Here are the results of Britain's warm-up to the Oscars:
BEST FILM
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Christian Colson
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Ceán Chaffin
FROST/NIXON – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard
MILK – Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen THE READER – Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti, Redmond Morris
I think this is what everyone expected really. At a head to head race with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the better film won. No one was really suprised either as the British film won at a British ceremony. The most eye-opening aspect to this award was the decision to use Mick Jagger to present it. As he swaggered his way towards the podium he owned the stage without the use of a band. His comment after Mickey Rourke's acceptance speech claiming that he expected Jonathan to be 'doing all the fucking' was a stroke of genius.
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
MAN ON WIRE – Simon Chinn, James Marsh
HUNGER – Laura Hastings-Smith, Robin Gutch, Steve McQueen, Enda Walsh
IN BRUGES – Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh
MAMMA MIA! – Judy Craymer, Gary Goetzman, Phyllida Lloyd, Catherine Johnson
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Christian Colson, Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
In my opinion the fantastic horror film Eden Lake deserved a nomination but such films, no matter how skilled, have never been award friendly. However when Man on Wire won, everyone was certain that Slumdog was destined to win best picture, this award is set aside for the more artistic, smaller works which is very comendable.
THE CARL FOREMAN AWARD for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer for their First Feature Film
STEVE McQUEEN (Director/Writer) – Hunger
SIMON CHINN (Producer) – Man On Wire
JUDY CRAYMER (Producer) – Mamma Mia!
GARTH JENNINGS (Writer) – Son of Rambow
SOLON PAPADOPOULOS, ROY BOULTER (Producers) – Of Time And The City
Hunger was definately the right choice but I still think James Watkins definately deserved a nomination for his film Eden Lake which was certainly outstanding for his debut script and direction. Nevertheless it would not have beaten McQueen's politcally conscious work of art which truly deserved award recognition somewhere.
DIRECTOR
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - Danny Boyle
CHANGELING – Clint Eastwood
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – David Fincher
FROST/NIXON – Ron Howard
THE READER – Stephen Daldry
This award was presented by Magneto and Professor X. themselves (that's Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian Mackellen for those of you not familiar with the X-men films) who are currently starring together in Samuel Beckett's Nihlist play Waiting For Godot. The BAFTA awards may not be able to acttract the level of stars on the scale of the Oscars but they certainly do enough to rival them. As Boyle picked up his award he found it hard to keep focused as his son Gabriel shouted 'I love you Dad' from the crowd.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
IN BRUGES – Martin McDonagh
BURN AFTER READING – Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
CHANGELING – Joe Michael Straczynski
I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG – Philippe Claudel
MILK – Dustin Lance Black
The two people who presented this award were Michael Sheen, who played David Frost in Frost/Nixon, and David Frost himself. An ingenious idea for the presentation of an award, this is something at least the Oscars would not have been able to do. The decision for this particular script to win may have been slightly biassed but I think it will struggle to win at the Oscars as comedy is always a difficult genre to crack unless you are Woody Allen.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Simon Beaufoy
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Eric Roth
FROST/NIXON – Peter Morgan
THE READER – David Hare
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD – Justin Haythe
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG – Yves Marmion, Philippe Claudel
THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX – Bernd Eichinger, Uli Edel
GOMORRAH – Domenico Procacci, Matteo Garrone
PERSEPOLIS – Marc-Antoine Robert, Xavier Rigault, Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud
WALTZ WITH BASHIR – Serge Lalou, Gerhard Meixner, Yael Nahlieli, Ari Folman
A slightly different set of nominees for this particular award in comparison to the Oscars. In particular the BAFTA's were right to nominate Gomorrah which has been overlooked. It is also interesting to point out that the winner here I've loved you so long is not even nominated at Oscars, so there was a really diverse set of opinions here in relation to the LA based Academy. Nevertheless I still think Waltz With Bashir should have won as it was easily the most daring, powerful and artistic of those nominated.
Animated Film in 2008
WALL•E – Andrew Stanton
PERSEPOLIS – Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud
WALTZ WITH BASHIR – Ari Folman
Here it was a more advanced decision by BAFTA voters to nominate animated films that dealt with adult subject matter. This was certainly a more interesting and closer competition than the Oscars who for some reason stupidly decided to nominate Bolt and Kung-Fu Panda as well as WALL-E in this catagory. Such tension was never felt on the BBC though as we were subjected to Stanton's acceptance speech whislt the credits roled over his face.
