As the British Film Industry looks forward to the biggest night of its
year, we take a closer look at this year's nominees and ponder who will
be taking home a golden BAFTA mask this year. Will it really be a one
horse Lord of The Rings shaped race, or will this years ceremony have a
few surprises in store?
On Sunday evening they will pass along
the carpet dressed up to the nines in designer frocks and dinner
jackets smiling for the cameras and signing autographs for their fans.
Once they've shook hands, answered questions and posed for snaps the
movie industrys brightest stars will pass through the doors of the
Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square and take their seats in theatre. Maybe
if there's time they will have quick peek inside their goodie bags
whilst sipping on a glass of champagne as they relax back in their
leopard print chairs and wait for the ceremony to begin. In due course
the red curtains will open and Stephen Fry, Master of Ceremonies will
no doubt crack a few jokes, and deliver a few witty one-liners before
getting on with the job in hand.
As the evening progresses and the awards are presented, there are doubt
to be some tears from both winners and losers. Someone is bound to
thank everyone they know, and more than likely there will be a few
poker faces from those losers who as they graciously smile and applaud
the winner in their category are secretly thinking it should have been
me.
M.C. STEPHEN FRY
She may only be nineteen years
old, but she has the poise and grace of an actor with at least another
decade under her belt. After giving consummate performances in two very
different films this past year, and having recently been photographed
alongside seasoned professionals such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Julianne
Moore and Hilary Swank for a Vanity Fairs annual Hollywood issue, the
world has little choice but to sit up and take notice of the luminous
and extraordinary talent that is Scarlett Johansson. Marked out as one
of the industrys hottest and most promising new talents, director Sofia
Coppola called her "unique and here to stay", whilst Tracey Chevalier
(author of Girl With A Pearl Earring), said, "The film [Girl With A
Pearl Earring] belongs to her".
Scarlett Johansson is no
newcomer though, her career began ten years ago when she debuted
alongside Elijah Wood in North, and has since stared with Robert
Redford in The Horse Whisperer and in the Coen Brothers film The Man
Who Wasnt There. Should Scarlett attend this Sundays BAFTAs as
expected, she is sure to be crossing her fingers and taking a deep
breath as the winner of the Best Actress award is read out.
Johansson missed out on a Golden Globe in the same category last month
(to Diane Keaton), and surprising hasnt picked up an Academy Award
nomination. So all her hopes will be firmly pinned on BAFTA night being
her night. Scarlett should be able to relax back in her chair just a
little bit, with two nominations in the same category (for her
performance in Sofia Coppolas chaste love story about the unlikely
relationship that develops between two Americans who meet in Tokyo
hotel bar, and for her portrayal of Griet, the humble servant in
nineteenth century Holland who inspired one of Johannes Vermeers most
famous paintings), the odds are stacked in her favour, on the three
other occasions where an actor or actress (Anthony Hopkins, Miranda
Richardson and Geoffrey Rush) has received multiple nominations in the
same year each walked away with an award. And this year she is in good
company; Sean Penn has also secured two best actor nominations (for 21
grams and Mystic River).
The Cold Mountain camp will also be
pinning their hopes on BAFTA coming through for them- Anthony
Minghellas American Civil War epic was pipped to the post by Lord of
the Rings: Return of the King at the Golden Globes last month and has
despite seven nominations, been ignored by Oscar in the Best Picture
and Best Director categories.
However the story of the war-weary soldier heading home to the woman he
loves leads the BAFTA race with thirteen nominations and no doubt will
be aiming for their last chance at a Best Film prize (BAFTA nominated
for both Best Film and Best British Film), as well as hoping for glory
in the acting categories- Renee Zellweger has already won a Golden
Globe for her performance as Ruby, and is nominated for both a BAFTA
and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, whereas Jude Law is also
going for the double in the Best Actor category. Similarly Tim Burtons
Big Fish, a film largely ignored in this years award season will be
hoping to reel in some votes and take home a trophy or two.
After four Golden Globe nominations, the film went home empty handed
last month, and picked up just one nod from Oscar (Best Music) when
this years nominations were announced just over a week later. After
mixed reviews, Big Fish is unlikely to be crowned Best Film, so hopes
will be firmly pinned upon Albert Finney nominated in the Best
Supporting Actor category, although it wont be an easy ride, as he will
be facing off against Sir Ian McKellan (Lord of the Rings: Return of
the King) and Golden Globe winner Tim Robbins (Mystic River).
