Exclusive Photos: Behind the Scenes at 2026 AARP Movies for Grownups Awards

Delroy Lindo, Laura Dern, Noah Wyle and others honor the best in film and TV at the annual show

Nancy Kerr,

AARP

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Published January 11, 2026

people posing for photos at the awards show

Maarten de Boer/Getty Images for AARP

What happened behind the scenes at the Movies for Grownups Awards with AARP?

Old friends reconnected. (Adam Sandler kept a protective arm around his longtime pal Henry Winkler and kissed him on the temple.) Costars joked. (When asked to pretend to be chatting for the camera, George Clooney looked at Noah Wyle and quipped: “Oh, we don’t talk.”) And glamour was center stage.

Here’s an exclusive look at all of the action at a special exclusive winners portrait area.

Maarten de Boer/Getty Images for AARP

Noah Wyle and George Clooney

With their laughing and teasing, you might think that good friends Clooney and Wyle, stars of ER three decades ago, were still in their scrubs at County General. Clooney, 64, a previous AARP 2021 career achievement winner, presented Wyle, 54, with the award for best actor in a TV role for his performance in the drama, The Pitt. Clooney himself won the award for best actor in a movie for his portrayal of an A-list actor on a journey of self-discovery in Jay Kelly. Clooney said he could never have predicted the longevity of his career. “When we first found success — the kind of success that keeps you working in the early ’90s — we thought it would last 10 years, if lucky. So having 40 years is a big surprise.”

Wyle, who wears multiple hats — actor, executive producer, director, and writer for the medical procedural — had “hopes, dreams” for the kind of hit he has now with The Pitt. “[I] didn’t always believe, often had attendant doubts, but I’m incredibly gratified to be here now.” He thinks the public is more receptive to seeing shows that portray the realities of aging. “These stories are more relevant now because people are curious about their health journeys, curious about end-of-life decision-making, and curious about family. Television is responding to that,” he said.

Maarten de Boer/Getty Images for AARP

Kathy Bates

The best actress on TV winner for Matlock was on the verge of retirement when the juicy part of Madeline “Matty” Matlock turned up. “The roles that were coming along were smaller, they were less dynamic, and they were less challenging for me,” Bates, 77, explained. The actress understands that playing a dynamic, vibrant older woman in a lead role makes a powerful statement to the industry and the viewers. “Women have come up — and they’re very emotional about it — and they say that they feel seen. Through Maddie … they feel heard.”

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Delroy Lindo

His career has spanned nearly five decades with movies like Malcolm X, Da 5 Bloods and Get Shorty, but Lindo, 73, still has more to accomplish. The actor credits God, good fortune and and love of family for his success. Still, he said, it is crucial that older adults continue to reach for their dreams. “We have to resist with all our power society’s desire to diminish who we are and what we have to offer. I still have stuff to offer, so does everybody else.”

Maarten De Boer/Getty Images for AARP

Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku and Ryan Coogler

While jockeying positions to create the perfect shot, Lindo urged Mosaku to stand between him and director Coogler on the portrait steps (“The flower between thorns,” he joked). Mosaku, 39, shared that filming Sinners in New Orleans was ideal, especially as a mom. “I loved going to work. I loved coming home — everything,” she said. “And then the film was received so well that it felt like a continuation of just like the magic and the joy and all the lessons that we learned. The power of cinema —it’s a gift that keeps on giving.”

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Maarten de Boer/Getty Images for AARP

Laura Dern and Will Arnett

The estranged couple from Is This Thing On?, Arnett, 55, and Dern, 58, laughed and smiled while posing for photos together. During the presentation of the best actress award to Dern, Arnett humorously remarked that their dynamic wasn’t always as cheerful during filming. “On screen, Laura can convey more with a single look. That famous scowl of hers can express more than a dozen pages of dialogue,” he said. “She captures the truth in awkward, relatable situations, allowing us to feel her character’s vulnerability and frustration.”

Maarten de Boer/Getty Images for AARP

Scott Cooper and Jesse Plemons

Genre-jumping director Cooper, 55 (pictured with presenter Jesse Plemons, a frequent collaborator on multiple films), who picked up the award for best period film for Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, stays on his toes by continually stretching as an artist. “I’ve made two music films. I’ve made a few family dramas. I’ve made a Western horror film and a gangster movie.... And as I’m getting older, life has its challenges, but it definitely makes the work richer. Lived experience, which really influences my work, is something that I really rely upon.”

Maarten de Boer/Getty Images for AARP

Stellan Skarsgård

Aging in Hollywood is not a top concern for Skarsgård, 74, a member of the Sentimental Value cast, who was honored for best intergenerational film and best foreign film. “I mean, sometimes I’m three years old, sometimes I’m 50 years old — it depends on the situation and the role. But of course, my exterior sort of is changing,” he laughed. “Nobody wants to see me naked!”

Maarten de Boer/Getty Images for AARP

Ryan Coogler

Sinners director Coogler, 39, who presented the best supporting actor to Delroy Lindo, says the Southern Gothic horror film was inspired by his Uncle James, the “elder statesman” in his family. “He loved blues music, and so the movie was for him, but it was also for me — I brought the horror elements and the supernatural.... I found that blues was classified as the devil’s music, right? So that idea was a great jumping-off point to mix the two things together.”

Maarten de Boer/Getty Images for AARP

Alan Cumming

Cumming was in a playful mood after wrapping up his hosting duties, flipping his jacket up to reveal that his velvet fuchsia pants (which had arrived too small) were split in the back, allowing him to shimmy into them. He pointed out that while Hollywood has made strides in embracing aging in film and TV, there is still a way to go. “It does seem that there are more older people being shown in our culture, which was very much needed,” Cumming, 60, said. “And I think AARP and these awards have done quite a lot of good in that, in terms of, just saying to Hollywood people, ‘Look, we’re here! This is a big market!’”

Maarten de Boer/Getty Images for AARP

Paul Mescal, Sharon Stone, Chloé Zhao and Jessie Buckley

Best film presenter Stone, 67, was still dabbing her eyes with a tissue as she followed Hamnet’s Mescal, Buckley (sporting a blonde ‘do), and director Zhao into the portrait area. Stone explained that the film impacted her deeply, especially after the passing of her mom earlier in the year.

Zhao was equally moved by the recognition from AARP. “The experience of making Hamnet was very unique,” she said. “I have allowed myself to be seen the most in this film than in any other one in the past. So, it is a very vulnerable exploration and to still be accepted was very good, very healing for me.”

Watch the AARP’s Movies for Grownups Awards show on PBS on Great Performances Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, at 7 p.m. ET (check local listings), on pbs.org/moviesforgrownups and on the PBS app.

Nancy Kerr is a senior writer and editor of features content for AARP. Previously, she was the editor of special projects for USA Today; a senior editor for the USA Weekend magazine; an assistant managing editor of digital content at The Washington Post and the director of women’s programming at America Online.

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