10 reasons why the BAFTAs are better than the Oscars
Paul Arendt discusses why you should be tuning in on Sunday.
So, you think the Oscars are the highlight of the movie calendar? Think again! The real jewel in the crown is our own beloved BAFTA Awards. Here’s why...
- They will actually take place. With the writers’ strike in still in full swing, there’s a distinct possibility that this year’s Oscar ceremony will be little more than a lonely, tumbleweed strewn press conference. Here in Blighty, we don’t have to worry about industrial action, because all our movie writers are happy, free range creatures, quite unlike the battery-farmed scribes of Tinseltown.
- They’re shorter. Seriously, have you ever sat through the whole Oscar ceremony? As well as the gazillion gongs handed out each year, you have to endure all four nominations for best song performed in full, usually with a chorus of sequinned dancing girls and a gaggle of naked Mayans.
- None of that ghastly Best Actress acceptance speech guff. The great British stiff upper lip discourages those indulgent outpourings of emotion that are the stock-in-trade of our colonial cousins. A simple “cheers” will usually suffice.
- Stephen Fry. OK, he’s not actually doing it any more, but during his tenure as BAFTA’s emcee, the delightful Mr Fry put many an Oscar comic in the shade. Who can forget his promise to slide swiftly onwards “like a freshly buttered choirboy”?
- The British weather. There’s always a chance that you’ll see some A-list Hollywood star flailing around in the midst of a torrential downpour. In 2002, a mini-monsoon transformed the red carpet into a foamy assault course that recalled the glory days of It’s A Knockout. This would never happen in California.
- A civilised hour. The Oscars don’t even start until one o’clock in the morning. The BAFTAs, far more sensibly, are staged in GMT, leaving time for a swift one afterwards.
- You get a vote. The Orange Rising Star Award is picked by member of the British public. Ordinary slobs, just like you! Last year’s winner, Eva Green, has done alright for herself. This year, choose between Shia LaBoeuf, Sienna Miller, Ellen Page, Sam Riley and Tang Wei.
- Snubbing the A-listers. Since BAFTA moved to a pre-Oscars slot, it has attracted a welter of Tinseltown's top talent. What could be more entertaining than snubbing the lot of them and giving the gongs to a bunch of unknown Brits instead? See their botoxed faces fall!
- Jonathan Ross. The Beeb’s very own cultural colossus will be handing out the gongs again this year, with a twinkle in his eye and a gentle toss of his lovely hair. Who have the Oscars got? Jon Stewart. Puh-leese!
- Dickie. No award ceremony is complete without an appearance from the lachrymose Santa Claus that is Lord Attenborough. And since he’s president of BAFTA, we get him every year, guaranteed.
