“Wasn’t that the best dinner? I didn’t have lunch, so that helped. That fishy thing…it was so good, and it was easy to eat with one hand, allowing you to shake hands with the other. I was blown away.”

All those encomiums referring, of course, to the elegant meal served to approximately 550 attendees at the NBR Awards Gala. But who was it that said such things? Was it our proud President, Annie Schulhof? Was it me (it certainly could have been: those desserts!!)? Or was it the Tavern on the Green’s chef, in a boastful mood?

It was, in fact, Jeremy Irons, during his presentation speech to Annette Bening for Best Actress, and he added, “I ate it all, and so did Annette.” He was sweet, casual and self-deprecating, with that endearing Boris Karloff lisp. It was another memorable weave on the loom, hundreds of which combined to make the event the colorful fabric we enjoy year after year in one of New York’s most festive settings.

January 11th was the earliest we’ve ever thrown this shindig. And yet we had good weather. I don’t remember it ever being so mild. The perennial throng of photographers flanked the entrance as vehicles arrived and guests made their way in. NBR’s Executive Director, Bob Policastro, and the organization’s Managing Director, Carol Rapoport, were on the move at all times, overseeing the ebb and flow of the event as it unfolded. Attentive NBR aids, mainly students from The School of Visual Arts and Marymount College, kept the stream of humanity moving along the corridor of mirrors toward the pre-dinner rooms where cocktails and hors d’oeuvres flowed generously. and a few celebrity faces made their appearance.

Then 7:00 pm came, and we all moved into the two dining rooms, where tables were situated in a less cramped configuration than last year, allowing for more space to travel to and from the podium – not unlike the new legroom one gets on American Airlines between aisles 13 and 30. At this point it became clear, as it always does about this time in the evening at an NBR event, that we were knee-deep in luminaries. It was a toss-up between eating and gawking. Fortunately my wife chose to gawk, allowing me to swipe her dessert!

At 8:00 pm Annie Schulhof took the podium, not an enviable slot in the evening lineup due to the fact that the crowd was still in food-epilogue-mode, chatting enjoyably and not focused on the dais. But Annie handled them with aplomb, rattling off a tongue-twisting script penned by Historical Consultant John Gallagher in which every celeb in attendance was somehow connected to Kevin Bacon by fewer than six degrees of separation. It was a clever intro, got everyone thinking, and Annie was smiling widely as she left the stage, to be followed by the evening’s Master of Ceremonies, Jon (SWINGERS, MADE, and Host of IFC’s ‘Dinner For Five’) Favreau. He was an inspired choice, as it turned out. There was no doubt that he was on top of his game as he led off with “In the interest of time, let’s have the first ten winners come up and get their awards.” After the laughter settled down, he trumped himself with “We honor the ‘Best Film Without Jude Law In It’.”

First up was the Animated Feature Award, presented to THE INCREDIBLES by Thelma Adams, who related a longish story, the second act of which could have been judiciously pruned. After the director accepted, Favreau added, “It was a great film and hopefully some day, commercially, these films will be viable as well.”

Marc Forster, the director of Best Film FINDING NEVERLAND, gave the music award to Polish composer Jan A. P. Kaczmarek (read Max Pemberton’s filmusic review elsewhere on the site). Then Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber presented the Female Breakthrough Award to THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA’s leading lady, Emmy Rossum. He looked up at the over-the-top décor of the Tavern and said, “The National Board of Review makes you feel at home. I thank them for renting out these chandeliers.” That got a big laugh. Emmy, alabaster-skinned and visually perfect (the ideal Dario Argento ‘giallo’ heroine, which I mentioned to her before the meal started, and she seemed intrigued), accepted in a tactful-yet-sexy white dress.

Jamie Foxx got Best Actor, but was a no-show. Accepting was his co-star, Kerry Washington, who played Mrs. Ray Charles. She won us over by saying, as she admired the award, “We’ll see if he gets it…” In the film, one of the few things that bothered me was the lack of chemistry between them. However, in the recently released DVD, restored footage fixes that problem.

The William K Everson Award for Film history went to Richard Schickel, and was presented by previous Everson Award winner, and newly elected NBR Board of Directors member Janine Bassinger, who bawled out Favreau for mispronouncing her name. Schickel, who recently was involved in the restoration of Sam Fuller’s THE BIG RED ONE, recalled, “Bill was a kindly and generous man.” And about Everson’s lifelong devotion to film, he acknowledged, “In those days it must have been a very lonely passion.” Which made me recall a day at the School of Visual Arts decades ago when Everson was teaching his film history class, and a student asked if it would be alright if, on the following week, he didn’t show up because it was a Jewish holiday. Everson assured him that it would be alright, but added, “To me, the only true religion is Cinema.”

