55th British Academy Film Awards

55th British Academy Film Awards
Date24 February 2002
SiteOdeon Leicester Square
Hosted byStephen Fry
Highlights
Best FilmThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Best British FilmGosford Park
Best ActorRussell Crowe
A Beautiful Mind
Best ActressJudi Dench
Iris
Most awardsThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (4)
Most nominationsThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Moulin Rouge! (12)

The 55th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, took place on 24 February 2002 at the Odeon Leicester Square in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2001. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, accolades were handed out for the best feature-length film and documentaries of any nationality that were screened at British cinemas in 2001.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring won Best Film, Best Director for Peter Jackson, Best Makeup and Hair, and Best Visual Effects.[1] Russell Crowe won Best Actor for A Beautiful Mind, which also won Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Connelly. Judi Dench won Best Actress for Iris and Jim Broadbent won Best Supporting Actor for Moulin Rouge!. Gosford Park, directed by Robert Altman, was voted Outstanding British Film of 2001. This ceremony is also notable for Eddie Murphy's nomination for his voice role as Donkey in Shrek, to date the only voice-over performance ever nominated in BAFTA history.[2]

Stephen Fry hosted the ceremony for the first time solo, after co-hosting with Mariella Frostrup the previous year.

Winners and nominees

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Peter Jackson, Best Director winner
Russell Crowe, Best Actor winner
Judi Dench, Best Actress winner
Jim Broadbent, Best Supporting Actor winner
Jennifer Connelly, Best Supporting Actress winner
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Best Original Screenplay co-winner
Terry Rossio, Best Adapted Screenplay co-winner
Robert Altman, Outstanding British Film co-winner
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Best Film Not in the English Language winner

BAFTA Fellowship

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Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema

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Awards

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Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.

Russell Crowe controversy

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After winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Russell Crowe gave a speech in which he quoted a poem by Patrick Kavanagh. When the ceremony was broadcast, Crowe was enraged that the poem was cut. He blamed the producer, Malcolm Gerrie, and confronted him about it. It was reported that the confrontation got physical and there was speculation that it would cost him the Academy Award for Best Actor; Crowe later apologized and ultimately lost the Oscar to Denzel Washington for Training Day.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

The following poem that was cut is four lines:

"To be a poet and not know the trade,
To be a lover and repel all women;
Twin ironies by which great saints are made,
The agonising pincer-jaws of heaven."

Statistics

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Lord of the Rings sweeps Baftas". BBC News. 24 February 2002. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  2. ^ Shutt, Mike (20 October 2021). "Why More Award Shows Should Embrace Chaos Like the Wild 2001 BAFTA Best Supporting Actor Race". Collider. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  3. ^ Deans, Jason (4 March 2002). "Crowe is Gerrie sorry". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 March 2002.
  4. ^ "Crowe 'clarifies' Bafta outburst". The Guardian. 28 February 2002. Retrieved 12 November 2009.
  5. ^ Susman, Gary (5 March 2002). "Scary Crowe". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  6. ^ "The poet behind Russell Crowe's rage". BBC News. 5 March 2002. Retrieved 12 November 2009.
  7. ^ Grossberg, Josh (27 February 2002). "Crowe Unleashes Hell at BAFTAs". E! Online. Retrieved 27 February 2002.
  8. ^ Chang, Justin; Whipp, Glenn (23 March 2022). "Oscars flashback: Why no repeat of 2002's historic wins? And why it matters in 2022". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 June 2022.