Page 30 - 08_Bafta ACADEMY_Goldie Hawn & Jamie Bell_ok

Inside 195 Piccadilly & Reviews
AMANDA
BERRY
Well... I think we were a hit. But what did everyone else think? For this special Film Awards edition, I dedicate my entire column to the various comments made by the press, nominees and guests:
THE PRESS: “There was
a glitzy turnout for the
ceremony at the Odeon
Leicester Square cinema
in the heart of London’s
West End. Tom Hanks,
Russell Crowe, Geoffrey
Rush, Hilary Swank and
Juliette Binoche per-
formed double duty as
nominees and presen-
ters; Goldie Hawn,
Robert Altman, and
Annette Bening also
opened envelopes. The
ceremony itself, emceed
with witty urbanity by
Stephen Fry, went off
without a hitch in its two-hour format.” ADAM DAWTREY, Variety
“A British David won a battle against the Hollywood Goliath last night when 14 year old Co Durham schoolboy was named Best Actor at Britain’s answer to the Oscars, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards.” Dalya Alberge, The Times
“Last year the only American star of any wattage to attend the BAFTAs was Kevin Spacey for American Beauty.
Last night, by contrast, there were limo jams in the West End as the biggest names in Hollywood queued to be ush- ered up the red carpet. BAFTA’s chair- man, Simon Relph, said their presence showed that the decision to move the ceremony to before the Oscars paid off. It is clear that for the first time the big studios are taking the awards seriously...
However, Mr. Relph said the BAFTAs were not trading in decades of tradi- tion in order to be a mere barometer for the Oscars. “Our awards – which are the only other truly international awards apart from the Oscars – contin- ue to be a celebration of excellence by the British Academy, which reflects British film-makers and cinemagoers’ ongoing passion for the movies.” Flachra Gibbons, The Guardian
“Ballet Boy Slays Gladiator.
Hollywood went along in force to mark the British Academy Film Awards, with a pro- cession of movie stars trooping up the famous red carpet.” Emma Jones & Nicole Lampert, The Sun
“London’s Leicester Square was packed with thousands of onlookers as the BAFTAs, sponsored by Orange, lived up to its reputation as one of the most glam- orous events in the capital.” Mark Jagasia & Ruth Hilton, The Express
“baftalk”
BOOKREVIEWS
BY QUENTIN FALK
Something This Way Comes and The Lonely
Passion Of Judith Hearne.
When I asked him once why there was such a
long time between assign- ments, he replied: “When I
am working on a film I do not exist other than on the film. I have no private life. So
when the film is finished, it is really like a kind of life finishing and I have totally to re-adjust. Most normal, sane people do that quickly. It apparently takes me a long time.”
Thanks to Sinyard’s well-researched book, helped greatly, one suspects, by the recall of Clayton’s widow Haya, we discov- er in a fascinating chapter called Unfinished Business some useful clues as to why the final credits were so few and far between.
Although concentrating in the main on the films themselves, Clayton’s other biographical details are generally covered – from his start, aged 15, as a third assis- tant director for Alexander Korda to fully fledged producer on some forgettable Fifties’ comedies.
“I may never choose well the films I make,” Clayton told me, “but I choose very carefully that there is no way I am going to get bored. That is a great, great danger.” He is still very much missed. ■
the director co-starring as mad psy- chiatrist Dr Calihari.
This might seem like the ulti- mate low point for the self-styled
“unbankable” film-maker but he is diving into the new technology
with the same kind of verve and imagination which often charac- terised his mainstream features.
Already author of two chunkier volumes of autobiog-
raphy, this is strictly a slim-line remembrance of things past and guide to future hopes executed with a tendency to the facetious which belies some genuinely enduring work on both the large and small screen. ■
described in
the book.
