Brad Pitt resorted to a sing-along at the 2015 Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala in California on Saturday to introduce "Selma" star David Oyelowo in an effort to pronounce the actor's name correctly.
Oyelowo earned the festival's Breakthrough Performance Award for his portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr. in the
Civil Rights-era movie, the Daily Mail reported. Pitt, one of the executive producers of "Selma," acknowledged having a tough time with Oyelowo's name.
"In situations like this, I find that it sometimes helps to sing it," Pitt told the audience before presenting the award. He then encouraged a sing-along to the tune of the soccer chant "Olé, Olé, Olé."
"Oh yell, oh yellow-whoa! Oh yell, oh whoa!" Pitt sang with the auidence's help.
Oyelowo expressed his pleasure with Pitt's effort once he took the stage.
"You know you've broken through when Brad Pitt sings your name," the actor said.
Oyelowo, who played opposite Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey in "Lee Daniels' The Butler" in 2013, earned a Golden Globe nomination and Oscar buzz for his role in "Selma."
The British actor first read for the
part back in 2007, according to The New York Times. He was little known in Hollywood then but "felt God tell me I would play this role."
Daniels solidified Oyelowo for the role in 2010 but would later drop out of the project, leaving it to eventual director Ava DuVernay.
Along with Oyelowo, other winners at the Palm Springs International Film Festival included "The Imitation Game" for Best Ensemble Performance; "Gone Girl's" Roseamund Pike for Female Breakthrough Performance; Reese Witherspoon of "Wild" for the Chairman's Award; and "The Theory of Everything's" Eddie Redmayne and "Still Alice's" Julianne Moore for the Desert Palm Achievement Award.
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