18th century comedy starring Olivia Colman earns seven awards at ceremony in the Royal Albert Hall
Olivia Colman’s performance as the unstable, self-pitying and hilariously bad-mannered Queen Anne won her Bafta award success on Sunday evening, one of seven awards for the 18th century comedy The Favourite.
The film was easily the biggest winner at the glitzy Royal Albert Hall ceremony, picking up prizes which included including best British film, best production design, best supporting actress, best original screenplay and best costume design.
Colman followed up her success at the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice awards by being named best actress, a category pundits predicted would be a close race between her and Glenn Close, nominated for The Wife .
“We are having an amazing night aren’t we? said Colman in her speech, which met with a standing ovation. “We are going to get so pissed later.”
It caps a stratospheric rise for the actor who early in her career struggled for parts and was best known for comedy, becoming a regular in Mitchell and Webb television and radio sketches and Peep Show. Later came career-changing dramas like Broadchurch and The Night Manager – up next: the middle aged Elizabeth in Netflix’s The Crown.
Playing a Queen of England does not guarantee Bafta success, but it unquestionably helps. Colman follows in the footsteps of Audrey Hepburn (Eleanor of Aquitaine), Judi Dench (Elizabeth I and Victoria), Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth I), and Helen Mirren (Elizabeth II) in winning for a royal turn.
Both her co-stars Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz were nominated for best supporting actress, with Weisz winning out. She paid tribute to her co-stars, saying: “I salute you! Didn’t we have an extraordinary time. Hats off, ladies.”
It was a terrific night for The Favourite but it lost out to widely-lauded tear-jerker Roma in the best film category. Its director Alfonso Cuarón was named best director. Missing out were Yorgos Lanthimos, Spike Lee, Bradley Cooper and Pawel Pawlikowski. It also won best cinematography and best film not in foreign language.
Cuaron thanked Netflix for having the “faith and courage to get behind a black-and-white film about a domestic worker, subtitled from Spanish and bring it to audiences around the world.
“To see a film about an indigenous domestic worker embraced this way in an age when fear and anger propose to divide us means the world to me.
“Reverting back to a world of separation and isolation is not a solution to anything. It is simple an excuse to hide our fear within our basest instincts.”
If there was an underlying theme of the evening, apart from the odd jibe at Brexit, then it was diversity in the industry.
