Eastern Promise For British Films

By Robin Stringer.

LEFT: Madonna and Vinnie Jones share a laugh at the Savoy.

The presence of both Madonna and Jessica Lange added genuine Hollywood glamour to this year’s Evening Standard British Film Awards, which was notable also for the high quality of the contenders.

Both stars seemed to relish the relaxed style of the ceremony at the Savoy Hotel, wittily compared by Caroline Quentin and attended by many of the key figures in the British film industry from both sides of the camera.

When Miss Lange went on stage to present the special award to veteran cinematographer Freddie Francis, she was even prompted to remark that award ceremonies in America were “so boring” in comparison.

Madonna, elegant in a dusty pink Indian-style coat over diamante trousers, plainly enjoyed herself too, even though on arrival she had to run the gamut of screaming fans waiting to see her outside the Savoy.

Accompanied by her boyfriend, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director Guy Ritchie, she said of her evening as she left: “The best. It was great.” Earlier, she had seen East is East, the hilarious tale of an Anglo-Pakistani family growing up in 1970s Salford, take the Best Film prize ahead of both the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love and Notting Hill.

But both those film also won awards, Shakespeare In Love for Tom Stoppard’s screenplay and Notting Hill the Peter Sellers Award for Comedy.

Like all the winners, they were given a rousing reception last night by the 400 actors, writers, producers, directors, designers and technicians that filled the Savoy’s ornate Lancaster Room.

Among the actors were Brenda Blethyn, Maureen Lipman, Alison Steadman, Timothy Spall, Charles Dance, John Hurt, Bill Nighy, Samuel West and Imogen Stubbs. Directors included John Madden, Michael Radford, Terence Davies, Iain Softley, Terry Gilliam, Gilles Mackinnon, Martha Fiennes and Lewis Gilbert.

Producers were there in force too, like Norma Heyman, Duncan Kenworthy, Stephen Evans, David Parfitt, Leslee Udwin and Marc Samuelson, as were writers such as Christopher Hampton and Stephen Poliakoff.

The evening was hosted by Lord Rothermere, chairman of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc, and Lady Rothermere, and introduced by Max Hastings, editor of the Evening Standard, in upbeat style. “There are some years which are OK for British films,” he said, “some which are a bit better than OK and some which are a joy to look back upon.

“1999 has been one of the joy years – Shakespeare In Love, Notting Hill, East Is East, Onegin, An Ideal Husband and those great American movies which have provided stunning showcases for British talent – Sam Mendes and American Beauty, Janet McTeer in Tumbleweeds, Neil Jordan’s The End Of The Affair and still to come Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr Ripley.”

Welcoming Culture Secretary Chris Smith, Mr Hastings applauded the Government’s passionate commitment to film-making in Britain which had helped get 98 films made last year compared with 78 in 1998.

He noted the vital increase in foreign investment in the British industry, which reached £400 million in 1999, an increase of 35 per cent on on the year before, but much more home investment was needed to prevent profit on British successes going abroad, he added.

The first award of the evening for Best Screenplay was presented by that “one-man, one-stop movie industry” Kenneth Branagh who likened the winner to “a cross between Einstein and Eric Morecambe”.

The Winners: Damien O’Donnell, far left, John de Borman, Jeremy Northam, Freddie Francis, Sir Tom Stoppard, Douglas Henshall and Roger Mitchell.

This strange beast turned out to be Sir Tom Stoppard who duly collected the award for his “intellectually brilliant, passionate and seriously funny” script for Shakespeare In Love.

He made way for footballer-turned-actor Vinnie Jones, who should have presented the Best Actress award to Samantha Morton for her performance in Dreaming Of Joseph Lees.

Even he conceded she had a good reason for being unable to collect it, having just given birth to her first child. Helena Bonham Carter accepted it in her place.

This intervention in proceedings by a newborn was the second of the evening. Miss Quentin had already used her five-month-old Emily as a warning to award-winners to keep their speeches short. “She likes to be fed every two hours”, she said.

No such interruptions affected the Best Actor award which was presented by Olivia (The Sixth Sense) Williams to Jeremy Northam for his performances in The Ideal Husband and The Winslow Boy.

Next on stage was Richard E Grant to present the Peter Sellers Comedy Award to Notting Hill director Roger Michell.

Then came the presentation by Jennie Agutter of the Evening Standard/Carlton Television award to Peter Mullan for his directorial debut with Orphans.

Away filming in Canada, Mullan found the award “bizarre” as he explained in a message sent via actor Douglas Henshall. Not only was he “the oldest best newcomer” but his film had been given “the best worst review” by the Evening Standard.

“I have to thank the Evening Standard’s film critic Alexander Walker for reaffirming my faith in Scottish independence and I would like to thank the jury for reaffirming my lack of faith in Alexander Walker,” he added.

The Technical Achievement Award went to Hideous Kinky cinematographer John de Borman who, in presenter Joely Richardson’s words, was “the best god of the year” among that godlike breed.

As the ceremony neared its end, there were murmurings of concern among the audience that East Is East had not been recognised, but they were soon silenced as Jonathan Pryce announced the winner of the Best Film award.

“It is the kind of film Ken Loach might have made if he had made Carry On movies and it’s a film the Austrian government would not approve,” he said to loud laughter.

The audience knew at once that East Is East had won and its young director, Damian O’Donnell, duly stepped up to collect the prize but admitted he felt “a bit of a fraud” in doing so.

After paying tribute to producer Leslee Udwin and others involved in the making of the film, he concluded: “This really deserves to be on the mantelpiece of Ayub Khan Din (the writer).”

Finally, it was the turn of Jessica Lange to go on stage to announce the winner of the Special Award with whom she had worked on Cape Fear and to read a citation from the film’s director, Martin Scorsese.

She named as the winner the “modest” but “incomparable” cinematographer Freddie Francis, who has just completed The Straight Story after a career spanning half a century in the industry, including films such as Saturday Night And Sunday Morning, and The Elephant Man.

Last night’s ceremony is being screened by Carlton Television at 10.30 pm tomorrow.