BAFTA Film Awards 2023: All the best bits from the star-studded ceremony – and a mix-up you won’t have seen on TV

Published

2 years ago

February 20, 2023

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It’s a night to celebrate the best films, actors and filmmakers of the past year, and 2023’s BAFTA Film Awards gave us a re-vamped ceremony, not one but two-hosts, and a brand-new venue.

German anti-war film All Quiet On The Western Front stole the show – bagging half of its 14 awards – and the best actor winner proved a surprise with Elvis’s Austin Butler taking the gong rather than The Banshees Of Inisherin’s Colin Farrell as expected.

With movie stars aplenty, more fashion than you can shake a stick at and some of the film world’s biggest movers and shakers all in one place, here are some of the other big talking points of the BAFTA Film Awards.

Batmobiles, slaps and sausage fingers

There were plenty of silly moments throughout the night, including a skit kicking off the show featuring host Richard E Grant having a laugh with Hollywood comedy legend Steve Martin on Zoom, before jumping into a Batmobile and zooming through the streets of London to host the awards in the new venue, Elizabeth Hall on London’s Southbank.

Grant then continued his comedy routine on stage, donning a long, white cape and labelling himself a “fashion icon” to dish out a joke revolving around “late trains”, before a gag about last year’s Oscars – telling the audience: “Nobody on my watch gets slapped tonight,” before slapping himself, twice (a reference to Will Smith’s infamous slapping of Chris Rock at last year’s Oscars).

Grant also wore two watches to the ceremony, in a nod to the complicated timings of the show tonight – the show was broadcast on the BBC from 7pm but with a delay, however the live event caught up with the broadcast by the end (as some bits were cut) and the final four awards went out live.

Last year’s best supporting actor winner, Troy Kotsur, also dished out some laughs, pulling on a massive, bendy glove, and giving a special wave to best supporting actress nominee Jamie Lee Curtis – in the style of Everything, Everywhere All At Once.

A bit you won’t have seen on the TV…

While it may have been a sparkling evening, there was a little hiccup in the night’s proceedings – and let’s face it, everyone loves a mistake.

As Oscar-winner Kotsur announced the second prize of the night – best supporting actress – via sign language, a miscommunication on the part of the translator resulted in Carrey Mulligan’s name wrongly being called for her performance in She Said.

The announcer quickly corrected the call and announced The Banshees Of Inisherin star Kerry Condon as the winner, who went on to accept her award. It was explained to the press at the event, that while Kotsur and the British Sign Language (BSL) translator had got it right, the American Sign Language (ASL) translator had made the slip up.

Event host Richard E Grant joked later that he had a defibrillator for Mulligan.

With a Carrey and a Kerry in the same category, it’s easy to see how a slip could happen in the heat of the moment. And we can all remember the Oscar mix up when La La Land was wrongly announced as best picture winner instead of Moonlight.. Thanks to the magic of a TV delay and editing, this mistake did not make it to the TV cut.

A political flavour to the night

The first award of the night, best adapted screenplay, also went to All Quiet On The Western Front (a trend that continued through the night), with director Edward Berger paying tribute to those fighting in Ukraine.

Cinematographer James Friend said the film showed how a generation of young German men were “poisoned by right-wing nationalistic propaganda” and he stressed that the film’s message remains “relevant” nearly a century on.

Screenwriter Ian Stokell said the project had been “worth the wait” because the film is anti-war.

Navalny – a film which follows Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his close-knit team as they navigate the months after his poisoning – won best documentary.

Sky News spoke to Navalny’s daighter Dasha Navalny on the red carpet, saying: “It’s a weird feeling being here while he is in prison”.

She said her father is aware of the programme’s BAFTA and Oscar nominations, adding that “he told us to tell him all about it in the letters we were allowed to send”.

On stage, the filmmakers say the documentary was made under “constant surveillance”.

Actress Odessa Rae paid tribute to investigative journalist Christo Grozev who could not be at the ceremony due to “a public security risk”.

