The King’s Speech, with Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, and Geoffrey Rush.
BAFTA Awards 2011: Real-life-inspired, crowd-pleasing British drama The King’s Speech is the big winner
Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech was the big winner at the British Academy Awards, a.k.a. BAFTA Awards (or simply BAFTAs), held on Feb. 13 at London’s Royal Opera House. But the period drama’s domination wasn’t exactly a “clean sweep.”
The tale of how King George VI lost his stutter, The King’s Speech won a total of seven Baftas: Best Film, Best British Film, Best Actor (Colin Firth), Best Supporting Actor (Geoffrey Rush), Best Supporting Actress (Helena Bonham Carter), Best Original Screenplay (David Seidler), and Best Original Score (Alexandre Desplat).
That’s not bad at all. Yet the Best Director Bafta went to David Fincher for the U.S.-made The Social Network, which also won awards for Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin) and – beating The King’s Speech – Best Editing (Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter).
Tom Hooper as ‘thorough’ as ‘not very edifying medical appointment’
At the Bafta ceremony, after winning his second consecutive Best Actor award Colin Firth opted to provide what some would call TMI. His speech included the following revelation:
The day I first sat down with (director) Tom Hooper I had to postpone a routine but not very edifying medical appointment. But as the work went on it became apparent that Tom’s methods were every bit as thorough, surprising and effective as the ones I thought I had avoided.
Last year, Firth took home a Bafta statuette for his performance in Tom Ford’s A Single Man.
Hollywood story in London
Tom Hooper came up with a Hollywood-style story to explain the success of The King’s Speech. While accepting the Best British Film Award, Hooper told the Royal Opera House crowd:
This film began with a little boy with a stammer listening to the radio and thinking, if the King of England can do it then so can I, and that boy was our writer David Seidler.
Seidler, for his part, remarked, “Let me tell you that for a stutterer, a stammerer, to be heard is a wonderful thing.”
Best Actress Natalie Portman
The Best Actress – hardly an unexpected choice – was Natalie Portman for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. Lee Unkrich’s Disney/Pixar release Toy Story 3 was the Best Animated Feature winner, while Four Lions director/co-screenwriter Chris Morris won the Bafta for Outstanding Debut.
Tim Burton, who presented the British Academy of Film’s Fellowship Award to veteran Christopher Lee (The Horror of Dracula, The Wicker Man), had one of his own efforts recognized by the Baftas: the 3D-converted fantasy Alice in Wonderland won two awards, Best Make-Up and Hair and Best Costume Design, in both instances beating The King’s Speech.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster Inception won three Baftas: Best Sound, Best Production Design, and Best Visual Effects. The King’s Speech was up for the first two.
J.K. Rowling & Harry Potter movies
Author J.K. Rowling, whose Harry Potter bestsellers have been transformed into Harry Potter blockbusters – and recipients of a special award at the 2011 Bafta ceremony – admitted:
It is very strange to look back after seven films and remember how wary I was of putting Harry on the big screen. I kept saying no. But being involved with these films has been one of the best experiences of my life.
But the Bafta for best speech line should go to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo producer Søren Stærmose, who confessed:
We all know that Lisbeth Salander is the scariest thing coming out of Sweden since ABBA.
