• Andre Holland doesn't chase awards recognition when it comes to choosing roles.
• He told BI on the red carpet for "The Dutchman" that he thinks the entire awards circuit is toxic.
• "I think we should find a way to make it more fair," the "Moonlight" star said.

Some actors may be eager for awards recognition — like Timothée Chalamet, who made headlines for a remarkably candid SAG Awards acceptance speech in which he spoke about chasing greatness (and also statuettes).

Andre Holland, however, can't relate.

"In my opinion, the whole awards thing is a little bit toxic," Holland told Business Insider at the SXSW premiere of his new film "The Dutchman."

Holland, who starred in the Oscar-winning 2016 film "Moonlight," added that he thinks awards are largely driven by money, and which studios or distributors have the marketing funds to buy their way into certain events.

"We don't talk about that enough," he said. "There's this idea that we're gonna present an award to the best actor or best movie, but it's the best and also the ones that can afford to be in the room."

The actor said the awards circuit is due for an overhaul to make it more equitable: "I think we should find a way to make it more fair for people who don't have massive studios behind them who are willing to drop $10, $12 million."

Holland, who can next be seen in the Neon film "The Actor" as a theater performer with amnesia, acknowledged that awards mattered more to him earlier in his career, but he's at a point now where he "could not care any less."

"I don't mean to be rude about it; for those who love those things, go for it," he said. "But I wanna make art, things that are useful in the world, things that help me become a better actor. And I don't think the Oscars or any awards have anything to do with that."

Holland is far from the first person to speak about awards being a money game. Director Ava DuVernay previously spoke about the "disappointing" lack of reach of her film "Origin," which was projected to be an Oscar contender but, due to limited budgets and failures in marketing strategy, failed to make an impact.

• Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's relationship goes back decades, when their moms introduced them as kids.
• Affleck told BI at the "The Accountant 2" premiere that he doesn't have many close friends.
• "You don't need a million friends. You need a few," Affleck said.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's decadeslong friendship is precious — just ask Affleck.

"It's a beautiful thing," Affleck told reporters at the red carpet premiere of "The Accountant 2" at the SXSW Film & TV Festival Saturday. "You know, I don't have very many — none of us really have very many friends. You don't need a million friends. You need a few. You need good ones."

"I'm really lucky to have had a friend in Matt," he added.

Affleck and Damon's friendship extends back to their childhood, when their moms introduced them as kids in the 1980s. They've come a long way since working as uncredited extras together on the 1989 Kevin Costner movie "Field of Dreams," including winning an Oscar together for writing "Good Will Hunting" in 1998.

It's not just Affleck who's gushed about their friendship. In 2023, Damon reflected on how his bond with Affleck changed after his dad died in 2017, calling his friendship with Affleck one of "the three most significant partnerships" in his life.

In addition to their busy acting careers — Damon can next be seen leading the stacked cast of Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey," while Affleck returns for "The Accountant 2" in April — both have thriving behind-the-scenes careers as producers.

In 2022, they founded Artists Equity together, and "The Accountant 2" is one of the films they've produced. It's a far cry from their days sharing a bank account and hoping their power wouldn't get turned off.

"It's been very rewarding to create an opportunity for other people, directors and artists, to kind of be able to take responsibility for and manage and have a more creative say in their projects," Affleck said, adding that "The Accountant 2" director Gavin O'Connor had a strong vision for the film. "We wanted to set him up to succeed, and I feel like this movie, frankly, really validates that approach."

"The Accountant 2" is in theaters April 25.

• Sean Evans criticized advertisers for undervaluing YouTube's 'Hot Ones' compared to shows on TV.
• YouTube is challenging traditional TV, yet some advertisers still ignore it.
• He said 'Hot Ones' success highlights YouTube's influence, despite initial fears of cancellation.

Sean Evans, the host of chicken wing-eating talk show "Hot Ones," said he's "sick of" having to make the case for his popular YouTube series to advertisers who still think of the platform as lesser than TV.

"The hurdle that I think we all want brands to get over is this idea that there's some difference between eyeballs that exist on YouTube versus eyeballs that exist on linear TV," Evans said, speaking on a creator panel presented by YouTube at SXSW.

"It's absolutely worthy of comparison and competition with all of those other shows, and in a lot of ways in those categories, it dunks on those shows," he said. "That's sometimes a hard thing for brands to wrap their heads around, but it's just an observable fact that is plainly obvious, and I'm kind of, like, sick of having to explain that over and over again."

YouTube has become the top TV viewing destination for two years running, according to Nielsen, on the strength of independent creators, increasingly threatening legacy Hollywood players and causing some to play catch up and look for their own creator-fronted shows.

However, some blue-chip advertisers still consider the platform less valuable than traditional TV, owing to its many user-generated videos.

