LONDON EVENING STANDARD 2007 Winners
Dame Judi Dench roughs up Cate Blanchett after learning that her Notes on a Scandal co-star 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, 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 into 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 2007 winners.)
Personally, I think that Judi Dench’s win is not only deserving — she evokes empathy for a potential villainess — 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 flawless 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 (actually co-written with Jeremy Brock), 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 (above, with Harry Treadaway and Luke Treadaway), 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, while chasing a mad terrorist at the airport, while having his balls busted, while … I’d better stop here.
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Tags: Anthony Dod Mantle, Brothers of the Head, Daniel Craig, Film Awards, Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, London Evening Standard Awards, Notes on a Scandal, The Queen, United 93
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