Baftas 2015: Boyhood and The Theory of Everything sweep the big prizes

The 68^th British Academy Film Awards was a night of celebration for “utterly sensational work” in the beautiful setting of the Royal Opera House in London. The 2015 ceremony was an unsurprising one as familiar faces Eddie Redmayne, Julianne Moore, JK Simmons and Patricia Arquette continued to dominate the awards season.

Host Stephen Fry kicked off the night by commiserating with the audience over the fact that he and George Clooney are now both off the market, making it a “tough year”. Fry compliments “professor Redmayne” for his performance in The Theory of Everything and the “breathtaking Benedict Cumberbatch” ala “red hot public school totty”. There is at least one embarrassing slip of the tongue at every awards ceremony (this we can depend on) and last night was no exception. The comedian confuses Patricia Arquette for her sister Rosanna in his opening monologue.

However, this didn’t seem to faze Arquette when she walked up on stage moments later to collect her BAFTA for best supporting actress in Boyhood. The coming-of-age drama, which was shot over 12 years, won best film cementing its place as a serious contender for Oscar votes. Richard Linklater also picks up best director with Ethan Hawke accepting on his behalf.

Eddie Redmayne beat Benedict Cumberbatch in the best actor category. He dedicated “the best night” of his life to three families: his own, his family on the film and the Hawkings’ “for their trust in us [Redmayne and Jones], their generosity and kindness”. The Theory of Everything was also recognised as the outstanding British film and won a third award for its adapted screenplay.

Julianne Moore, for her role in Still Alice as a woman struggling with early on-set Alzheimers, won best leading actress. She thanked the “beautiful cast” and “everybody in the Alzheimers community”, while JK Simmons won best supporting actor for the jazz drama Whiplash. The film also took home awards for editing and sound.

But it was Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel that stole the show by managing to rack up five awards including costume design, production design, makeup and original music. Anderson won his first BAFTA for original screenplay, beating Birdman and Nightcrawler.

The best speech of the night undoubtedly goes to director Mike Leigh’s eloquent acknowledgement of his prestigious BAFTA Fellowship. In an ironic tribute to those “boneheads, philistines and uninspired skinflints who said no”, in regards to his funding applications over the years, Leigh thanks them for keeping away. He finishes with a succinct “may you all rot in hell”.

The BAFTAs may not have delivered many surprises but it did leave an open field for Oscar speculation ahead of its ceremony two weeks from now.

Scarlet Howes
Photo: Bafta.org

For further information about the EE BAFTAs visit here.

The list of winners

Best Film

Boyhood
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything

Outstanding British Film

The Theory of Everything
’71
The Imitation Game
Paddington
Pride
Under The Skin

Leading Actor

Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton – Birdman

Leading Actress

Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Amy Adams – Big Eyes
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild

Supporting Actor

JK Simmons – Whiplash
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher

Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Rene Russo – Nightcrawler
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Games
Imelda Staunton – Pride
Emma Stone – Birdman

Director

Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Wes Anderson – Grand Budapest Hotel
Damian Chazelle – Whiplash
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman
James Marsh – The Theory of Everything

Adapted Screenplay

The Theory of Everything – Anthony McCarten
American Sniper – Jason Hall
Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
The Imitation Game – Graham Moore
Paddington – Paul King

Original Screenplay

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson
Birdman – Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo
Boyhood – Richard Linklater
Nightcrawler – Dan Gilroy
Whiplash – Damien Chazelle

Animated Film

The Lego Movie
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls

Documentary

Citizenfour
20 Feet from Stardom
20,000 Days on Earth
Finding Vivian Maier
Virunga

Foreign Film

Ida
Leviathan
The Lunchbox
Trash
Two Days, One Night

Cinematography

Birdman – Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Robert Yeoman
Ida – Lukasz Zal, Ryszard Lenczewski
Interstellar – Hoyte van Hoytema
Mr Turner – Dick Pope

Costume Design

The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Into the Woods
Mr Turner
The Theory of Everything

Editing

Whiplash – Tom Cross

Birdman – Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game – William Goldenberg
Nightcrawler – John Gilroy
The Theory of Everything – Jinx Godfrey

Make-up and Hair

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Frances Hannon
Guardians of the Galaxy – Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White
Into the Woods – Peter Swords King, J Roy Helland
Mr Turner – Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener
The Theory of Everything – Jan Sewell

Original Music

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat
Birdman – Antonio Sanchez
Interstellar – Hans Zimmer
The Theory of Everything – Johann Johannsson
Under the Skin – Mica Levi

Production Design

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
Big Eyes – Rick Heinrichs, Shane Vieau
The Imitation Game – Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
Interstellar – Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
Mr Turner – Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts

Sound

Whiplash – Thomas Curley, Ben Wilkins, Craig Mann
American Sniper – Walt Martin, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman
Birdman – Thomas Varga, Martin Hernandez, Aaron Glascock, Jon Taylor, Frank A Montaño
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wayne Lemmer, Christopher Scarabosio, Pawel Wdowczak
The Imitation Game – John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Stuart Hilliker, Martin Jensen

Visual Effects

Interstellar – Paul Franklin, Scott Fisher, Andrew Lockley
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Erik Winquist, Daniel Barrett
Guardians of the Galaxy – Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner, Nicolas Aithadi
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R Christopher White
X-Men: Days of Future Past – Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer

British Short Animation

The Bigger Picture – Chris Hees, Daisy Jacobs, Jennifer Majka
Monkey Love Experiments – Ainslie Henderson, Cam Fraser, Will Anderson
My Dad – Marcus Armitage

British Short Film

Boogaloo and Graham – Brian J Falconer, Michael Lennox, Ronan Blaney
Emotional Fusebox – Michael Berliner, Rachel Tunnard
The Karman Line – Campbell Beaton, Dawn King, Tiernan Hanby, Oscar Sharp
Slap – Islay Bell-Webb, Michelangelo Fano, Nick Rowland
Three Brothers -S Aleem Khan, Matthieu de Braconier, Stephanie Paeplow

 

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

Stephen Beresford, David Livingstone (writer and producer Pride)
Elaine Constantine (writer/director Northern Soul)
Gregory Burke, Yann Demange (writer and director ’71)
Hong Khaou (writer/director Lilting)
Paul Katis, Andrew De Lotbiniere (director/producer and producer Kajaki: The True Story)

 

EE Rising Star Award

Jack O’Connell
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Margot Robbie
Miles Teller
Shailene Woodley

 

Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema

BBC Film

BAFTA Fellowship

Mike Leigh