LEADING ACTOR
MICKEY ROURKE – The Wrestler
FRANK LANGELLA – Frost/Nixon
DEV PATEL – Slumdog Millionaire
SEAN PENN – Milk
BRAD PITT – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
It was an ambitious decision to nominate Dev Patel as he had no hope in hell of winning against such established talent. But he should be well in line for a rising star award next year if he gains a few more roles which I'm sure he will not find difficult. Michael Sheen deserved a nomination in place of either Brad's plain or Dev's debut performances as it was severly overlooked. Frank Langella would have not been as effective without such a strong performance to feed off. All in all though Rourke was the right winner and his blunt speech on how he had 'fucked up' his career for the last fifteen years was met with an equally hilarious comeback by the razor sharp Ross who found his infamous 'improbable comment' by claiming Rourke would now face 'four months suspension'.
LEADING ACTRESS
KATE WINSLET - The Reader
ANGELINA JOLIE – Changeling
KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS – I’ve Loved You So Long
MERYL STREEP – Doubt
KATE WINSLET – Revolutionary Road
This was the only awards ceremony to get it right in nominating Kate twice in the leading actress catagory. After the travesty of the catagorising of the Golden Globes where they for some reason thought her Revolutionary Road acting was a supporting performance couldn't have been any further from the truth. Although I'm sure she didn't mind winning two awards on the night.
Despite two nominations I still find it odd how she didn't win for her better performance in Rev Road and hasn't even been nominated for this character at the Oscars. Oh well, at least she kept the yuck factor of her speech down in front of her home audience due to the backlash she has recieved from the press from her daft Globes acceptance speech.
SUPPORTING ACTOR
HEATH LEDGER - The Dark Knight
ROBERT DOWNEY JR. – Tropic Thunder
BRENDAN GLEESON – In Bruges
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – Doubt
BRAD PITT – Burn After Reading
I don't understand why Brad Pitt and Downey Jr. were nominated in this award and it must have felt slightly insulting for Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brendan and Heath's family. There was never any doubt that Heath would win but Ray Fiennes' mob boss in In Bruges could have done with a nomination nod.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
PENÉLOPE CRUZ – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
AMY ADAMS – Doubt
FREIDA PINTO – Slumdog Millionaire
TILDA SWINTON – Burn After Reading
MARISA TOMEI – The Wrestler
MUSIC
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – A. R. Rahman
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Alexandre Desplat
THE DARK KNIGHT – Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard
MAMMA MIA! – Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
WALL•E – Thomas Newman
Mamma Mia was probably one of the most ill founded nominations here. Yes the film was a musical and relied on such music, however it was terribly original having been written by ABBA twenty odd years ago!
Cinematography in 2008
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Anthony Dod Mantle
CHANGELING – Tom Stern
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Claudio Miranda
HE DARK KNIGHT – Wally Pfister
THE READER – Chris Menges, Roger Deakins
Editing in 2008
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Chris Dickens
CHANGELING – Joel Cox, Gary D. Roach
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall
THE DARK KNIGHT – Lee Smith
FROST/NIXON – Mike Hill, Dan Hanley
IN BRUGES – Jon Gregory
As there was a tie in this category there are six nominations
Production Design in 2008
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
CHANGELING – James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis
THE DARK KNIGHT – Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD – Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Mark Digby, Michelle Day
Costume Design in 2008
THE DUCHESS – Michael O'Connor
CHANGELING – Deborah Hopper
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Jacqueline West
THE DARK KNIGHT – Lindy Hemming
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD – Albert Wolsky
Costume dramas are always a favourite for this particular award.
Sound in 2008
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Glenn Freemantle, Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke, Tom Sayers, Ian Tapp
CHANGELING – Walt Martin, Alan Robert Murray, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff
THE DARK KNIGHT – Lora Hirschberg, Richard King, Ed Novick, Gary Rizzo
QUANTUM OF SOLACE – Jimmy Boyle, Eddy Joseph, Chris Munro, Mike Prestwood Smith, Mark Taylor
WALL•E – Ben Burtt, Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Matthew Wood
Special Visual Effects in 2008
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Eric Barba, Craig Barron, Nathan McGuinness, Edson Williams
THE DARK KNIGHT – Chris Corbould, Nick Davis, Paul Franklin, Tim Webber
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL – Pablo Helman, Marshall Krasser, Steve Rawlins
IRON MAN – Hal Hickel, Shane Patrick Mahan, John Nelson, Ben SnowQUANTUM OF SOLACE – Chris Corbould, Kevin Tod Haug
I have no idea why Indiana Jones was nominated for this catagory as the CGI looked so fake it did in fact suck a lot of the proverbial fun from this film. Ben Button was the deserved winner as its greatest achievement was turning Brad into a withered old baby midget.
