During his nearly 50 years in show business, the 69-year-old Steve Martin has morphed from stand-up comedian to Saturday Night Live host, from banjo player to author to art collector. But it’s because of his prolific film career that the American Film Institute is honoring him with its 43rd Life Achievement Award. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, when discussing his famous movie “The Jerk” and how it would transition in today’s era, Martin said, “I haven’t looked at The Jerk in a long time. But looking back, everyone was treated with such respect, and we had that fabulous opening with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee singing on the porch, two very well-known blues artists. You might get a kind of knee-jerk reaction, but it would be hard to get a verdict in court against it.”