Milos Forman received the Billy Wilder Award for a career in directing. A dreadfully edited tribute reel from the San Francisco Film Society preceded his appearance, as did a sweet presentation by his producer, Saul (ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING, AMADEUS) Zaentz, who related a Wilder story: Billy was playing poker with five friends, all of whom were attacking an absent filmmaker. Finally Billy tapped the table and said, “Enough. Let’s not even bother to ignore him.”

Forman, who had presented the award eleven years earlier to Wilder the first time it was given (Sidney Lumet was the recipient on Wilder’s behalf that evening), acknowledged two writers in the audience – Jean Claude Carriere and Robert Lans.

Then came the moment many felt was the pivotal point in the evening’s energy level. Rosie Perez took the podium to present the Best Original Screenplay Award to Charlie Kaufman for ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND. She had been in the film made from Kaufman’s screenplay HUMAN NATURE, and gushed first about his work, and then about him. She yakked and yakked, explaining how sexy Kaufman was on the set, not despite, but because of his horrible beard, flannel shirt and socks with earth shoes, all of which alchemized somehow into sex personified. “If I was single, I would do this man in a hot second.”

Kaufman came quietly forth and said, “Jesus, if I’d only known.” His economical response to her stream of consciousness was great screenwriting. I never had more appreciation for his work than I did at that moment. And Favreau one-upped both of them with his final appraisal: “Those of you who had Charlie Kaufman in the over-under pool, you’re looking pretty good for the speech-length competition.”

Time for the Freedom of Expression Award, one of our indigenous prizes. It was presented by teacher/historian Annette Insdorf, who was quick to point out that VALMONT was not in the selection of clips used to illustrate Milos Forman’s career, but despair not, she was going to be showing it momentarily at the 92nd Street YMCA. She also said, “A film never ends on the screen, it’s when you talk about the film afterwards, when you argue, and when a motion picture forces you to take a position, to define how you see life and yourself, and not just the way people are telling you to do so.” It was Annette at her eloquent best. She presented to “THE PASSION OF CHRIST – which re-imagines theology,” to Michael Moore for FAHRENHEIT 9/11, and to John Deery for CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE.

Moore lumbered up. “I hope this award helps me to express myself freely in the future.” He related an interesting piece of his past in which, as a teenager, he started and ran an art house, using 16mm projectors, showing impossible-to-see-in-Flint Ingmar Bergman films, etc. And he ended with a provocative tale, which seemed to support his bizarre thesis that “I wouldn’t be a filmmaker if it wasn’t for the Bush family.”

The Special Achievement in Filmmaking, reserved for those multi-faceted creatives who essay more than two roles in a production – Billy Bob Thornton and Mel Gibson having been recipients in the past – went this year to NBR fave Clint Eastwood, for Directing, Producing, Starring in, and Scoring MILLION DOLLAR BABY. John Gallagher’s rhapsody of six degrees refocused itself as Favreau introduced Kevin Bacon himself, as Eastwood’s presenter. Bacon could pass for Eastwood’s son; so similar are their facial structures. He took the podium with loosened tie, and quipped, “Apparently on his next film he’s also gonna be catering.”

Eastwood, laconic and cool in his green sport jacket, blue-gray shirt, and gray tie, allowed “It’s great to follow Michael [Moore]. We have a lot in common.” After the laughter died down he continued: “Actually we do. I believe in freedom of expression very much. Very glad to be in a country where we can do that. (beat) But Michael, you ever show up in front of my door, with a camera…you’re dead meat, man. Dead meat!”

Some misquoted headlines were spun out of this in the press, but the truth is Clint spoke in good-natured fun, and Moore took it entirely in the right spirit.

Dennis Quaid presented the Male Breakthrough Performance Award to Topher Grace for IN GOOD COMPANY and P.S. Referring to Eastwood’s earlier declaration that anyone under 50 was a young actor, Quaid offered “Thank you, Clint, I’m 50; I guess that puts me right on the cusp.” And Grace, when his turn at the microphone came, generously thanked his co-star thusly: “I never went to an acting class, but actually acting with Dennis and Laura (Linney) for three months straight, I got schooled.”

