BAFTAs 2023 recap: The five big things that happened tonight
The BAFTAs 2023 have wrapped for another year and, as with all good awards ceremonies, there were some special moments, some that absolutely weren’t meant to happen.
Over 20 awards gongs were handed out for everything from sound design to international film and leading male and females, as well as best film.
But here are the three key events you need to know from tonight’s BAFTAs, plus all the big awards winners from the awards show at the Royal Festival Hall.
1) Carey Mulligan was wrongly award the Best Supporting Actress gong – and then had it taken away
Oh, the awkwardness. Two people delivered the Best Supporting Actress gong with sign language, but the interpreter wrongly said that Mulligan had won for Me Too movie She said. She hadn’t: it was Kerry Condon who had actually won and E Grant jokingly called for a defibrillator for Mulligan so she could calm down.
Luckily, the BBC had a delay to their live BAFTAs broadcast so they managed to edit out the gaffe – even though it was a bad edit and plenty of people on social media noticed anyway. Oops. Editors hardly kept the secret well when they panned to Mulligan during the last half an hour of the show when the broadcast went properly live – E Grant even made a joke about how they hoped nothing would go wrong.
2) Helen Mirren delivered a touching tribute to the late Queen
Helen Mirren, who played the Queen in the 2006 movie of the same name, was tasked with delivering a touching speech about the late Queen. She said: “Cinema at its best does what Her Majesty did effortlessly. Bring us together and unite us.”
Following Mirren’s short speech, audio of the late Queen speaking about the value of the arts was played. “We can see elements of our shared humanity” in the arts, the Queen was heard saying.
Mirren ended her speech by saying: “Your Majesty you are our nation’s leading star, on behalf of BAFTA, thank you.”
3) Richard E Grant made a Will Smith Oscars slap joke
Yep, he went there. Sauntering into the BAFTAs wearing an ostentatious white cape, Withnail & I actor E Grant said “nobody on my watch gets slapped tonight – except on the back,” a cheeky reference to Will Smith’s controversial slapping of Chris Rock on the face at last year’s Oscars ceremony.
4) The big BAFTAs winners were….
Austin Butler took Best Actor for Elvis biopic Elvis, Cate Blanchett for musical composition film Tar, and World War 1 drama All Quiet on the Western Front took Best Film. Best Supporting Actress went to Kerry Condon for Banshees of Inisherin and Barry Keoghan also won Best Supporting actor for the same film. It was a big night for Banshees, which was also named outstanding British film.
Overall though, All Quiet on the Western Front was the biggest winner, with seven gongs, including best adapted screenplay, best film not in the English language and best director.
5) Alison Hammond was a class act in hosting duties – even if there weren’t any big moments
Alright, we were honestly expecting gaffes and bigger laughs from Hammond, who is one of a few people to have made Harrison Ford laugh. She might not have had any viral moments, but she did a brilliant job on presenting duty, looking resplendent in a black shiny gown.
The chemistry wasn’t off the charts, but E Grant and Hammond weren’t cringey either.
You can watch the BAFTAs on BBC iPlayer
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