LONDON EVENING STANDARD Awards 2007
February 6th, 2007 by Andre Soares
2006 EVENING STANDARD Awards
2006 Evening Standard Award Winners: Savoy Hotel, February 4, 2007
Dame Judi Dench roughs up Cate Blanchett after learning that her Notes on a Scandal co-star has voted for fellow Dame Helen Mirren as best actress of 2006
As The Queen, Helen Mirren has brought back to her castle just about every best actress award in the United States. Ironically, she hasn’t fared all that well in Britain. First, she lost to Kate Dickie (Red Road) at the British Independent Film Awards and now she’s lost the Evening Standard Award to Judi Dench’s lonely and conniving lesbian teacher in Notes
on a Scandal.
As far as the Academy Awards are concerned, there’s no suspense in the best actress category. Barring a meteor crashing on Earth during the Oscar ceremony, Helen Mirren will leave the Kodak Theater with one of those elongated androgynous statuettes in hand.
In her home turf, however, Mirren’s position is more precarious. Although I’d say she’s the favorite at the British Academy of Film awards (Kate Dickie is not in the running, though Judi Dench is), Mirren doesn’t have her name already engraved on the best actress Bafta statuette. (Addendum: I take that totally back. See Bafta winners article.)
Personally, I think that Judi Dench’s win is not only deserving — she turns a potential villainess into an empathetic character — but also welcome. Last year’s films showcased numerous actresses in top form (e.g., Mirren, Dench, Penélope Cruz, Kate Winslet, Annette Bening, Meryl Streep), but U.S. critics, guilds, and Golden Globers — ever the victims of Groupthink Disease — opted to praise the same actress (and oftentimes the same actor, the same two
or three films, the same two or three screenplays, and so on) ad nauseam. With her Evening Standard win, Judi Dench has had her work — which is just as good as Mirren’s — finally recognized by an award-giving group.
Other Evening Standard winners were best film United 93, best screenplay for Peter Morgan for both The Queen and The Last King of Scotland, best comedian Sacha Baron Cohen for Borat, a technical award to cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle for The Last King of Scotland and Brothers of the Head (left), and a special award to Stephen Frears "for making British film reverberate around the world."
And finally, the other big surprise at the Evening Standard awards was Daniel Craig’s best actor win for the dismal (but widely praised) Casino Royale. Craig must have won the award for keeping a straight face while telling friends and foes that he’s bondjamesbond, or while having his balls busted, or while chasing a terrorist at the airport, or … I’d better stop here.
Best Film: United 93 directed by Paul Greengrass
Best Actor: Daniel Craig, Casino Royale
Best Actress: Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Best Screenplay: Peter Morgan, The Queen and The Last King of Scotland
The Peter Sellers Award for Comedy: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Technical Achievement: Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, The Last King of Scotland and Brothers of the Head
Most Promising Newcomer: Director Paul Andrew Williams, London to Brighton
The Alexander Walker Special Award: Director Stephen Frears, "for making British film reverberate around the world"
EVENING STANDARD Awards: 2005 2006 2007
Film Awards: 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
American Cinema Editors (ACE) Awards 2006
American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Awards 2006
Art Directors Guild (ADG) Awards 2006
Cinema Audio Society (CAS) Awards 2006
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Awards 2006
Vancouver Film Critics Awards 2006
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