Theres
no doubt that the decision to move the ceremony in 2001 so that it took
place in February before the Academy Awards was specifically done with
the aim of maximising BAFTAs importance and kudos in Hollywood as a
major player in the movie making world and to cement the British
Academys position as the largest globally recognised international film
awards ceremony outside of the United States. Last years BAFTA ceremony
was broadcast worldwide to over a billion people, and its widely
accepted that together with the Golden Globes, the two award shows give
a pretty strong and accurate indication of who will walk away with
Oscar statuettes.
Given that after the top dogs at the Academy
of Motion Pictures, Arts and Science decided to move the Oscars back a
month, there is only a fortnight between the two ceremonies, all eyes
will be on BAFTA. The decision to move the BAFTA ceremony back three
weeks was to avoid clashing with the annual Academy Award nominees
lunch which was originally due to take place the day after on Monday
9th February. Duncan Kenworthy, chairman of BAFTAs film committee said
that the change of date was made "with the best interests of the film
industry as a whole in mind"
Conflicting diary dates arent the
only problem the BAFTAs have had this season, the ceremony faced
potential disaster last autumn after the Motion Picture Association of
America (MPAA) ruled that no preview DVDs of new films could be sent to
voters of any awards except the Oscars, because of fears that they
would be pirated. Jack Valenti, President of the MPAA justified the
introduction of the ban, explaining that half of the screeners sent out
in 2002 were copied.
At the time, Mr Kenworthy said that the decision was "an extraordinary
act of injustice which singles out the British Academy and the British
industry for damage". He did concede last month that the ban didnt
prove to be a total catastrophe, but added that it was hard to say
whether thats because the ban was overturned on time, or because our
members managed to find their way to these films", concluding that some
BAFTA members who lived outside London had been unfairly penalised
because they had not been able to get to screenings of some short
listed films.
To top it off, BAFTA faced a final bump in the
road last December after it emerged that a technical problem on its
voting website had led to errors and omissions.
Now, a week
before the ceremony and all the problems smoothed out, BAFTA is
preparing for its biggest night of the year and excitement is brewing
in the British camp with a brethren of homegrown stars hoping to win.
Albert Finney, Paul Bettany, Emma Thompson, Anne Reid and Bill Nighy
have all received nominations. Of her Best Actress nod for her
performance in The Mother, Reid said it was unreal, and when asked to
comment on her chances of winning she said, "I probably would say nil
but then how do you know?" Similarly, commenting on Bill Nighys
performance as jaded rock star hoping for success second time around,
Duncan Kenworthy (producer of Love Actually) said, "Its strange to say
that at the age of 52 Bill Nighy has made a career-making performance.
Suddenly he is on the list of every casting director in Hollywood.
Love
Actually have passed under the radar of the Golden Globes and the
Academy Awards but it was a smash at the box office and was one of the
most success British films released last year. With three BAFTA
nominations, (Best Actress and Actor in a Supporting role, Emma
Thompson and Bill Nighy, and The Alexander Korda Award for the
Outstanding British Film of the Year), this sugar-coated romantic
comedy is not to be sniffed at, "Normally comedies arent thought to be
award fodder, and Im for Richard Curtis who wrote and directed this
film Duncan Kenworthy notes.
Whether or not you are a fan of
Tolkiens transfer onto the big screen, there is no arguing with the
impact Peter Jacksons retelling of the Lord of The Rings trilogy has
had on the movie making industry. The trilogy has already collected
more than a handful of awards, and the final instalment is currently
the third most successful film of all time (behind Titanic and Harry
Potter and the Philosophers Stone) raking in $972.7m at the box office.
This figure is set to top $1bn once the film is released in Japan this
month.
BILL & SCARLETT: Lost in Translation
GANDALF THE WIZARD
After
cleaning up at the Golden Globes and winning all four of the awards it
was nominated for, Return of the King leads the Oscars race with eleven
nods from the Academy and is likely to take home a sizable chunk of the
twelve BAFTA nominations it has received. As with the previous two Lord
of the Rings films, Return of the King has received the majority of its
nominations in the technical categories- although this year BAFTA has
bestowed on the hobbit filled film its first nomination in an acting
category, to Sir Ian McKellan as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for
his portrayal of Gandalf the Wizard. McKellan is no stranger to award
show success but he says, "Im looking forward to the ceremony. With so
much outstanding competition, it will be an exciting evening". Im sure
Scarlett Johansson would agree
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