Celebrity

‘All Quiet’ Wins 7 BAFTAs, Including Best Film, At UK Awards

Published

1 year ago

2023-02-21

LONDON, England BAFTA— The antiwar German film “All Quiet on the Western Front” won seven awards, including best picture, at the British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, bolstering the somber drama’s momentum as awards season approaches its climax at the Oscars next month.

The Irish tragicomedy “The Banshees of Inisherin” and the rock biopic “Elvis” won four awards.

Edward Berger won the best director award for his film “All Quiet,” a visceral depiction of life and death in World War I trenches based on Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel. It also won awards for the best-adapted screenplay, cinematography, best score, best sound, and best film not in English.

Austin Butler won best actor for his performance in “Elvis.” The dazzling musical by Baz Lurhmann also won awards for casting, costume design, and hair and makeup. Cate Blanchett was named best actress for her performance in the orchestral drama “Tár.”

Martin McDonagh’s “Banshees,” a bleakly comic story about a sour friendship, was named the best British film.

“Best what award?” McDonagh joked about the film, shot in Ireland with a predominantly Irish cast and crew. The British government funds it, and McDonagh was born in the United Kingdom to Irish parents.

The BAFTA Awards Was A Star-Studded Affair

“Banshees” also won for McDonagh’s original screenplay, as well as best supporting actress Kerry Condon and best-supporting actor Barry Keoghan.

The awards, officially known as the EE BAFTA Film Awards, are Britain’s equivalent of Hollywood’s Academy Awards and will be closely watched for hints as to who will win at the Oscars on March 12.

The Academy Award frontrunner, “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once,” was the night’s big loser, winning only one of its ten BAFTA nominations for editing.

The ceremony at London’s Royal Festival Hall was hosted by actor Richard E. Grant, who was suave and self-deprecating, with help from TV presenter Alison Hammond. The U.K.’s film academy lauded its efforts to become more diverse but said there was still work to be done.

In his opening monologue, Grant made a joke about the infamous Oscars brawl between Will Smith and Chris Rock.

“Nobody gets slapped tonight on my watch,” he said. “Except the back.”

Colin Farrell, Ana de Armas, Eddie Redmayne, Brian Cox, Florence Pugh, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Cynthia Erivo, Julianne Moore, and Lily James were the guests and presenters who walked the red carpet on the south bank of the River Thames.

Helen Mirren paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

The throne’s heir The audience included Prince William, president of the British Film and Television Academy, and his wife, Kate. William wore a tuxedo with a black velvet jacket, while Kate wore a floor-length Alexander McQueen gown, which she also wore to the BAFTAs in 2019.

Helen Mirren paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, William’s grandmother, who died in September. Mirren, who played the late Queen in “The Queen” and “The Audience,” called Elizabeth “the nation’s leading lady.”

In 2020, the British Film Academy made changes to increase the awards’ diversity, as no women were nominated for best director for the seventh year in a row, and all 20 nominees in the lead and supporting performer categories were white.

This year, 11 female directors were nominated for awards in all categories, including documentary and animated films. Only one of the main best-director nominees, Gina Prince-Bythewood for “The Woman King,” was a woman.

BAFTA chair Krishnendu Majumdar described the academy’s soul-searching as “necessary and humbling.” He stated that the “crucial work of leveling the playing field” would be continued.

Ariana DeBose, who starred in “West Side Story,” opened the show with “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves,” which included a rap shoutout to some of the nominated women, including Blanchett, Michelle Yeoh, and Viola Davis.

“It’s been an extraordinary year for female performers,” Blanchett said. To be counted among them is truly unique.”

The Irish BAFTA’s

Irish actors had a strong year at the BAFTAs, with Deryl McCormack nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star award — which he lost to Emma Mackey — and Condon, Keoghan, Farrell, and Brendan Gleeson all receiving acting nominations for “Banshees.”

The event was dubbed “the Irish BAFTAs” by McCormack.

“It’s a small country, but the talent that comes out of it is incredible,” he said.

Charlotte Wells won the award for best British debut for her touching father-daughter drama “Aftersun.” Sandy Powell, a three-time Oscar winner, became the first costume designer to receive the BAFTA fellowship.

The harsh world outside showbiz intruded on the awards when Bulgarian journalist Christo Grozev, who works for the investigative website Bellingcat, said he was no longer allowed to attend due to a threat to public security. He appears in “Navalny,” a documentary about imprisoned Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny that won the BAFTA for best documentary.

Odessa Rae, the producer of “Navalny,” dedicated the award to Grozev, who she described as “our Bulgarian nerd with a laptop who couldn’t be with us tonight because his life is under threat by the Russian government and Vladimir Putin.”

Jamie Lee Curtis, a supporting actress nominee for “Everything, Everything,” said the opportunity to celebrate cinema provided by awards season is more important than who wins.

“It’s a moment of celebration amid everything,” Curtis said on the red carpet to The Associated Press. “It’s tough out there. Everywhere. At the same time. Every time.”

SOURCE – (AP)

Celebrity

Yoko Ono To Receive Edward MacDowell Medal For Lifetime Achievement

Published

19 hours ago

2024-04-22

Kiara Grace

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NEW YORK — MacDowell, one of the country’s finest artist residence programs, has honored Yoko Ono with a lifetime achievement award. The trailblazing artist, filmmaker, and musician will receive the Edward MacDowell Medal this year, following in the footsteps of Stephen Sondheim and Toni Morrison, among others.

“There has never been anyone like her; there has never been work like hers,” MacDowell board chairman Nell Painter said in a statement Sunday.

