Baftas 2013: Happy days for Les Misérables … and Argo

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This article titled “Baftas 2013: Happy days for Les Misérables … and Argo” was written by Catherine Shoard, for guardian.co.uk on Sunday 10th February 2013 21.28 UTC

A rallying cry for patriotism resounded from the Royal Opera House this evening, as the Baftas gave a hearty handshake to the best of British, and a light slap to our American friends.

Heading into the ceremony, Steven Spielberg’s much acclaimed biopic of Abraham Lincoln had led the pack with 10 nominations, while Ang Lee’s Life of Pi and Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables both trailed with nine, and Skyfall – Sam Mendes’ revamp of the Bond franchise – had eight.

Yet the frontrunner emerged from the awards – which took place in the Royal Opera House and were hosted by Stephen Fry – with just one gong: for Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance as the president.

In a typically restrained speech, the ultimate method actor, explained that he’d “actually stayed in character as myself for the past 55 years”.

Meanwhile the best actress prize went to Emmanuelle Riva, 85-year-old star of Michael Haneke’s Amour (which also took best foreign film), beating the much-fancied Jessica Chastain for her role in Zero Dark Thirty. Kathryn Bigelow’s drama about the killing of Osama bin Laden went home empty-handed, while the big awards went to another film dramatising recent events in the aftermath of terrorism.

The impetus, instead, was with Ben Affleck’s Argo, about the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979, which won best picture and best director, as well as editing, meaning the momentum is with Affleck who is heading into the Oscars in a fortnight’s time (although the man himself is not up for best director).

But it was Tom Hooper’s crowd-pleasing musical adaptation that took home the most gongs: Les Misérables won for hair and makeup, production design, sound and best supporting actress. Skyfall snagged best British film and best score.

In the best supporting actor category, Christoph Waltz capitalised on his Golden Globes win to take the top prize for his part in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. That film also took the best original screenplay award. More of a surprise was David O Russell’s victory in the adapted screenplay category for his work on the script of Silver Linings Playbook, the screwball romcom he also directed.

The documentary award went to Searching for Sugar Man, about the hunt for folk singer Sixto Rodriguez, while the outstanding debut prize went to the team behind another documentary, The Imposter, about a Frenchman who posed as a disappeared Texas teenager.

The Bafta fellowship this year went to Sir Alan Parker, perhaps best known for his 1976 film Bugsy Malone. The Michael Balcon award for outstanding contribution to British cinema to Tessa Ross of Film4.

The Baftas are the final major award before this year’s Oscars, which take place in a fortnight, on 24 February, in a ceremony hosted by Seth MacFarlane in Hollywood.

More details soon …

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