“He gave up everything to tell this story, and other stories that need to be told,” Rae said.

Grozev subsequently Tweeted: “Wow.”

Cate Blanchett, Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis were among the stars wearing a blue ribbon to show their solidarity and support for refugees and displaced people around the world, including those affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other events such as the Turkey-Syria earthquake over the past year.

Colin Farrell, Daryl McCormack, Paul Mescal, Bill Nighy and Angela Bassett all showed their support and pinned on a blue ribbon too.

A spokesperson for the organisation said: “The wearing of the blue #WithRefugees ribbon on the red carpet sends a powerful visual message that everyone has the right to seek safety, whoever, wherever, whenever.”

Is diversity an issue once again?

Representation is always a big talking point come awards season, following previous controversies around diversity at both the BAFTAs and the Oscars.

This year, while the Oscars was criticised for failing to nominate any black women in the best actress category, the BAFTAs made changes to voting which ensured more diversity in their nominations across the board.

However, the winners of all four performing categories were white actors, which is likely to raise further questions as to whether enough is being done to improve the diversity and inclusion of our biggest awards shows.

Live music amid the luvvies

Ariana DeBose gave the first performance of the night, singing Sisters with backing performers.

In a contemporary rap, inspired by the 2023 BAFTA nominees, she referenced nominated actresses like Michelle Yeoh, Viola Davis and Jamie Lee Curtis by mentioning their names in her performance.

While she wore a bright pink jumpsuit for her performance, the dress that DeBose wore on the red carpet – a bejewelled nude outfit by Fendi – had plenty of sparkles but left little to the imagination as it was almost entirely sheer, except for a skin-coloured bodysuit underneath.

DeBose later told Hammond she often never watches her performances back, as she gets “a bit judgy [about herself],” but was thrilled “the Brits loved it”.

Rapper Little Simz performed near the end of the show, along with special guest singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading – who showed off her impressive guitar skills live on stage – accompanying Simz in Heart On Fire.

Speaking after the performance, Simz said: “This is my first time [at the BAFTAs] and with the legendary Joan Armatrading… We have great chemistry on stage… When I was 17, I wrote a song called Joan Armatrading so it’s full circle.”

Singer Dylan performed Nothing Lasts Forever ahead of the show’s final four prizes, which helped bridge the gap between the pre-recorded majority of the show, and the final big gongs going out live – the rising star award, best actor and actress and best film.

An emotional farewell

The In Memoriam section of the night is always emotional, but this year possibly even more than most with host Richard E Grant becoming visibly tearful as he introduced the section commemorating all the stars and filmmakers who died in the last 12 months.

Stars including Angela Lansbury, Burt Bacharach, Anne Heche, William Hurt, Leslie Phillips, Olivia Newton-John and Robbie Coltrane were all included in the segment.

Grant lost his wife Joan Washington, a dialect coach, in 2021.

Other stars in the audience who also looked visibly moved included Dame Emma Thompson, Martin Freeman, Naomi Ackie and the Prince and Princess of Wales.

It’s all about the clothes

For the first time, a costume designer – Sandy Powell – took home the prestigious BAFTA fellowship award.

She dedicated her award to the first teacher who taught her how to sew and “to my mum, and mother’s everywhere”.

She did it all in a show-stopping black and white tailored ensemble, proving her win was well and truly well-deserved.

Entertainment

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs loses bid to delay sex-trafficking trial

Published

6 hours ago

April 18, 2025

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Sean 'Diddy' Combs loses bid to delay sex-trafficking trial

Hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has lost a bid to delay his upcoming sex-trafficking trial by two months.

US district judge Arun Subramanian said the 55-year-old rapper made his request too close to his trial, which is due to start next month.

Jury selection is currently scheduled for 5 May with opening statements set to be heard seven days later.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to five criminal counts including racketeering and sex trafficking.