BAFTA Awards 2011: Winners & nominations
Best Film
Black Swan – Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver & Scott Franklin
Inception – Emma Thomas & Christopher Nolan
* The King’s Speech – Iain Canning, Emile Sherman & Gareth Unwin
The Social Network – Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca & Ceán Chaffin
True Grit – Scott Rudin and Joel & Ethan CoenBest Film Not in the English Language
Biutiful – Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jon Kilik & Fernando Bavaira
* The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo / Män som hatar kvinnor – Søren Stærmose & Niels Arden Oplev
I Am Love / Io sono l’amore – Luca Guadagnino, Francesco Melzi D’Eril, Marco Morabito & Massimiliano Violante
Of Gods and Men / Des hommes et des dieux – Xavier Beauvois, Pascal Caucheteux & Étienne Comar
The Secret in Their Eyes / El secreto de sus ojos – Mariela Besuievsky & Juan José CampanellaBest British Film
Another Year – Mike Leigh & Georgina Lowe
Four Lions – Chris Morris, Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Mark Herbert & Derrin Schlesinger
* The King’s Speech – Tom Hooper, David Seidler, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman & Gareth Unwin
Made in Dagenham – Nigel Cole, William Ivory, Elizabeth Karlsen & Stephen Woolley
127 Hours – Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy, Christian Colson & John SmithsonBest Director
Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
Danny Boyle – 127 Hours
* David Fincher – The Social Network
Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan – InceptionBest Actress
Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
Julianne Moore – The Kids Are All Right
* Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Noomi Rapace – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hailee Steinfeld – True GritBest Actor
Javier Bardem – Biutiful
Jeff Bridges – True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
* Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
James Franco – 127 HoursBest Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – The Fighter
* Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Barbara Hershey – Black Swan
Lesley Manville – Another Year
Miranda Richardson – Made in DagenhamBest Supporting Actor
Christian Bale – The Fighter
Andrew Garfield – The Social Network
Pete Postlethwaite – The Town
Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right
* Geoffrey Rush – The King’s SpeechBest Original Screenplay
Black Swan – Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz & John McLaughlin
The Fighter – Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception – Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right – Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
* The King’s Speech – David SeidlerBest Adapted Screenplay
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Rasmus Heisterberg & Nikolaj Arcel
127 Hours – Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
* The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 – Michael Arndt
True Grit – Joel & Ethan CoenBest Cinematography
Black Swan – Matthew Libatique
Inception – Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech – Danny Cohen
127 Hours – Anthony Dod Mantle & Enrique Chediak
* True Grit – Roger DeakinsBest Film Editing
Black Swan – Andrew Weisblum
Inception – Lee Smith
The King’s Speech – Tariq Anwar
127 Hours – Jon Harris
* The Social Network – Angus Wall & Kirk BaxterBest Original Music
Alice in Wonderland – Danny Elfman
How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell
Inception – Hans Zimmer
* The King’s Speech – Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours – A.R. RahmanBest Production Design
Alice in Wonderland – Robert Stromberg & Karen O’Hara
Black Swan – Thérèse DePrez & Tara Peterson
* Inception – Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias & Doug Mowat
The King’s Speech – Eve Stewart & Judy Farr
True Grit – Jess Gonchor & Nancy HaighBest Costume Design
* Alice in Wonderland – Colleen Atwood
Black Swan – Amy Westcott
The King’s Speech – Jenny Beavan
Made in Dagenham – Louise Stjernsward
True Grit – Mary ZophresBest Animated Film
Despicable Me – Chris Renaud & Pierre Coffin
How to Train Your Dragon – Chris Sanders & Dean DeBlois
* Toy Story 3 – Lee UnkrichBest Special Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland – Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Sean Phillips & Carey Villegas
Black Swan – Dan Schrecker, Henrik Fett, Michael Capton & William Kalinoski
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Nicolas Aithadi & Christian Manz
* Inception – Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley & Peter Bebb
Toy Story 3 – Guido Quaroni, Michael Fong & David RyuBest Sound
Black Swan – Ken Ishii, Craig Henighan & Dominick Tavella
* Inception – Richard King, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo & Ed Novick
The King’s Speech – John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Paul Hamblin & Martin Jensen
127 Hours – Glenn Freemantle, Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Steven C. Laneri & Douglas Cameron
True Grit – Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, Peter Kurland & Douglas AxtellBest Makeup and Hair
* Alice in Wonderland – Valli O’Reilly & Paul Gooch
Black Swan – Judy Chin & Geordie Sheffer
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 – Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin & Nick Dudman
The King’s Speech – Frances Hannon
Made in Dagenham – Elizabeth Yianni-GeorgiouOutstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
The Arbor – Clio Barnard & Tracy O’Riordan
Exit Through the Gift Shop – Banksy & Jaimie D’Cruz
* Four Lions – Chris Morris
Monsters – Gareth Edwards
Skeletons – Nick WhitfieldBest Short Film
Connect – Samuel Abrahams & Beau Gordon
Lin – Piers Thompson & Simon Hessel
Rite – Michael Pearce, Ross McKenzie & Paul Welsh
Turning – Karni Arieli, Saul Freed, Alison Sterling & Kat Armour-Brown
* Until the River Runs Red – Paul Wright & Poss KondeatisBest Short Animation
* The Eagleman Stag – Michael Please
Matter Fisher – David Prosser
Thursday – Matthias HoeggEE Rising Star Award
Gemma Arterton
Andrew Garfield
* Tom Hardy
Emma Stone
Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Hollywood Rules BAFTA Longlists – but no Sandra Bullock
Earlier post: Looking at this year’s British Academy of Film and Television Award longlists, two things become (once again) obvious: a) The British Academy should have its name changed to the “Hollywood Academy.” b) No hype, no glory.