In his
Foreword,
Tony White
describes the
book as “a
major step
forward for
the aspiring
animator who wishes to take advantage of the amazing capabilities modern animation technology offers.” Take it from there. ■
’S
THE WINNERS & NOMINEES: “...a bunch of crazy perfectionists who really cared – and by the way, most of them were English.” Douglas Wick, Producer Gladiator “ It was a really a small, personal European film disguised as a Hollywood epic.” Pietro
JACK CLAYTON
BY NEIL SINYARD (MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS, £14.99)
Ayear after he died
in 1995 aged 73
of a heart
attack, BAFTA
hosted a ceremony
to celebrate the life and career of a remarkable British film-maker.
There were contributions from, among others, Sir John Woolf, Harold Pinter, Karel Reisz, Freddie Francis, editor Terry Rawlings, Sam Waterston, and Mordecai Richler not to mention an unscheduled appearance by Mel Brooks.
Reisz described Jack Clayton as a true independent, oblivious to fashion while Pinter eulogised him as “a gentle man... but professionally he possessed the utmost rigour and a fierce determination.”
As a director Clayton turned rarity into a fine art with just nine films – includ- ing a short The Bespoke Overcoat and Memento Mori for TV – across more than 35 years.
But though brief, Clayton’s filmogra- phy – about which Sinyard, an unashamed fan, reminds us in this excel- lent if long overdue critical biography – is from the top-drawer: Room At The Top, The Innocents, The Pumpkin Eater, Our Mother’s House, The Great Gatsby,
DIRECTING FILM:
FROM PITCH TO
PREMIERE
BY KEN RUSSELL (BATSFORD, £15.99)
Russell, at 73 a
somewhat aging
enfant terrible, is
nowadays making
movies on video for the internet. His next is to be a full-length feature called The Fall Of The Louse Of Usher, a black comedy version of Poe’s tale, with
THE ANIMATOR’S GUIDE TO 2D COMPUTER ANIMATION
BY HEDLEY GRIFFIN (FOCAL PRESS, £24.99)
What you see is what you get – together with a free CD-ROM (PC only) including colour exam- ples and animation movie clips of the techniques
Amanda Berry Chief Executive
Scalia, Editor Gladiator “Oh heck, thank you. This is heaven. We had a
brilliant script and a fabu- lous choreographer – he got me to do things I never thought were possible. Human rights were violated on one occasion. This is so special to me – more than an Oscar as this is my home.” Julie Walters
“It seems like only five minutes since we watched Jamie tap-dancing on a toi- let roof thinking ‘would this really work?’” Billy Elliot screenwriter Lee Hall
“To be nominated with all these guys – Tom Hanks,
Russell Crowe, Geoffrey Rush and Michael Douglas – I was kind of thinking of not both- ering coming because I thought what’s the point?” Jamie Bell
THE GUESTS: “...a fantastic feat of organisation that will go down in my person- al history of memorable moments.”
Beverly Price-Fox
“Stephen Fry was an inspired choice as presenter and I thought he was on great form. All in all a real triumph - well done.” Rick Bayles
“Congratulations on a fantastic show!”
Christina Thomas, Chair BAFTA East Coast
“Just a massive Well Done from every- one at the NPA to everyone at BAFTA. Last night’s awards were amazing and brilliantly produced. I watched on Sky and it was a great show. So a very hearty well done for an event that really does put BAFTA back on the map. Excellent.” Kevin Dolan, New Producers Alliance
“Congratulations on creating a world- class awards ceremony.” Peter Dunne, Dreamworks
“Congratulations on really putting BAFTA on the map. A great triumph.” Dee Nolan, Editor In Style
“You deserve a gold medal and thunder- ous applause.” Nick Brett, Ed. Radio Times
“A huge success. Perfect.” Charlotte Macleod, Lucy Scher - The Script Factory
“Stephen Fry was an inspired choice as compere.” The Rt. Worshipful The Lord Mayor of Westminster
“The Awards themselves were probably the best I have ever attend- ed.” John Parsons-Smith, Director and General Manager, Kodak Ent. Imaging
“A really tremendous occasion, very stylish, full of fun, great stars and headline results.” Lionel O’Hara,
Int. Sales Director, Variety
28