Make Up & Hair in 2008
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Jean Black, Colleen Callaghan
THE DARK KNIGHT – Peter Robb-King
THE DUCHESS – Daniel Phillips, Jan Archibald
FROST/NIXON – Edouard Henriques, Kim Santantonio
MILK – Steven E. Anderson, Michael White
Again, Brad Pitt as a midget, hilarious!
Short Animation in 2008
WALLACE AND GROMIT: A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH – Steve Pegram, Nick Park, Bob Baker
CODSWALLOP – Greg McLeod, Myles McLeod
VARMINTS – Sue Goffe, Marc Craste
An unimaginative choice here. Nick Park's animation was not any different from any of his previous short films and didn't really push the format. However, it may have in fact deserved to win as I have not seen the other films nominated and Park's preservation of stop montion animation does need to be kept up.
Short Film in 2008
SEPTEMBER – Stewart le Maréchal, Esther May Campbell
THE DREAMER – Kate Ogborn, Tony Grisoni
LOVE YOU MORE – Caroline Harvey, Anthony Minghella, Sam Taylor-Wood, Patrick MarberRALPH – Olivier Kaempfer, Alex Winckler
VOYAGE D’AFFAIRES (THE BUSINESS TRIP) – Celine Quideau, Sean Ellis
ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD
NOEL CLARKE
MICHAEL CERA
MICHAEL FASSBENDER
REBECCA HALL
TOBY KEBBELL
This award was placed in an odd section of the ceremony. Broadcast just after the obituaries it was quite a downer for this award. Whether it was intentionally put before the rising star award to demonstrate that there are rising stars in relation to the deaths I'm not sure and I'm not all that convinced that if this was the intention that it paid off. It was fairly ironic however that the recipient of last year Shia Lebeouf has not starred in anything other than Eagle Eye since. This may have been why he chose to turn up this time when awarding it rather than recieving it last year, but Im sure he is busy on the set of Transformers 2 which sort of demonstrates how he has not really progressed or developed in his roles. I think Noel Clarke was a good decsion to be presented with this award. His last film may have been a bit cliched and too ambitious but he is nevertheless a force to be reckoned with as he is a writer, director and star unlike the other nominees. It's just a shame his acceptance speech was very chavvy indeed!
OUTSTANDING BRITISH CONTRIBUTION TO CINEMA
PINEWOOD STUDIOS AND SHEPPERTON STUDIOS
All I can say is I can't believe these world reknown studios haven't won such an accolade sooner, that is of course unless they haven't won it in previous years.
ACADEMY FELLOWSHIP
TERRY GILLIAM
A master of cinema this American turned British citizen is a credit to our industry. As a fan of Jeff Bridges it was good to see his tribute to an old friend. It's just a shame Gillingham's speech and montage of films were severly and abruptly cut so by BBC editors. I just hope his next film The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus lives up to our expectations and I have every faith that it will with Gillingham having said on several occasions that it is the film he is most pleased with in a long, diverse and colourful backlog of films.
All in all I felt slightly sorry for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie who both looked bored throughout having made such a journey to our rainy little island without an award for their efforts. Oh well at least it is a vote of confidence for BAFTA who don't simply hand out awards to the biggest A-listers they can manage to attract.
As Danny Boyle looked lovingly on as the majority of his crew picked up BAFTA masks these should be possitive omens for the fastly looming Oscars.
The best thing about this awards ceremony was the fact BAFTA had such a fruitiful choice of British films to pick from this year. With the credit crunch putting pressures on our small film industry which struggles to find money at the best of times I just hope such a healthy output of talent can continue to blossom.
It is Film Four who are the real winners this year as if it were not for their persistence, films like Slumdog and In Bruges would not even exist. Hopefully their efforts will be recognised in the next few years by BAFTA with an 'Outstanding contribution to cinema' award.
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