Regarding item a): Of the 15 films on the Best Film longlist, 11 are US productions, three are British (including the Oscar-friendly The King’s Speech), one is the Swedish blockbuster The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Of the 15 Best Actor contenders, two are British (Oscar favorite Colin Firth and Another Year’s Jim Broadbent), one is international Spanish star Javier Bardem (Biutiful), and the other 12 are either American actors or actors in American films.
Of the 15 Best Actress contenders seven are performers in American films, one is the Swedish Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and the other seven are British performers or performers in British films, e.g., Tilda Swinton, Gemma Arterton, Carey Mulligan, Sally Hawkins. Among these, the only name with little to no international recognition is Brighton Rock’s Andrea Riseborough.
Of the 15 Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress contenders, respectively ten and nine were featured in American productions. Of the 30 titles in the running for Best Screenplay (Original and Adapted), 17 are U.S.-made.
Among the British or part-British films that failed to nab a nomination in the Best Film category are: Four Lions, Monsters, The Arbor, In Our Name, Cemetery Junction, The Disappearance of Alice Creed, Tamara Drewe, Kick-Ass, and, surprisingly, Roman Polanski’s acclaimed The Ghost Writer.
Or perhaps not that surprisingly. Perhaps the BAFTA committee members who select the longlists opted not to offend the American media and their potential American audience. (As The Ghost, The Ghost Writer was included in a mere three categories: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Music, and Best Supporting Actress [Olivia Williams].)
Regarding item b): Remember Sandra Bullock? The top box office attraction in 2009 in the United States? The actress who gave such good speeches in late 2009 that everyone was voting for her in early 2010 so she would enliven their otherwise tedious awards ceremonies? Sandra Bullock – last year’s Golden Globe winner, SAG Award winner, and Academy Award winner. Can’t remember her?
Well, you’re not alone. Neither could the British Academy voters. Bullock, last year’s awards-season darling and Oscar winner for The Blind Side, is nowhere to be found on the BAFTA longlist even though her film was eligible this year. But Sandra Bullock is so 2010, you know? No hype, no glory.
Five years ago, actor Philip Seymour Hoffman and actor-turned-screenwriter Dan Futterman were winning every award in sight for the 2005 drama Capote. Too bad their movie opened in London only in 2006. When the London Film Critics’ Circle announced their nominees in December 2006, Capote was shortlisted in only two categories (actor and screenplay) – it lost both. By then, Capote, much like another 2005 favorite, George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck., was deemed passe.
So much for those who insist that critics, and academy and guild members vote with their conscience; that hype and the incessant awards-season Oscar buzz don’t influence their vote. Sure there are exceptions: a few hours ago, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, hardly what one would call a major Oscar contender, won the National Society of Film Critics’ Best Actress award for the little-seen (in the US) Vincere. But such choices – unfortunately – are just that, the exceptions.
“BAFTA Awards 2011: Stuttering King” notes
Sources for the Colin Firth, Tom Hooper, David Seidler, J.K. Rowling, and Søren Stærmose Bafta speeches: The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, Agence France Presse.
Bafta winners Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, and Colin Firth The King’s Speech image: The Weinstein Company.
*last modified in January 2026.