Adrien Brody poses with the main actor award for ‘The Brutalist’ on the 78th British Academy Movie Awards, BAFTA’s, in London, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025. (Picture by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)
LONDON — Papal thriller ” Conclave ” received 4 prizes together with greatest image on Sunday on the 2025 British Academy Movie Awards (BAFTA), the place genre-bending musical ” Emilia Pérez ” proved that it’s nonetheless an awards contender regardless of a multipronged backlash that appeared to have dented its probabilities.
At a ceremony the place no movie dominated, “The Brutalist” equaled the awards tally of “Conclave,” scooping 4 trophies, together with greatest director for Brady Corbet and greatest actor for Adrien Brody. Mikey Madison received the most effective actress prize for Brooklyn tragicomedy “Anora.”
“Conclave,” which stars Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal corralling conniving clergy as they elect a brand new pope, beat “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “Emilia Pérez” and Bob Dylan biopic ” A Full Unknown ” to the highest prize. “Conclave” was additionally named excellent British movie and took trophies for enhancing and tailored screenplay.
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Supporting performer prizes went to Kieran Culkin for “A Actual Ache” and Zoe Saldaña for “Emilia Pérez,” which additionally received the award for greatest movie not within the English language.
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Karla Sofía Gascón, who stars because the titular transgender ex-cartel boss in “Emilia Pérez,” was a best-actress nominee however didn’t attend the ceremony. Gascón has withdrawn from selling the movie, which has 13 Oscar nominations, amid controversy over her social media posts disparaging Muslims, George Floyd and variety on the Oscars.
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The movie’s director, Jacques Audiard, has condemned these feedback, however in an acceptance speech thanked Gascón alongside along with her co-stars Saldaña and Selena Gomez.
“I’m deeply pleased with what we have now all achieved collectively,” he stated.
From the BAFTAs to the Oscars
Stars together with Cynthia Erivo, Hugh Grant, Ariana Grande, Lupita Nyong’o, Timothée Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan walked the crimson carpet at London’s Royal Competition Corridor for the awards, often called BAFTAs. The British prizes typically present clues about who will triumph at Hollywood’s Academy Awards on March 2, in an unusually hard-to-call awards season.
In addition they have a distinctly British accent. The ceremony kicked off with its kilt-wearing host, Scottish actor David Tennant, main the viewers in a rousing singalong of The Proclaimers’ anthem “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).”
Madison received the feminine appearing trophy for her powerhouse efficiency as an unique dancer entangled with a Russian oligarch’s son in “Anora.” She beat Gascón, Demi Moore for body-horror movie ” The Substance,” Ronan for “The Outrun,” Erivo for “Depraved” and Marianne Jean-Baptiste for “Laborious Truths.”
In her acceptance speech, Madison despatched a message to the intercourse employee group.
“You deserve respect and human decency. I’ll at all times be a buddy and an ally and I implore others to do the identical,” she stated.
Brody beat competitors from Fiennes, Chalamet, who performs the younger Dylan in “A Full Unknown,” Grant for the horror movie ” Heretic,” Colman Domingo for jail drama ” Sing Sing ” and Sebastian Stan for his portrayal of a younger Donald Trump in ” The Apprentice.”
Brody, who performs a Hungarian-Jewish architect within the postwar United States, stated “The Brutalist” carried a robust message for our divided instances.
“It speaks to the necessity for all of us to share within the accountability of how we wish others to be handled and the way we need to be handled by others,” he stated. “There’s no place any extra for antisemitism. There’s no place for racism.”
“The Brutalist” additionally received prizes for its cinematography and musical rating.
Saldaña received for her function as a lawyer who helps the title character in “Emilia Pérez” transition to a girl and out of a lifetime of crime. She known as the movie “the inventive problem of a lifetime.”
“A Actual Ache,” about mismatched cousins on a visit to discover their roots, received the BAFTA for greatest unique screenplay, in addition to Culkin’s appearing award.
“I’d wish to share this with my spouse, who didn’t come as a result of she didn’t suppose I’d win,” quipped writer-director Jesse Eisenberg, who additionally co-starred within the movie.
Claymation caper “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” received awards for greatest animated characteristic and greatest household and youngsters’s movie.
Sci-fi epic “Dune: Half Two” received prizes for sound and visible results, whereas blockbuster musical ” Depraved” took the costume and manufacturing design trophies.
Rising stars and lifelong honors
Most BAFTA winners are chosen by 8,000 members of the U.Ok. academy of trade professionals, with one — the Rising Star Award —- chosen by public vote from a shortlist of nominees. This yr’s winner was David Jonsson, star of excessive finance TV drama sequence “Business” and London rom-com “Rye Lane.”
“Star, I don’t know,” he stated. “However rising, I assume.”
The prize for greatest British debut went to Wealthy Peppiatt, writer-director of Irish-language hip-hop drama “Kneecap.”
“Willow” and “Return of the Jedi” actor Warwick Davis acquired the academy’s prime honor, the BAFTA Fellowship, for his display profession and work to create a extra inclusive movie trade.
The three-foot, 6-inch (1.1-meter) actor based a expertise company for actors below 5 ft tall, as a result of, he stated, “quick actors weren’t recognized for his or her expertise, simply their top.”
“That is the most effective factor that’s ever occurred to me — and I’ve been in ‘Star Wars,’” Davis stated as he accepted his award.
This awards season has been clouded by final month’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires, and BAFTA chairwoman Sara Putt despatched a message of power to everybody affected,
The occasion was and not using a sprint of royal glamour this yr. Neither Prince William, who’s honorary president of the British movie academy, nor his spouse Kate attended the ceremony, which coincided with faculty holidays for his or her three youngsters.
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William, 42, despatched a video message, recorded throughout a go to to fulfill college students on the London Display screen Academy on Wednesday.
Through the go to, the inheritor to the throne mentioned his personal viewing habits, saying he’d watched World Conflict II drama “Darkest Hour” and had begun post-apocalyptic TV drama “The Final of Us.” He stated he discovered it “fairly full on” and didn’t make it to the top.