Evans is one of the earliest and most successful YouTubers. Started 10 years ago, "Hot Ones" grew out of Complex Media, which became part of BuzzFeed in 2021. Over the years, it's hosted guests like Margot Robbie, Scarlett Johansson, and Gordon Ramsey. He and an investor group bought First We Feast, the studio behind "Hot Ones," last year from BuzzFeed in an $82.5 million deal.

During the session, Evans expressed his worry about the show being canceled in its early days.

"It wasn't a big hit at first, and I used to joke with Chris [Schonberger, 'Hot Ones' cocreator] all the time about how we're eating this really spicy food and no one cares at all," he said. "If this were on a network or something like that, we probably would have been canceled before we never got a chance to figure out exactly what the show was and what it meant."

He also talked about his passion for reading viewers' comments, which he uses to stay connected to the audience.

"I always go through the comments," he said. "There's Nielsen ratings or whatever, but you don't have that two-way street. That is kind of a drug to me. It's actually a dopamine hit that I really look forward to every week. "

Evans also explained how he prepares for interviews. Depending on the guest, he listens to their music, watches their movies, or reads their books.

"You just dive into the material as much as you can," he said. "After you have kind of an idea of who this person is, see if you can extract an interview of that, and then do a little armchair psychology sit-down with the person."

He also revealed there's no special sauce to dealing with the aftereffects of consuming all the hot wings.

"I just ride it out, you know. I think about, you know, as painful and miserable as it could be sometimes, as uncomfortable as it is, it's a whole lot better than my life before it," he said.

• Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick reprise their fan-favorite roles in "Another Simple Favor."
• Their chemistry as Emily Nelson and Stephanie Smothers is as on point as ever as the action moves to Italy.
• Paul Feig's new film levels up the twists and turns from the original 2018 movie.

Blake Lively might have been getting used to mixed receptions online amid her ongoing legal drama with Justin Baldoni, but there was nothing mixed about the crowd's reaction to her new movie, "Another Simple Favor," during its SXSW premiere on Friday night. They loved it.

A packed house (including this reporter) was among the first to see Paul Feig's new film, a sequel to his surprise 2018 hit, the black comedy mystery "A Simple Favor."

Feig mentioned in his intro and repeated in the post-film Q&A that he's historically been wary about making sequels — so many of them are bad! — and wanted to make sure he had a compelling story to tell when revisiting Lively's fashionably fiendish Emily Nelson and her vlogger frenemy Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick).

The Italian murder mystery he delivered (from a script by cowriters Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis) is certainly compelling.

"Another Simple Favor" picks up five years after Stephanie got Emily sent to prison for killing her own sister at the end of the first movie. Emily, newly released from prison courtesy of her sexy, rich fiancé (Michele Morrone), crashes a signing for the book Stephanie wrote about her relationship with Emily and the events of the first movie. Emily manipulates Stephanie into coming to Capri to act as her maid of honor, threatening Stephanie with a lawsuit for using her likeness and name in her book without clearance.

In a moment that made a few of us in the audience gasp, Andrew Rannells' Darren (a friend of Stephanie's) quips that Steph better just go to Capri — despite the very real danger that Emily is looking for revenge — because "lawsuits are a real killer." (It's unlikely this was a purposeful reference to the Lively-Baldoni drama, given the filming timeline for this movie, but damn!)

The returning cast is as magnetic as ever. Kendrick and Lively's delightful chemistry (in spite of persistent, though unsubstantiated rumors of a real-life feud) returns in full force as the two spar their way through the film. Henry Golding also returns as Sean, their shared ex and the father of Emily's son Nicky. Golding is having a grand ol' time playing Sean as an absolute mess whose life has been imploded by his involvement with these women.

The new additions to the crew fit in perfectly with the campy tone of the movie. Allison Janney is Emily's sketchy Aunt Linda, while Elizabeth Perkins plays Emily's mother Margaret. Perkins takes over for Jean Smart, who played Margaret in the first movie, and the casting switch is addressed in the cheeky fashion you'd expect: Emily remarks that Margaret looks different, and Margaret replies that she's "had some work done."

Alex Newell is another standout. They join the cast as Vicky, Stephanie's opportunistic agent who can hardly contain their glee about all the mayhem that Emily's wedding brings (it is, after all, perfect fodder for a second book).

"Another Simple Favor" has no shortage of twists and turns, culminating in a fully outlandish third act that outdoes the original in almost every regard.

No spoilers — you just need to experience it for yourself to see exactly why Lively told audiences at the Q&A that it was deeply uncomfortable for her to watch herself in the movie surrounded by an audience. It's a worthwhile return to these surprisingly engaging characters, and Lively's performance is electric; you can absolutely tell she means it when she calls Emily her favorite character she's ever played.

The ending also leaves things wide open for another sequel — though I can't imagine how a third film could top the outrageous outfits (there's a hat Lively wears in one scene that looks like it needs its own ZIP code) and insane dialogue in this one.

"Another Simple Favor" will premiere on May 1 on Prime Video.