LONDON (AP) â Papal thriller â â won four prizes including best picture on Sunday at the 78th British Academy Film Awards, where genre-bending musical â â proved that itâs still an awards contender despite a that looked to have .
At a ceremony where no film dominated, âThe Brutalistâ equaled the awards tally of âConclave," 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 âAnora.â
âConclave,â which stars Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal corralling conniving clergy as they elect a new pope, beat âAnora,â âThe Brutalist,â âEmilia PĂ©rezâ and Bob Dylan biopic â " to the top prize. "Conclaveâ was also named outstanding British film and took trophies for editing and adapted screenplay.
Supporting performer prizes went to Kieran Culkin for âA Real Painâ and Zoe Saldaña for âEmilia PĂ©rez," which also won the award for best film not in the English language.
, who stars as the titular transgender ex-cartel boss in âEmilia PĂ©rez,â was a best-actress nominee but did not attend the ceremony. GascĂłn has withdrawn from promoting the film, which has 13 Oscar nominations, amid controversy over her social media posts disparaging Muslims, George Floyd and diversity at the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 Gascón along with her co-stars Saldaña and Selena Gomez.
âI 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 Nyongâo, TimothĂ©e Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan walked the red carpet at Londonâs 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 Proclaimersâ anthem âIâm Gonna Be (500 Miles).â
Madison won the female acting trophy for her powerhouse performance as an exotic dancer entangled with a Russian oligarch's son in âAnora.â She beat GascĂłn, Demi Moore for body-horror film â ,â Ronan for âThe Outrun,â Erivo for â°ÂŸ±łŠ°ì±đ»ćâ and Marianne Jean-Baptiste for âHard Truths.â
In her acceptance speech, Madison sent a message to the sex worker community.
âYou 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 âA Complete Unknown,â Grant for the horror film â ,â Colman Domingo for prison drama â â and Sebastian Stan for his portrayal of a young Donald Trump in â .â
Brody, who plays a Hungarian-Jewish architect in the postwar United States, said âThe Brutalistâ carried a powerful message for our divided times.
âIt 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,â he said. âThere's no place any more for antisemitism. There's no place for racism."
âThe Brutalistâ also won prizes for its cinematography and musical score.
Saldaña won for her role as a lawyer who helps the title character in "Emilia PĂ©rez" transition to a woman and out of a life of crime. She called the film âthe creative challenge of a lifetime.â
âA Real Pain,â about mismatched cousins on a trip to explore their roots, won the BAFTA for best original screenplay, as well as Culkin's acting award.
âIâd like to share this with my wife, who didnât come because she didnât think Iâd win,â quipped writer-director Jesse Eisenberg, who also co-starred in the film.
Claymation caper âWallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowlâ won awards for best animated feature and best family and childrenâs 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 â the Rising Star Award â- selected by public vote from a shortlist of nominees. This year's winner was David Jonsson, star of high finance TV drama series âIndustryâ and London rom-com âRye Lane.â
âStar, I donât know,â he said. âBut rising, I guess.â
The prize for best British debut went to Rich Peppiatt, writer-director of Irish-language hip-hop drama âKneecap.â
âWillowâ and âReturn of the Jediâ actor Warwick Davis received the academyâs 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, âshort actors werenât known for their talent, just their height.â
âThis is the best thing thatâs ever happened to me â and Iâve been in âStar Wars,ââ Davis said as he accepted his award.
This awards season has been clouded by last monthâs , 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 heâd watched World War II drama âDarkest Hourâ and had begun postapocalyptic TV drama âThe Last of Us.â He said he found it âquite full onâ and didnât 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
