Britain’s Got Talent: The BAFTA Awards
We are right in the middle of Award Show season and the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) is really the last chance for the Oscar hopefuls to see which way things might go on the night. It was a glamorous night for the British as the stars braved the icy temperatures in hopes of taking home a coveted award. Awards were won, shoes were lost and the cameramen really loved Gary Oldman. This pretty much sums up this year’s BAFTA ceremony.
In the Hollywood showbiz world, which thrives on the new and exciting, it is perhaps slightly ironic that the film to sweep the awards was a silent black and white film celebrating the birth of Hollywood movies. Even on British shores, proof once again that silence truly is golden, celebrated film The Artist took a total of seven awards home. Much as the film is loved by Hollywood and critics alike, there was disappointment that it swept so many (including a Best Actor nod for the suave Jean Dujardin) beating the likes of all around legend Gary Oldman and The Fass to the fore).
It wasn’t all bad news for the British though as they still faired well in the award stakes. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy scooped up Best British Film and Adapted Screenplay; Best Supporting Actor went to the brilliant Christopher Plummer in Beginners and the Harry Potter crowd finally got a nod for all their hard work and won for Best Visual Effects. Acting icon John Hurt received a lifetime achievement award with a very humble speech, which went down well with the audience.
After losing her shoe (and having it put on again by Colin Firth – lucky lady!) Meryl Streep happily accepted her award for her role in The Iron Lady, the cast and crew of The Artist walked away smiling (and saying little else) as they took more statuettes for Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Musical Score, Octavia Spencer beat off tough competition and got Best Supporting Actress for The Help and renowned, nominated director Martin Scorsese got honoured also with a Bafta Fellowship Award.
The audience was kept thoroughly entertained by the always gracious and humorous Stephen Fry who played host for the evening, with a show highlight when he asked Brad Pitt to blow a kiss to the audience at home. He was mortified, but thankfully for us, he did it. Woo!
All in all it was a very smoothly run ceremony. Here at the Culch offices we were horrified at the lack of win and camera close ups for The Fass but there was a slight consolation in that we got every second audience close-up in the form of the charismatic Gary Oldman. He, like The Fass was completely robbed and I had to take time out to mourn this the following day, but at least I got to look at him, albeit from a TV screen. It’s the little things that make me happy. Next up is the highly anticipated Oscar ceremony on February 26th. If typical Hollywood fashion is to remain the same, I wouldn’t expect we’ll get too many shocks on the night, but it’ll all be very exciting regardless.
Until then, I’ll leave you with the list of BAFTA Winners:
Best Film
The Artist
Best British Film
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Best Actor
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Best Actress
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer – The Help
Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Best Original Screenplay
The Artist
Best Adapted Screenplay
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Best Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Best Animation
Rango
Best Cinematography
The Artist
Best Editing
Senna
Best Production Design
Hugo
Best Costume Design
The Artist
Best Make-Up & Hair
The Iron Lady
Best Score
Ludovic Bource, The Artist
Best Sound
Hugo
Best Foreign Language Film
The Skin I Live In
Best Documentary
Senna
Best Animated Film
Rango
Best Animated Short
A Morning Stroll
Best Live Action Short
Pitch Black Heist
Orange Rising Star Award
Adam Deacon – Anuvahood
Best Debut by a British Writer/Director/Producer
Paddy Considine – Tyrannosaur
About the Author
Jen McShane Writer and major Cinefile who loves movies. A whole lot. I’ve also been known to ramble about all other things Pop Culture on occasion too. For more information on these rambles please see (here, obviously) and also: http://worldofsnowwhite.blogspot.com/
Related Posts
Movie Review: Contraband →
Movie Review: The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists →
And The Oscar Went To… →