Winning speeches at the 2022 Bafta Film Awards focused on representation and personal stories; while best director winner Jane Campion called in to a post-win press conference to express her delight.
The Power of The Dog director Campion was one of several winners absent from the ceremony, alongside best actor Will Smith and best original screenplay winner Paul Thomas Anderson.
However, while producers Emile Sherman, Tanya Seghatchian and Iain Canning were giving their post-win press conference, a smiling Campion video called in, saying it was “incredible” to have won the award.
Most awardees steered clear of commenting on the war in Ukraine, while visual shows of support were limited.
In a brief moment following the annual In Memoriam segment, host Rebel Wilson said, “Our thoughts are also at this time with the people affected by the conflict in Ukraine.”
Earlier during her post-win press conference, best supporting actress Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), dressed in a bright yellow dress, said, “Did anyone see what Rachel Zegler is wearing? The two of us together are standing with Ukraine” [Zegler’s dress was blue, with blue and yellow being the colours of the Ukrainian flag].
DeBose, who is best known as a stage performer and for whom West Side Story was a breakthrough film role, also commented on the current lack of “triple threat” performers – those who can sing, dance and act.
“I don’t feel like we’re training people to do this kind of work, which is a shame, because at one point you couldn’t get a job in Hollywood if you couldn’t sing dance and breathe fire at the same time,” said the actress.
Meanwhile, Kenneth Branagh, director of outstanding British film winner Belfast, commented on the state of cinemagoing in the UK in his speech.
“Thank you very much to British cinema audiences for watching a cinema film at a UK and Ireland cinema,” said Branagh. “All hail the streaming revolution, but all hail the big screen too – it’s alive!”
Belfast has been a big theatrical hit for Universal, becoming the highest-grossing black-and-white film of the modern era in the territory last weekend with a £14.5m cume.
Several winners recounted their personal journeys to success in their post-award conferences.
Troy Kotsur, who won best supporting actor for CODA, relayed how he slept in the bed on the set of A Streetcar Named Desire when he was struggling to make a living from acting. “I was such a risk-taker,” said the actor, who also noted how the film has changed prospects not just for deaf performers, but for children of deaf adults (which forms the titular acronym).
Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson’s flying visit was vindicated with a win in best documentary for Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised). The filmmaker had been at the Directors Guild Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday 12; and was heading to the airport soon after the Bafta ceremony, to tape a chat show appearance back in the US.
Questlove talked about “living six to a flat” in London’s Kentish Town, ”and dividing up fish and chips for dinner” when forming his hip-hop group The Roots. Despite his brief visit, he noted one special trip he would squeeze in before leaving.
“When she was with us Amy Winehouse [who died in 2011] introduced me to a spot called Beigel Bake on Brick Lane [in the east of London],” said the filmmaker. “That was how we would always end my London trips; I always go there and honour her. Before I go to the airport I’m going to go and have a salted beef bagel in her honour.”
Wilson pleases crowd
Having delighted the audience when presenting an award at the 2020 event, host Rebel Wilson was on similarly crowd-pleasing form, with several mildly risqué gags but nothing to offend anyone in the room.
She started by welcoming the audience to “the 75th and final EE Baftas”, and followed up with one of her most contentious jokes, referencing both her significant weight loss since 2020 and Harry Potter author JK Rowling’s divisive opinions on gender identity.
“I’ve done quite a transformation. I hope JK Rowling still approves,” said Wilson, to some gasps in the room.
A Covid joke followed, when she quipped, “The Batman is set to become the biggest film post-pandemic; which is a bit ironic, because after one man and a bat started everything bad”, referencing the rumour that the pandemic began through human consumption of a bat in China.
Other targets of her humour were often not present, including Prince Andrew (“I was going to do a musical number as host – it was about Prince Andrew. It’s not what you think, I was going to do it on roller-skates; it was called Pizza Express”) and a gag about absent best actor nominee Leonardo DiCaprio’s age gap to a succession of girlfriends.
Perhaps the best received moments of the night were two songs: Shirley Bassey’s opening rendition of James Bond classic Diamonds Are Forever; and best actress nominee Emilia Jones’ moving version of Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now, which she performs in CODA.
The ceremony saw no interference from the climate change protestors who disrupted the red carpet prior to the event.
No comments yet