On the biggest night in Hollywood, it was once again King Colin Firth and his subjects who ruled over all, as The King’s Speech picked up four Academy Awards, including the much coveted Best Picture Oscar, beating off competition from Inception and The Social Network, which won four and three awards respectively.
David Seidler picked up an award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the British film, before director Tom Hooper narrowly beat The Social Network’s David Fincher to the directorial prize, in one of the biggest shocks of the night.
Hooper seemed genuinely shocked to win, and thanked his mother, who he said had seen the original play on which the film is based in Australia, and had phoned him that day to simply say “I’ve found your next film.”
Colin Firth made it three for The King’s Speech as he finally picks up a much deserved Best Actor nod for his role as the stammering King George VI – the award he was beaten to last year by Jeff Bridges.
Natalie Portman, sporting the baby bump which kept her from flying to the BAFTA’s last week, took home Best Actress for her work on Black Swan, going on to thank her choreographer and father of her child, for giving her “what will now be the toughest but best role I will ever play”
When it came to the supporting actor nods, it was all about The Fighter, as Melissa Leo and Christian Bale both won awards. Bale, who will next be seen in the final part of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, was showing off a rather shaggy long beard, which sparked lots of online discussion through Twitter.
Hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway, the 83rd Academy Awards went off pretty much without a hitch. The pair were perfectly adequate hosts, although at times it was a little too clear they were reading an autocue – they lacked the absolute chemistry needed to make a double team work – but it was fine, and they served their purpose
While all eyes were on how The King’s Speech would fare, The Social Network was also hotly tipped for success. The film took three awards, including Best Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin. It also won Best Editing, which is usually seen as an indicator of the way in which the Best Picture vote will go, and seemed temporarily to be the only big trip up for The King’s Speech.
On this night though it was not to be, and as Steven Spielberg came out to announce the winner for Best Picture, there really was only ever going to be one film in the golden envelope.
Bringing the 2011 awards season to a close, The King’s Speech truly flew the flag for British film making on the world stage
James Gordon
Tags: 83rd academy awards, aaron sorkin, academy awards, awards, colin firth, david fincher, natalie portman, oscar night, oscars, the kings speech, the social network, tom hooper
