in so many places around the world then and today with women living in the shadows of men, constantly being ignored and suppressed,” the actress said.
Amy Sussman/Variety via Getty
Penélope Cruz.
Stone, 35, meanwhile, honored Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos at the event.
The star, who plays Bella Baxter in the 2023 film, spoke about the honor of working with Lanthimos, 50, in a speech, praising the Greek filmmaker for telling stories that are “beautiful and grotesque and about how wonderfully excruciating it is to be human.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Amy Sussman/Variety via Getty
Emma Stone.
Other guests in attendance at the awards brunch were Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things), Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon), Willem Dafoe (Poor Things), Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) and Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple).
They were joined by fellow directing honorees Anna Kendrick (Woman of the Hour), Cord Jefferson (American Fiction), Blitz Bazawule (The Color Purple), Kobi Libii (American Society of Magical Negroes”), Ilker Çatak (The Teachers’ Lounge), Titus Kaphar (Exhibiting Forgiveness) and Aaron Schimberg (A Different Man).