Prosecutors with the Manhattan US attorney’s office accuse Combs of using his business empire to sexually abuse women between 2004 and 2024.

Combs’s lawyers say the sexual activity described by prosecutors was consensual.

In a court filing on Wednesday, Combs’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo asked Mr Subramanian to delay the trial because he needed more time to prepare his defence to two new charges which were brought on 4 April.

The charges were of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Mr Agnifilo also said his team needs extra time to review emails it wants an alleged victim to turn over.

The new allegations brought the total number of criminal charges against the rap mogul to five – following the three original counts, which also included racketeering conspiracy, filed in September.

Federal prosecutors were opposed to any delay, writing in a Thursday court filing that the additional charges brought
earlier this month did not amount to substantially new conduct.

They also said Combs was not entitled to the alleged victim’s communications.

Meanwhile, Mr Subramanian is weighing other evidentiary issues, such as whether to allow alleged victims to testify under pseudonyms.

Also known during his career as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, Combs founded Bad Boy Records and is credited with helping turn rappers and R&B singers such as Notorious B.I.G, Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans and Usher into stars in the 1990s and 2000s.

But prosecutors have said his success concealed a dark side.

They say his alleged abuse included having women take part in recorded sexual performances called “freak-offs” with male sex workers, who were sometimes transported across state lines.

Combs has been in jail in Brooklyn since September, having been denied bail.

He also faces dozens of civil lawsuits by women and men who have accused him of sexual abuse.

Combs has strenuously denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

Entertainment

Warfare’s Alex Garland: ‘Being anti-war is not the same as saying it should never happen’

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24 hours ago

April 18, 2025

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Warfare's Alex Garland: 'Being anti-war is not the same as saying it should never happen'

Alex Garland says while it’s “the most obvious statement about life on this planet” that the world would be a better place without war, it “doesn’t mean it should never happen”, and there are “circumstances in which war is required”.

The Oscar-nominated screenwriter and director told Sky News: “I don’t think it is possible to make a statement about what war is really like without it being implicitly anti-war, inasmuch as it would be better if this thing did not happen.

“But that’s not the same as saying it should never happen. There are circumstances in which war is required.”

His latest film, Warfare, embeds the audience within a platoon of American Navy SEALs on an Iraqi surveillance mission gone wrong, telling the story solely through the memories of war veterans from a real 2006 mission in Ramadi, Iraq.

Garland says the film is “anti-war in as much as it is better if war does not happen,” adding, “and that is about the most obvious statement about life on this planet that one could make.”

Comparing it to ongoing geopolitical conflict across the world, Garland goes on: “It would be better if Gaza had not been flattened. It would be better if Ukraine was not invaded. It would it better if all people’s problems could be solved via dialogue and not threat or violence…

“To be anti-war to me is a rational position, and most veterans I’ve met are anti-war.”

The screenwriter behind hits including Ex Machina, 28 Days Later and The Beach says this film is “an attempt to recreate something as faithfully and accurately as we could”.

‘War veterans feel invisible and forgotten’

Almost entirely based on first-person accounts, the 15-rated film opens with soldiers singing along to the video of Swedish dance hit Call On Me – complete with gyrating women in thong leotards.

It’s the only music in the film. The remaining score is made up of explosions, sniper fire and screams of pain.

Garland co-wrote and co-directed the film alongside Hollywood stuntman and gunfight coordinator Ray Mendoza, whom Garland met on his last film, Civil War.

Mendoza, a communications officer on the fateful mission portrayed in the film, says despite the traumatic content, the experience of making the film was “therapeutic”.

Mendoza told Sky News: “It actually mended a lot of relationships… There were some guys I hadn’t spoken to in a very long time. And this allowed us to bury the hatchet, so to speak, on some issues from that day.”

Turning to Hollywood after serving in the Navy for 16 years, Mendoza says past war film he’d seen – even the good ones – were “a little off” because they “don’t get the culture right”.

