Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” wins best pic at BAFTA Awards

PanARMENIAN.Net - BAFTA went mad about the boy on Sunday, Feb 8 night in London, with Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” picking up the prizes for best picture and director, as well as supporting actress, Variety reports.

It was a night at the Royal Opera House where almost everything went to form.

There were no surprises in the acting races, with Eddie Redmayne, Julianne Moore, J.K. Simmons and Patricia Arquette all winning — confirming their status as clear favorites for the Oscars in two weeks’ time.

As well as taking the best actor award, James Marsh’s “The Theory of Everything” made up for missing out in the best picture race by taking the award for outstanding British film and the prize for adapted screenplay.

It was a grand night for Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” winning five awards: original screenplay, original music, makeup and hair, production design and costume design.

Neither Linklater nor Anderson were present because of a scheduling clash with the Directors Guild of America awards the previous night in Los Angeles.

“Whiplash” drummed up three laurels, adding sound and editing to the supporting actor prize.

Writer Stephen Beresford and producer David Livingstone won the BAFTA for outstanding British debut by a writer, director or producer, for their collaboration on “Pride.”

Pawel Pawlikowski’s stunning black-and-white “Ida” won best film not in the English language. This marked a unique triple for Pawlikowski, who previously won the BAFTAs for outstanding British debut (for “Last Resort”) and outstanding British film (for “My Summer of Love”). He joked that he might as well get a lifetime achievement award straight away.

“Birdman” took the cinematography prize, its only award, and one of the more unexpected winners of the night. More predictably, “Citizenfour” won the documentary prize.

Stephen Hawking received a standing ovation for presenting the special vfx prize to “Interstellar.”

Jack O’Connell was named the BAFTA EE Rising Star, voted by the public.

As previously announced, the BAFTA for outstanding contribution to British cinema was handed to BBC Films on its 25th anniversary. Topper Christine Langan, herself a BAFTA best film winner a few years back for producing “The Queen,” accepted the honor, declaring, “British talent is simply the business.”

Richard Attenborough, the former BAFTA president who died last year, was the subject of a special tribute headlined by a heartfelt recorded message from Robert Downey Jr., who starred in Attenborough’s “Chaplin.”

Mike Leigh was honored with the BAFTA fellowship, although “Mr. Turner” failed to take any awards on the night.