Colin Firth In The King's Speech
It’s that time again everybody.
The awards season is defiantly in its swing and after the Golden Globes carefully avoided complete embarrassment, the star in British cinema’s crown is set to shine for another year on Sunday.
After a truly bumper year for cinema, the competition is more fierce than ever to take home those coveted little golden masks.
While some awards are pretty much guaranteed their silverware (Toy Story 3 winning Animation for example) but many are still up for grabs.
So, in the spirit of trying to give you the head’s up over everyone else you know, here are my predictions for Sunday night’s shindig.
Best Film/Best British Film - The King’s Speech
While the Golden Globes sided with The Social Network, this weekend will probably be the reverse. It may be national bias but it may be just because King’s Speech is a fantastic film. Good pacing, phenomenal performances (more of that in a minute).
Best Director - David Fincher
While King’s Speech may take the biggest gong of all, and convention saying that Tom Hooper should win, David Fincher might just steal another award.
Tom Hooper did a great job, but the more clearly directed Social Network could earn Fincher another prize for his Facebook drama.
One can dream of Christopher Nolan stealing the nod though...
Best Actor - Colin Firth
The single most assured win of the evening, Colin Firth’s stunning turn as ‘Bertie’ in The King’s Speech nearly guarantees him a second successive BAFTA, a feat not to be scoffed at.
While James Franco might still challenge him at the Oscars next month, Firth looks set to make another trip up to the podium.
Best Actress - Natalie Portman
For the standout performance of her still young but high quality career, Natalie Portman deserves every reward she gets for her remarkable role as mentally unstable ballerina Nina in Black Swan.
Despite the best efforts of Julianne Moore, Noomi Rapace and a great breakout performance by Haille Steinfeld, Natalie Portman is a sure bet for Sunday night.
Best Supporting Actor - Pete Postlethwaite
Despite how brilliant Christian Bale is in The Fighter, where he steals every scene he is in, matters outside of anyone’s control may decide this.
After his tragic, premature end, Pete Postelthwaite surely will be honoured by a post-humus award for his terrifying, drug-pushing florist in under-seen thriller The Town.
Best Supporting Actress - Leslie Manville
This is the toughest category to call, with all five nominees really outdoing themselves this year. BAFTA’s left field choices though sometimes pull through, so for this, I’m going for the outsider.
Leslie Manville was the standout act in Another Year, with an emotional master class throughout perhaps pulling her past the more obvious choices of Helena Bonham-Carter and Amy Adams.
Orange Rising Star - Tom Hardy
Not in many a year has the Rising Star award filled with absolute quality. Every one of the five nominees deserves attention, but Tom Hardy still rises above the competition.
After great performances in both Inception and Bronson and having landed a key role in the new Batman picture, the future looks incredibly bright for Tom Hardy.
The voting is still open, so PLEASE go to the BAFTA web site and let your voice be heard.
(For the record though, I voted for Emma Stone. Her smile is a class B narcotic)
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith
Tagged in Baftas