Baftas 2011: The King's Speech sweeps the board
The King's Speech was nominated in 14 categories and won in seven, including best film and best British film
It was never the most obvious subject for a thrilling, gets-you-there drama – a reluctant king's treatment for his wretched speech impediment – but the story worked to spectacular effect with The King's Speech last night, triumphing at the Baftas.
The King's Speech was nominated in 14 categories and won in seven, including best film and best British film. Not quite a record – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid has nine, The Killing Fields eight – but equal to Slumdog Millionaire's seven.
But it is the subject matter – "two men in a room," said the winning writer David Seidler last night – that makes its global success remarkable. The dialogue-heavy film tells the story of stuttering George VI, who became king reluctantly because his brother abdicated.
It is also something of a sour-tasting pleasure for the scrapped UK Film Council which helped get the film made in the first place, giving it a returnable £1m. Tanya Seghatchian, head of the council's film fund, said its success "represents a great validation for the UK film industry as a whole and an amazing legacy for the UK Film Council". The producers used the ceremony to highlight the importance of public subsidy for film.
Probably the least surprising winner of the night was Colin Firth, who was named best leading actor: his second consecutive Bafta. Last year it was for his role as a bereaved gay lecturer in A Single Man.
His co-stars were also victorious. Helena Bonham Carter won best supporting actress from a strong shortlist including Amy Adams, Barbara Hershey, Lesley Manville and Miranda Richardson.
In one of the longer thank you speeches, Bonham Carter, who played the future Queen Mother and has also recently portrayed the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland, thanked the royal family. She said: "I seem to be playing queens with ever decreasing head sizes," adding: "I'm so used to losing, this feels very nice." She dedicated her Bafta to supporting wives everywhere.
Geoffrey Rush completed The King's Speech's acting honours as best supporting actor for his portrayal of the Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue. He won against Christian Bale, Andrew Garfield, Mark Ruffalo and the late Pete Postlethwaite.
From humble beginnings and a budget of around £10m, the film has earned eye-spinning amounts at the box office, expected to reach £125m by the time of the Oscars, later this month.
The film's writer, London-born David Seidler, won for best original screenplay. He had wanted to write it 25 years ago, but the Queen Mother asked him "not in my lifetime". He wasn't quite expecting her to live to 101.
Seidler, who stuttered himself as a boy, has spent most of his writing career in Hollywood. "This is a nice way to come home," he said. "It is amazing that this little film – and it is about two men in a room – seems to have spoken to the world and I am deeply moved by that. Let me tell you, for a stutterer, a stammerer, to be heard is a wonderful thing."
It was not a night of complete victory. The King's Speech's director, Tom Hooper, lost out to David Fincher, who won best director for The Social Network, which also picked up awards for editing and best adapted screenplay.
The Bafta for leading actress went to pregnant Natalie Portman for her portrayal of an unhinged ballet dancer in Black Swan – the only award it won last night. She beat competition from Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Noomi Rapace and 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld.
The Harry Potter films were given an award for outstanding British contribution – about time, some might say, given their astonishing global success. JK Rowling helped accept it and said: "It is very strange to look back after seven films and remember how wary I was of putting Harry on the big screen. I kept saying no. But being involved with these films has been one of the best experiences of my life."
Chris Morris won the award for outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer for his Muslim terrorist comedy caper, Four Lions. The actor Nigel Lindsay said Morris, who was not at the ceremony, had sent a text saying: "Dowsed in petrol, Zippo at the ready".
The only award voted for by the public – the rising star award – went to an actor who could be considered risen: the 33-year-old actor Tom Hardy, who was in Inception and is well known to Trekkies as the baddie Shinzon in 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis.
The year's most baffling film, Christopher Nolan's Inception, came away with three awards – for sound, production design and an accolade it was a shoo-in for: special visual effects.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Tim Burton's visual feast Alice in Wonderland won for best costume design and make-up and hair. The Coen Brothers' True Grit won just one award, for cinematography.
The Swedish film of Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo won best film in a foreign language. A Hollywood version – with Daniel Craig – is due out this Christmas. Toy Story 3 beat Despicable Me and How to Train Your Dragon in the animated film category.
But it was The King's Speech's night. Most critics enjoyed the film, including the Queen, who reportedly had a screening at Sandringham – with beer and pizza, one hopes – and expressed approval.
Questions remain over how liberty-taking the film was when it came to fact and real events. Christopher Hitchens called it "a gross falsification of history" because Churchill is portrayed as a supporter when he was, he argues, actively trying to keep odious playboy Edward VIII on the throne.
There were no real surprises at the ceremony and there was no face holding Ricky Gervais moment: Jonathan Ross's presentation was funny and slick and safe.
A Bafta's fellowship – equivalent to a lifetime achievement award – was given by director Tim Burton to Christopher Lee.
The winners
Best film The King's Speech
Best director David Fincher, The Social Network
Best actor Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best actress Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Adapted screenplay Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Original screenplay David Seidler, The King's Speech
Fellowship Christopher Lee
Cinematography Roger Deakins, True Grit
Animated film Toy Story 3
Supporting actor Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech
Supporting actress Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Outstanding British film The King's Speech
Outstanding debut Chris Morris, Four Lions
Film not in the English language The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Short film Until The River Runs Red
