LONDON (AP) ā Papal thriller ā ā won four prizes including best picture on Sunday at the 78th British Academy Film Awards, where genre-bending musical ā ā proved that itās still an awards contender despite a that looked to have .
At a ceremony where no film dominated, āThe Brutalistā equaled the awards tally of āConclave," scooping four trophies, including best director for Brady Corbet and best actor for Adrien Brody. Mikey Madison won the best actress prize for Brooklyn tragicomedy āAnora.ā
āConclave,ā which stars Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal corralling conniving clergy as they elect a new pope, beat āAnora,ā āThe Brutalist,ā āEmilia PĆ©rezā and Bob Dylan biopic ā " to the top prize. "Conclaveā was also named outstanding British film and took trophies for editing and adapted screenplay.
Supporting performer prizes went to Kieran Culkin for āA Real Painā and Zoe SaldaƱa for āEmilia PĆ©rez," which also won the award for best film not in the English language.
, who stars as the titular transgender ex-cartel boss in āEmilia PĆ©rez,ā was a best-actress nominee but did not attend the ceremony. GascĆ³n has withdrawn from promoting the film, which has 13 Oscar nominations, amid controversy over her social media posts disparaging Muslims, George Floyd and diversity at the Oscars.
The film's director, Jacques Audiard, has condemned those comments, but in an acceptance speech thanked GascĆ³n along with her co-stars SaldaƱa and Selena Gomez.
āI am deeply proud of what we have all achieved together," he said.
From the BAFTAs to the Oscars
Stars including Cynthia Erivo, Hugh Grant, Ariana Grande, Lupita Nyongāo, TimothĆ©e Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan walked the red carpet at Londonās Royal Festival Hall for the awards, known as BAFTAs. The British prizes often provide clues about on March 2, in an unusually hard-to-call awards season.
They also have a distinctly British accent. The ceremony kicked off with its kilt-wearing host, Scottish actor David Tennant, leading the audience in a rousing singalong of The Proclaimersā anthem āIām Gonna Be (500 Miles).ā
Madison won the female acting trophy for her powerhouse performance as an exotic dancer entangled with a Russian oligarch's son in āAnora.ā She beat GascĆ³n, Demi Moore for body-horror film ā ,ā Ronan for āThe Outrun,ā Erivo for ā°Ā¾±³¦°ģ±š»åā and Marianne Jean-Baptiste for āHard Truths.ā
In her acceptance speech, Madison sent a message to the sex worker community.
āYou deserve respect and human decency. I will always be a friend and an ally and I implore others to do the same," she said.
Brody beat competition from Fiennes, Chalamet, who plays the young Dylan in āA Complete Unknown,ā Grant for the horror film ā ,ā Colman Domingo for prison drama ā ā and Sebastian Stan for his portrayal of a young Donald Trump in ā .ā
Brody, who plays a Hungarian-Jewish architect in the postwar United States, said āThe Brutalistā carried a powerful message for our divided times.
āIt speaks to the need for all of us to share in the responsibility of how we want others to be treated and how we want to be treated by others,ā he said. āThere's no place any more for antisemitism. There's no place for racism."
āThe Brutalistā also won prizes for its cinematography and musical score.
SaldaƱa won for her role as a lawyer who helps the title character in "Emilia PĆ©rez" transition to a woman and out of a life of crime. She called the film āthe creative challenge of a lifetime.ā
āA Real Pain,ā about mismatched cousins on a trip to explore their roots, won the BAFTA for best original screenplay, as well as Culkin's acting award.
āIād like to share this with my wife, who didnāt come because she didnāt think Iād win,ā quipped writer-director Jesse Eisenberg, who also co-starred in the film.
Claymation caper āWallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowlā won awards for best animated feature and best family and childrenās film.
Sci-fi epic won prizes for sound and visual effects, while blockbuster musical " took the costume and production design trophies.
Rising stars and lifetime honors
Most BAFTA winners are chosen by 8,000 members of the U.K. academy of industry professionals, with one ā the Rising Star Award ā- selected by public vote from a shortlist of nominees. This year's winner was David Jonsson, star of high finance TV drama series āIndustryā and London rom-com āRye Lane.ā
āStar, I donāt know,ā he said. āBut rising, I guess.ā
The prize for best British debut went to Rich Peppiatt, writer-director of Irish-language hip-hop drama āKneecap.ā
āWillowā and āReturn of the Jediā actor Warwick Davis received the academyās top honor, the BAFTA Fellowship, for his screen career and work to create a more inclusive film industry.
The 3-foot, 6-inch (1.1-meter) actor founded a talent agency for actors under 5 feet tall, because, he said, āshort actors werenāt known for their talent, just their height.ā
āThis is the best thing thatās ever happened to me ā and Iāve been in āStar Wars,āā Davis said as he accepted his award.
This awards season has been clouded by last monthās , and BAFTA chairwoman Sara Putt sent a message of strength to everyone affected,
The event was without a dash of royal glamour this year. Neither , who is honorary president of the British film academy, nor his wife Kate attended the ceremony, which coincided with school holidays for their three children.
William, 42, sent a video message, recorded during a visit to meet students at the London Screen Academy on Wednesday.
During the visit, the heir to the throne discussed his own viewing habits, saying heād watched World War II drama āDarkest Hourā and had begun postapocalyptic TV drama āThe Last of Us.ā He said he found it āquite full onā and didnāt make it to the end.
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Hilary Fox contributed to this story.
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A previous version of this story was corrected to show that the Academy Awards are on March 2, not March 3.
Jill Lawless, The Associated Press
