Sam Mendes’ WWI epic 1917 dominated the 2020 BAFTA awards on Sunday night.
The film added to its growing haul of honors in the U.S. with seven awards on home soil, including best film, best director and best cinematography at the Royal Albert Hall.
Elsewhere, Joker came away with three wins, including best actor for Joaquin Phoenix and the British Academy’s inaugural casting award. Renee Zellweger won best actress (with presenter Hugh Grant congratulating his former co-star with “Well done, Jones.”). Meanwhile, Brad Pitt won best supporting actor for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Laura Dern best supporting actress for Marriage Story, those films only wins on the night.
Towards the end of the ceremony, BAFTA president Prince William gave a speech in which he criticized BAFTA’s recent diversity crisis, following a year in which no black talent were nominated in the main acting categories.
“We find ourselves talking about the need to do more to address diversity in this sector,” said the royal. “This can not be right in this day and age.”
William was also witness to at least one Megxit joke when Margot Robbie read out Pitt’s acceptance speech, saying that he planned to call his award “Harry” to he could “bring it back to the U.S.”
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Hollywood Reporter