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  1. Bond at the BAFTA's…

    By David Winter on 2002-02-26

    At 8:00pm (GMT), last Sunday, the BAFTA's (The British Academy Of Film And Television Awards) began being broadcast live across the United Kingdom. The awards are very similar to the American "Oscars", and include awards such as:

    Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Movie, etc. This year the event was crammed full of 007 celebrities. Stephen Fry hosted the event which included guests such as: Robbie Coltrane, Dame Judi Dench, Vic Armstrong, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli and Halle Berry.

    Robbie Coltrane was not up for any award this year, however the same could not be said about Dame Judi who was awarded with the prize for "PERFORMANCE by an ACTRESS in a LEADING ROLE". Eon productions were given a special award for 40 years of James Bond. Michael G. Wilson gave an impressive speech on the history of the production company, however Barbara Broccoli, seemed to stay rather quiet.

    Both Halle Berry and Dame Judi Dench presented awards, while Sir. Richard Attenborough presented the "MICHAEL BALCON AWARD for British Contrbution to Cinema" to Bond-Veteran and action genius, Vic Armstrong. Before Vic came to claim his award a montage of video footage depicting his career was shown, it included interviews with Harrison Ford, who spoke of his days with Vic on Indiana Jones, and Pierce Brosnan, whom said that Vic was the backbone to the Bond films. On another note, it looked like Pierce was in the costume or special effects department of a film set, I would assume it was Bond 20, as the awards are not finalised until very close to the event, therefore the video may have been a last miniute tribute to the Bond legend.

    However the highlight of the event for Bond fans, must have been the Bond spoof made by Pierce Brosnan (James Bond) and John Cleese (Q, not R). It began with a mixture of scenes from previous Bond films, then moved on into what looked to be a quickly made up Q-Branch, complete with a PC showing the image of "a red tinted" Aston Martin V12 Vanquish. Q equipped 007 with a bow-tie, Omega Seamaster watch, and a host load of jokes about speeches dragging on, and the extremeley British BAFTA host – Stephen Fry. Unfortunatley unlike what many had speculated there was still no mention on the title of Bond 20.

    For a full list of winners visit the official BAFTA website (you can also find the times of international broadcasting of the BAFTA's, in the press-releases section).