“One Battle After Another” dominated the 79th BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday night in London, taking home six prizes, including Best Film and Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson, cementing its status as the evening’s biggest winner.
The ceremony, held at the Royal Festival Hall, was hosted by “The Traitors” favorite Alan Cumming, who kept the mood light with comedic bits that included handing out British snacks to Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner and roasting Paul Mescal for being on his phone in the audience.
Among the early winners, Sean Penn won Best Supporting Actor for his role in “One Battle After Another,” while Wunmi Mosaku earned Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners.” In the craft categories, “Frankenstein” emerged as a standout, winning for Production Design, Make-up and Hair, and Costume Design.
One of the night’s biggest surprises came when Robert Aramayo won Best Actor after also picking up the EE Rising Star Award earlier in the evening, beating out nominees including Timothée Chalamet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Aramayo stars in the indie biopic “I Swear,” based on the life of Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson, who was in attendance. Due to Davidson’s involuntary tics which can include offensive language, Cumming addressed the audience twice during the ceremony.
“You may have noticed some strong language in the background. This can be part of how Tourette’s syndrome shows up for some people as the film explores that experience,” Cumming told the audience, which included the Prince and Princess of Wales. “Thanks for your understanding and helping create a respectful space for everyone.”
Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” made BAFTA history by winning three awards, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress for Mosaku and Best Original Score for Ludwig Göransson, becoming the most-decorated film from a Black director at the awards. Coogler also became the first Black filmmaker to win in the Original Screenplay category and used his acceptance speech to encourage aspiring writers.
“For all the writers out there, when y’all look at that blank page, think of who you love, think of anybody who you’ve seen in pain that you identify with and wish they felt better and let that love motivate you,” he said. “I’ll be forever grateful for this, thank you all.”
Elsewhere, Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” won Outstanding British Film, and its leading star Jessie Buckley claimed Best Actress. Buckley drew laughter with her candid acceptance speech, momentarily forgetting to acknowledge some of her fellow nominees. “Kate! Kate! There you are,” she said to Kate Hudson, before adding, “You’re all just radical and you’re doing it for the naughty girls and I’m in awe of all your incredible performances,” and joking, “Oh God, I should have brought my thing up here.”
International cinema was also recognized, with “Sentimental Value” becoming the first Norwegian film to win a BAFTA, taking home the award for Film Not in the English Language. British international feature Oscar entry “My Father’s Shadow” won Outstanding British Debut. Musical performances during the ceremony included live sets from “KPop Demon Hunters” singers EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami marking their first live performance in the U.K., as well as Jessie Ware, who performed Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were” during the In Memoriam segment.
Going into the night, “One Battle After Another” led the nominations with 14 just two shy of the all-time BAFTA record set by “Gandhi” followed closely by “Sinners” with 13 nominations. Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” and Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme” each entered with 11 nominations, though “Marty Supreme” ultimately left empty-handed, tying the record for most BAFTA losses in a single year.
Source: Variety