Mendoza admits: “You feel like no one cares because they didn’t get it right. You feel invisible. You feel forgotten.”

With screenings of Warfare shown to around 1,000 veterans ahead of general release, Mendoza says: “They finally feel heard. They finally feel like somebody got it right.”

As to whether it could be triggering for some veterans, Mendoza says decisively not: “It’s not triggering. I would say it’s the opposite, for a veteran at least.”

‘I’m an actor – I love my hair’

A tense and raw 90-minute story told in real time, the film’s ensemble cast is made up of young buzzy actors, dubbed “all of the internet’s boyfriends” when the casting was first announced.

Mirroring the Navy SEALs they were portraying, the cast initially bonded through a three-week bootcamp ahead of filming, before living together for the 25-day shoot.

Black Mirror’s Will Poulter, who plays Eric, the officer in charge of the operation, says the film’s extended takes and 360-degree sets demanded a special kind of focus.

Poulter said: “It required everyone to practise something that is fundamental to Navy SEAL mentality – you’re a teammate before you’re an individual.

“When a camera’s roaming around like that and could capture anyone at kind of any moment, it requires that everyone to be ‘on’ at all times and for the sake of each other.

“It becomes less about making sure that you’re performing when the camera lands on you, but as much about this idea that you are performing for the sake of the actor opposite you when the camera’s on them.”

Another of the film’s stars, Reservation Dogs’ D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, plays Mendoza and is the heart of the film.

Woon-A-Tai says the cast drew on tactics used by real soldiers to help with the intense filming schedule: “Laughter is medicine… A lot of times these are long takes, long hours, back-to-back days, so uplifting our spirit was definitely a big part of it.”

He also joked that shaving each other’s heads in a bonding ritual the night before the first day of filming was a daunting task.

“As actors, we love our hair. I mean, I speak personally, I love my hair. You know, I had really long hair. So yeah, it definitely takes a lot of trust. And you know, it wasn’t even at all, but you know it was still fun to do.”

Warfare is in cinemas now.

Entertainment

UB40 say striking Birmingham bin workers ‘shouldn’t give up’

Published

1 day ago

April 18, 2025

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UB40 say striking Birmingham bin workers 'shouldn't give up'

Birmingham band UB40 say the city’s striking bin workers and their union should “keep fighting” in their dispute over pay.

It comes as the government and the council urged them to accept a “fair and reasonable offer”.

“We’re fully on their side,” drummer Jimmy Brown told Sky News. “I think they shouldn’t give up, they should still be fighting.

“Working people shouldn’t have to take a reduction in their incomes, which is what we’re talking about here.

“We’re talking about people being paid less and it seems to me with prices going up, heating, buying food, inflation and rents going up then people need a decent wage to have a half decent life… keep going boys!”

Workers joined picket lines again on Thursday, with some fearing they could be up to £600 a month worse off if they accept the terms.

“We have total utter support for the bin men and all trade unions,” said guitarist Robin Campbell.

“The other side is always going to say they’ve made a reasonable offer – the point is they’re the ones who’ve messed up, they’re the ones who’ve gone bankrupt, they’re the ones now trying to reduce the bin men’s wages.”

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Lead singer Matt Doyle told Sky News: “It’s a shame that what we’re seeing is all the images of rats and rubbish building up, that is going to happen inevitably, but we’ve just got to keep fighting through that.”

About 22,000 tonnes of rubbish accumulated on the city’s streets after a major incident was declared last month by Birmingham City Council.

On a visit to the city, local government minister Jim McMahon said the union and local authority should continue to meet in “good faith” and the government felt there was a deal that could be “marshalled around”.

He paid tribute to the “hundreds of workers” who have worked “around the clock” to clear the rubbish.

“As we stand here today, 85% of that accumulated waste has been cleared and the council have a plan in place now to make sure it doesn’t accumulate going forward,” said Mr McMahon.

Sky News understands talks are not set to resume until next week.