As both an actor and director, Dennis Hopper has never ceased to surprise and provoke, with a career that includes unsettling visions like The Last Movie and Blue Velvet alongside mainstream tales of uplift like Hoosiers, big-budget action spectacles like Speed and Waterworld, interesting if not always wholly successful indie fare like Sleepwalking and Hell Ride and, let's be fair, plenty of here-for-the-paycheck dreck.

To celebrate his work both on screen and behind the camera, the Aero Theatre will host Hopper in person for a 7:30 p.m. screening of Elegy on January 10, while the following evening will host a double-feature of two of Hopper's works as a director — 1971's The Last Movie, and a 98-minute director's cut of 1990's Backtrack, starring Jodie Foster. The Aero Theatre is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Tickets for these movies, as well as other special events, are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded information on directions and the Aero's upcoming schedule, phone (323) 466-FILM.