Sam Mendes’ 1917 was the notable winner at last night’s EE British Academy Film Awards, taking home seven awards including Best Film, Outstanding British Film and Best Director for Mendes. All the acting prizes went to the expected recipients, with Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) and Renée Zellweger (Judy) awarded for Best Actor and Actress respectively as Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Laura Dern (Marriage Story) took home the Supporting gongs. Pitt was not there in person to accept the award, with his Hollywood co-star Margot Robbie delivering a cheeky pre-prepared speech that made jokes at the expense of the attendant Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Joker also had a good night, Hildur Guðnadóttir taking the award for Best Original Score and Shayna Markowitz the inaugural prize for Best Casting on top of Phoenix’s acting win. Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite scooped up the BAFTA for Film Not in the English Language as well as Original Screenplay, while Taika Waititi was in fine form as he picked up the prize for Best Adapted Screenplay for Jojo Rabbit. It wasn’t the best night for Martin Scorsese as The Irishman was shut out across the board.
New host and crowd favourite Graham Norton couldn’t help save what was a typically stilted ceremony, but Rebel Wilson brought a lot of laughs with her ribbing of recent flop Cats as she presented the award for Best Director. Meanwhile, Andy Serkis was honoured for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema and Amblin co-founder and uber-producer Kathleen Kennedy was the recipient of this year’s BAFTA Fellowship. Top Boy and Blue Story star Micheal Ward was awarded for EE Rising Star, beating out the likes of Awkwafina and Jack Lowden in a public vote.
Read the full list of nominees and winners here
Watch Joaquin Phoenix collect his award for Best Actor below:
