Yet again, the uber talented, amazing, Stephen Fry hosted the 2013 BAFTAs. Other awards hosts take note of Stephen Fry – this is how it’s done – short, smart, witty, eloquent funny & moving it along! While also being passionate about what you stand for. Loved both his opening and closing monologues, but especially his closing! (as soon as it is up on youtube I will post it)

In this day and age of Twitter, Facebook, etc, it’s surprising that the BAFTAs decided to not broadcast the ceremony live, instead opting to delay the telecast by a couple of hours. That meant, that the all the winners were out for all to see, thus perhaps losing some of the show’s potential viewers.

I was one of the people who was surprised by this move and thought it a bad move, although after sitting through the telecast I can see why it was done. By delaying the broadcast, not all the awards were shown – making it a fun, quick paced show.

Supporting Stephen Fry on the night were some outstanding presenters, including the always classy Sally Field – who at the last minute had to present her award on her own as Eddie Redmayne was suddenly struck down with a bad bout of food poisoning.

Another standout on the night, was funnyman Billy Connolly who summed up his thoughts on what he was doing “I’m overcome with joy at the very thought of presenting an unsuspecting stranger with a death mask on a stick”

One of the most popular awards of the night was given to Ben Affleck for Best Director (Argo).  He did an amazing job with this film and everyone, except the Oscars seem to think so. He has won almost every award going, yet has not even garnered an Oscar nomination! I don’t understand why the Oscars are the only ones who refuse to acknowledge his skills.

Affleck gave my favourite speech of the night. It was humbling, beautiful and inspiring “This is a second Act for me – and you’ve given me that. This industry has given me that and I want to thank you. I am so grateful and proud. And so I just want to dedicate this to anyone else out there who is trying to get their second act because you can do it!” Watch the full speech below

Not only did Affleck win Best Director for Argo, but Argo won the BAFTA for Best Picture.

Samuel L Jackson presented this award. He started his presentation with “Can I just say-of course I can say, I’m Samuel L Jackson, I can say whatever the hell I want!” How can you not love this man!

George Clooney, as one of the producers of the film (his co-producer is his college best friend!), accepted the award. Commenting on Ben Affleck he said, “”I got to say Ben, if this is your second Act, I don’t know what the hell you are going to do for your third act! Becuse you are remarkable at what you do. You are smart, you know what you want but more importantly you love what you do and I can’t tell you what an honour it’s been to work with you!”

The show started off with a surprise – with Skyfall beating out Les Misérables for Best British Picture. In accepting the award, Director. Sam Mendes thanked all 1292 people who worked on the film.

The only other real surprise of the night was Jessica Chastain not winning Best Actress – Amour’s Emmanuelle Riva took that one. Unfortunately she was not there to accept her award.

It was no surprise when Daniel Day Lewis won the Best Actor BAFTA for his performance in Lincoln. What did surprise many was his fun, self deprecating speech. “Just on the chance that I might one day have to speak on an evening just like this, I have acutally stayed in character as myself for the last 55 years …”  Watch the full speech below

Quentin Tarantino won the BAFTA for best original screenplay for Django Unchained. Tarantino thanked both his cast and the Academy, “First I want to thank my actors for doing a bang up job with my dialogue – thanks a lot guys I appreciate. Thanks BAFTA – you guys are a terrific organisation. I am notoriously famous for not wanting to join organisations but I’m proud to be a part of yours!”

Christoph Waltz followed his director on stage, taking out the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Django Unchained. “”Why I get to stand here is no mystery -because it says so at the beginning of our movie, written & directed by Quentin Tarantino!”

Christoph Waltz gave a great performance in Django Unchained, and not to take away from it, but I don’t understand why no-one is recognising Leonardo DiCarprio’s amazing performance in the same film!

Best Supporting Actress went to Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables. In her rush to start her speech she almost ignored George Clooney, “What was I thinking. I almost walked past George Clooney without hugging him. That was just stupid!”

David O Russell won Best Adapted Screenplay for Silver Linings Playbook.  “Our film is about emotion and people – this is for all of those families who feel this everyday …”

Other BAFTA winners included:
Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema: Tessa Ross
The Fellowship Award: Sir Alan Parke
EE Rising Star Award: Juno Temple
Best Film Not in the English Language: Amour
Best Documentary: Searching For Sugarman

Congratulations to ALL of the talented people who won awards at last night’s BAFTAs – you are all truly inspiring and remind us all to go out there and live our dreams!

That’s Entertainment!
Sarina 🙂

PS: With the BAFTAs over, we are almost in the home stretch of awards season – just 2 more weeks until the pinacle of awards season, the Academy Awards, bring the season to a close.