Another televised awards show has decided to make it up to Matt Damon – while one show that isn't being televised has turned to a pair of television stars to serve as hosts.
In two announcements made Wednesday morning, the Broadcast Film Critics Association named Matt Damon the recipient of its fourth annual Joel Siegel Award, and the Writers Guild of America West named "Modern Family" stars Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet as hosts of its west coast ceremony.
The BFCA's choice of Damon (left), who was not nominated for a Critics Choice Movie Award for his role in "True Grit," follows Tuesday's release from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which made Damon the first presenter to be announced for the 68th Golden Globes. (He, and everything else about "True Grit," had been snubbed by Globes voters.)
Damon was chosen to receive the Joel Siegel Award because of his humanitarian and charitable efforts, specifically his work as co-founder of Water.org, which works to make safe drinking water available around the globe.
“Matt personifies the values celebrated by the Joel Siegel Award,” says BFCA President Joey Berlin in a press release announcing the award. “ … Clearly Matt understands, as Joel did, that the true value of celebrity is as an enhanced platform to do good works for others.”
Though Damon is not a nominee this year, he has received two Critics Choice Movie Awards, both for "Good Will Hunting," and been nominated five more times over the ensuing 12 years. In addition to his role in "True Grit," he is the narrator of "Inside Job," a CCMA nominee for Best Documentary.
The Critics Choice Movie Awards will take place on Jan. 14 at the Hollywood Palladium, and will be broadcast on VH1 (with the preshow simulcast on MTV).
The WGA West, meanwhile, named Ferguson and Stonestreet (right), who play gay adoptive parents on the hit ABC comedy, as hosts of the West Coast portion of the WGA's awards show, which will take place on February 5 simultaneously with a New York ceremony.
“Eric and Jesse are on 'Modern Family' every week, but audiences don’t know these guys can sing, dance, juggle, clown, and have done everything from motion pictures to Broadway," said 2011 Writers Guild Awards L.A. show Executive Producer Spike Jones, Jr. in a WGA release. "They’re a pair of old-fashioned entertainers, and I’m looking forward to cutting them loose."
Last year, "Modern Family" won two WGA Awards. The show has three additional nominations this year, one for Best Comedy Series and two for individual episodes.
