Bafta goes to ‘most memorable Bond girl’
London – And the Bafta for best performance by a sovereign in an Olympics opening ceremony goes to . . . Her Majesty the Queen. Or, as the chairman of Bafta called her, ‘‘the most memorable Bond girl yet’’.
The Queen was awarded an honorary Bafta yesterday at a reception at Windsor Castle honouring the best of British film and television talent.
It was an evening when some of the most glittering names in the industry were on show, from Sir Kenneth Branagh and Damian Lewis to Helena Bonham Carter and Thandie Newton.
But this time they were there as spectators, as the award went to an 86-yearold woman who made her screen acting debut last year and had only one line to deliver.
At least she wrote it herself, as Danny Boyle recently revealed. ‘‘Good evening Mr Bond,’’ she said in her scene with Daniel Craig for the opening ceremony, the one where her stunt double jumped out of a helicopter (it was a double, wasn’t it?) She will be improvising with Mike Leigh next.
The Queen was presented with her Bafta by Branagh, for what Bafta chairman John Willis called ‘‘her outstanding patronage of the film and television industries’’. He added: ‘‘More recently Her Majesty the Queen starred at the London Olympics as the most memorable Bond girl yet.’’
She smiled, raised her eyebrows and, unlike just about every other Bafta winner in history, declined to give a speech.
Instead there was Branagh who told her: ‘‘Of all the many wondrous things you have given us throughout your extraordinary reign, your sensational appearance at the opening ceremony at
‘‘Of all the many wondrous things you have given us throughout your extraordinary reign, your sensational appearance at the opening ceremony at last year’s London Olympics was especially memorable.’’ Sir Kenneth Branagh
last year’s London especially memorable.
‘‘So much so that several of my colleagues here tonight want you to know that if you wish to venture further into the world of British films, that they have a number of scripts with them here this evening.’’ He said that ‘‘not all of these films are fully financed’’, but if the Queen wished to become attached, finance would no doubt become available. They would, he added, be happy to deal with her agent – even if Daniel Craig was not actually there yesterday.
After the ceremony Branagh said: ‘‘She said she had often seen these being presented . . . She was amazed at how bright and polished it was and also how heavy it was.’’
The 300 guests, who ranged from actors and directors to costume and set designers, publicists and critics, included Billy Connolly, Richard Curtis, John Hurt, Penelope Keith, George Lucas, Eddie Redmayne, James Nesbitt, Leslie Phillips, Jonathan Ross, Christopher Nolan, Carey Mulligan, Minnie Driver and Sophie Okonedo.
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Members of the Royal Family at the reception included the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of York, the Earl and Countess of Wessex and Princess Beatrice.
Damian Lewis, the Homeland star, said: ‘‘The film industry is a very important part of what we do in this country. We punch way above our weight here. With little funding, our arts in this country are some of our greatest exports. To have that recognised by your monarch is important.’’ George Lucas, the Star Wars director, said the British Government did far more for its film industry than the US Government. ‘‘The film industry is always struggling and the more help it gets, the better.
‘‘Many years ago Britain did not support the film industry. When I came here it was on its last legs. Fortunately now it’s a lot steadier.’’
In the Waterloo Chamber, guests were able to see an exhibition that included George VI’s cine camera and an 1896 entry from Queen Victoria’s journal in which she refers to the start of cinematography.
Her entry for October 3, 1896, when she was at Balmoral, reads: ‘‘At 12 went down to below the Terrace, near the Ball Room, & were all photographed by [Edward] Downey by the new cinematograph process, which makes moving pictures by winding off a reel of films. We were walking up and down and the children were jumping about.’’
Not that she was overly impressed by the end result.
After seeing footage of her Diamond Jubilee procession a year later she wrote: ‘‘They are very wonderful, but I thought them a little hazy and rather too rapid in their movements.’’