The good weather continued yesterday, as the seventeenth annual Jameson Empire Awards rolled into town, held in the glitzy and all-too glamorous settings of the Grosvenor House Hotel in the fancy part of London where everybody uses taxis and personal drivers. THN was there to have a look and see who was paraded down the red carpet, amidst the enthused bustle of other media outlets and the positively rabid shouts of the photographers’ pen, stationed mere feet away from us lowly bloggers and constantly heckling the famous and beautiful to “look to your right!”
The Jameson Empire Awards are a particularly special occasion for those films which met with wide, commercial and cult success without necessarily garnering the attention of the critics and the traditional jury-panel awards; the notable absence of THE ARTIST anywhere on the nomination sheet, despite its otherwise total ubiquity in the yearly film honours is telling about what the Empire Awards are all about. They are entirely voted for by the public (or, rather, Empire magazines substantially wide readership) and are renowned for giving a little bit of recognition where a lot of the more traditionally prestigious ceremonies might have fallen flat. This is the awards show that is dictated by the film fans of Britain, sponsored by a whiskey company; in other words, the really fun one.
Leading up the nominees this year were HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART II and cult favourite DRIVE with five nominations each. HARRY POTTER drew nods for Best Film, Best Director for Potter veteran David Yates, The Art of 3D Award (essentially, the best use of 3D in a film), Jameson Best Actor for leading man Daniel Radcliffe, Best Female Newcomer for Bonnie Wright, who plays Ginny Weasley in the film. Meanwhile, DRIVE was gunning for Best Film, Best Director for Nicolas Winding Refn, Best Actor for Ryan Gosling, Best Thriller and Best Actress for Carey Mulligan.
Whilst the awards were handed out in the ceremony itself, where all those in attendance were plied with unlimited Jameson’s and rapturous applause, all the media folk huddled in the press room to assault all the winners as they came through with more questions and pointed dictaphones. Apparently Steven Spielberg is too busy to collect the award for The Art of 3D, awarded to THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN, however, so Harry Hill collects it in his stead; naturally, Hill doesn’t stick around for interviews. Felicity Jones, who picks up the Best Female Newcomer award for LIKE CRAZY, is similarly absent; however, Tom Hiddleston is awarded the Best Male Newcomer award for his performance in THOR, and naturally he’s chuffed to pieces about it.
As a matter of fact, all the winners are. There’s no reason why they wouldn’t be; after all, winning these awards means that a pretty sizeable chunk of the British (and likely international) film-going masses are fans enough to cast a vote. A full list of winners is below, as well as a video that comes as the result of a woefully underprepared blogger trying his best to wing it and poach shots from the three-man video crews who eventually elbowed him out of position. Enjoy!
Best Male Newcomer
Tom Hiddleston (THOR)
Best Female Newcomer
Felicity Jones (LIKE CRAZY)
Best Comedy
THE INBETWEENERS MOVIE
Best Horror
KILL LIST
Best Thriller Presented by Café de Paris
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy
THOR
The Art Of 3D Presented by RealD
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN
Jameson Best Actor
Gary Oldman (TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY)
Best Actress Presented by Citroën
Olivia Colman (TYRANNOSAUR)
Best Director
David Yates (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART II)
Best British Film
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
Best Film Presented by Sky Movies
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART II
Empire Hero
Michael Fassbender
Empire Inspiration
Ron Howard
Empire Icon
Tim Burton