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Yoko Ono To Receive Edward MacDowell Medal For Lifetime Achievement

“Over seven decades, she has pleased eyes, aroused mind, encouraged feminism, and supported refugees with imaginative works. Enduringly new and contemporary, her unusually powerful output resonates to our current times, which are in desperate need of her leitmotif: peace.”

In a statement, Ono’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, described the award as “an incredible honor.”

“The history and list of prior awardees are extremely impressive. It makes me very glad to see her work valued and celebrated in this manner,” he remarked.

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Yoko Ono To Receive Edward MacDowell Medal For Lifetime Achievement

Ono, 91, has made few public appearances in recent years and is unlikely to attend the July honors event at the MacDowell campus in Peterborough, New Hampshire. David Newgarden, Ono’s music manager, will receive the award on her behalf.

Ono first rose to prominence as a member of the avant-garde Fluxus movement of the 1960s, before becoming internationally famous after meeting John Lennon, with whom she married from 1969 until his death in 1980. Their many collaborations included the songs “Give Peace a Chance,” “Imagine,” and “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” which served as the foundation for “War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko,” this year’s Oscar-winning animated short film.

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Yoko Ono To Receive Edward MacDowell Medal For Lifetime Achievement

Over the last 40 years, Ono has had a busy career as a visual and recording artist, with albums like “Season of Glass,” “Starpeace,” and “Take Me to the Land of Hell.” She was recently featured in a career retrospective at London’s Tate Modern.

SOURCE – (AP)

Celebrity

Dick Van Dyke Earns Historic Daytime Emmy Nomination At Age 98

Published

2 days ago

2024-04-21

Kiara Grace

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Los Angeles — Dick Van Dyke, 98, is contending for a historic Daytime Emmy.

The actor was nominated Friday as a guest star in a daytime drama series for his role as amnesiac Timothy Robicheaux on Peacock’s “Days of Our Lives.”

Van Dyke is the oldest daytime Emmy nominee. When producer Norman Lear won his final Primetime Emmy nomination in 2022, he was 100 years old. He died the following year.

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Dick Van Dyke Earns Historic Daytime Emmy Nomination At Age 98

Van Dyke is up against Guy Pearce, an Australian actor from Amazon Prime Video’s “Neighbours.”

Van Dyke earned four Primetime Emmys, including three in the 1960s, for his legendary comedy series “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

Selena Gomez, an actor and singer, is nominated in the culinary series category for her Food Network special “Selena + Chef: Home for the Holidays.” The Food Network’s “Valerie’s Home Cooking,” hosted by actor Valerie Bertinelli and which concluded last year, is also nominated in that category.

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Dick Van Dyke Earns Historic Daytime Emmy Nomination At Age 98

CBS will cancel “The Talk” after its 15th season later this year. Akbar Gbajabiamila, Amanda Kloots, Natalie Morales, Jerry O’Connell, and Sheryl Underwood were nominated for daytime talk show hosting.

The main actress nominations are Tamara Braun of “Days of Our Lives,” Finola Hughes and Cynthia Watros of “General Hospital,” Katherine Kelly Lang and Annika Noelle of “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and Michelle Stafford of “The Young and the Restless.”

The lead actor nominees include Eric Braeden of “The Young and the Restless,” Scott Clifton, Thorsten Kaye, and John McCook of “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and Eric Martsolf of “Days of Our Lives.”

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Dick Van Dyke Earns Historic Daytime Emmy Nomination At Age 98

The Daytime Emmys will be broadcast live on CBS on June 7 in Los Angeles. The show is back to its regular schedule after being postponed until December due to strikes by Hollywood performers and writers. The hosts and Lifetime Achievement award recipients will be announced later.

SOURCE – AP

Celebrity

Recently Arrested Morgan Wallen Says He’s “Not Proud” Of Behavior

Published

2 days ago

2024-04-21

Kiara Grace

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Nashville, Tennessee – Morgan Wallen, a country music singer facing charges coming in part from allegations that he tossed a chair off the rooftop of a six-story club, says he is “not proud” of his actions and accepts responsibility.

The “One Thing at a Time” singer took to social media Friday night to comment to his arrest in Nashville two weeks earlier. According to court documents, he was charged with three felony charges of reckless endangerment and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. He is scheduled to appear in court on May 3.

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Recently Arrested Morgan Wallen Says He’s “Not Proud” Of Behavior

According to an arrest document, the chair at Chief’s pub landed about 3 feet (1 meter) from officers, who spoke with witnesses and checked CCTV footage. Witnesses informed police that they saw Wallen take up a chair, throw it over the roof, and laugh about it. Wallen was arrested early on April 8 and later freed.

“I didn’t feel comfortable checking in publicly until I had made apologies with some people. I’ve contacted Nashville police enforcement, my family, and the friendly staff at Chief’s. I’m not proud of my actions, and I accept responsibility,” Wallen stated on X (previously Twitter).

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Recently Arrested Morgan Wallen Says He’s “Not Proud” Of Behavior

Wallen, one of the most well-known artists in contemporary country music, is now on a stadium tour that includes a concert on Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi.

“I have the greatest regard for the cops who labor every day to keep us all safe. “There will be no changes to my tour,” his reply read, signed “-MW.”

The “One Thing at a Time” album topped the Billboard 200 for 16 weeks in 2023 and was the best-selling album in the United States last year. The top ten successes from the album included “Last Night,” “You Proof,” and “Thinkin’ Bout Me.”

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Recently Arrested Morgan Wallen Says He’s “Not Proud” Of Behavior

In 2021, the country artist was suspended indefinitely by his label when a video surfaced showing him uttering a racial slur. He was arrested in 2020 for public intoxication and disorderly conduct after being booted out of Kid Rock’s downtown Nashville bar.

SOURCE – (AP)