Caleb Deschanel received our Career Achievement in Cinematography Award, and his climb to the dais was preceded by a beautifully assembled video-montage, as well as a presentation by Walon Greene, the screenwriter of THE WILD BUNCH, and for me one of the most exciting celebs of the night. “I’d like to praise his work tonight openly,” he began. “It’s a chance to say things in a public forum that I would never do in private, out of deference to his modest nature, and my own inability to convey true sentiment.” Also, a lovely observation was made about what distinguishes Deschanel’s work: “Tradition that goes back to the classical Greeks. True art communicates not only information but emotions.”

The modest Deschanel acknowledged THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST and BEING THERE, aligning these disparate films by stating, with droll intent, “I like characters that can walk on water.”

Best Adapted Screenplay went to SIDEWAYS, presented by Virginia Madsen and Thomas Haden Church to Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne. Said Payne, “First of all, can we turn up the heat, please.” Deference was paid to Milos Forman, whose TAKING OFF and FIREMAN’S BALL influenced their work.

Jeremy Irons presented to Annette Bening, but then that’s where we came in. Annette thanked Annette (Insdorf). And she went on thanking a lot more people, an Academy Award speech rather than an NBR speech, really. On the other hand it was good she got it all out of her system and hopefully they all heard it (or about it), because a few months later, Hillary Swank knocked her out of the ring for the second time in five years. I remember Ms. Bening when she was young, green and sweet, at a screening of the Robert A Harris produced film noir, THE GRIFTERS. What a long way she’s come.

The Best Documentary Award went to BORN INTO BROTHELS, presented by the father of the modern documentary, Albert Maysles, who was soon to embark on his latest documentary about Christo’s work, this time the shower curtains of Central Park. He had recently appeared at a documentary symposium presented by the NBR. When Zana Briske and Ross Kauffman ascended the dais, they confessed to having snuck into the Tavern during the opening night party for the Lincoln Center Film Festival’s PULP FICTION. ( I remember that event well – particularly the Lincoln Center screening, where a member of the audience went into convulsions during the syringe-in-the-heart sequence, the lights went on as doctors bolted in the poor man’s direction, and you could see Tarantino staring nervously down from the celebrity box on the left.)

Supporting actor went to Thomas Haden Church, presented by director Payne. Church, a friendly guy with a sculptured face, gave generous thanks to Paul Giamatti.

Directorial Debut went to Zach Braff for GARDEN STATE, the DVD of which is apparently for sale on the street already. George C. Wolf presented, and picked up a previous thread by affirming that “…you’re correct, Mr. Irons. The fish was amazing.”

Best Supporting Actress went to Laura Linney for KINSEY. Bill Condon, former winner for GODS AND MONSTERS, accepted in her absence, reporting that Laura was in Vancouver, devastated at not being there, and that the most important thing she stressed he should do was send her love to Clint, who she considers a surrogate father. (I’m guessing that Clint was gone by then.)

Special Achievement in Producing went to Jerry Bruckheimer. This is an interesting award, fliying in the face, as it does, of the Oscar’s uncomfortable tradition of having the producer accept the Best Film award, leaving the bewildered TV audience to wonder why this person is up there instead of the director. The past century is strewn with brilliant producers whose mark can be found on the films they helped create (often in the very veneer of the production, a sign that the director and his team were protected, coddled, and respected). Sam Spiegel, Alexander Korda, Bert Schneider, Saul Zaentz, Dino de Laurentiis, Howard Gottfried, Pierre Spengler, Darryl Zanuck… even Robert Evans. A TV series should be done on the subject (perhaps it already has?).

Bruckheimer was a wonderful choice, highly visible because of his successful mainstream product, much loved by creative people in the industry, and by the NBR. It was one of the warmest sequences of the evening. Clips were shown from PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, BLACKHAWK DOWN, BEVERLY HILLS COP, THIEF, and CSI. Those alone would have merited Award recognition, but his list goes on and on. Presenting was Nicolas Cage, former NBR winner for Best Actor, who can be relied on to give an articulate speech. In this one he mentioned the indelible mark Bruckheimer has made on all the popular art forms – film, TV, and music – over four decades, and that, remarkably, he has never lost his enthusiasm. 30 Academy Award nominations have come his way. Bruckheimer modestly thanked his colleagues.

Sigourney Weaver, who left her speech at home, but aptly labeled it “a terrifying view of romance and relationships”, presented the Ensemble Award, another of the NBR’s cannier ideas, to the foursome from CLOSER. Clive Owen accepted, thanking Mike Nichols for giving them “…the most safe, place to explore that material…”

The five Best Foreign language films were: THE MOTOCYCLE DIARIES, LES CHORISTES, MARIA FULL OF GRACE, BAD EDUCATION, and for Best of the Year, THE SEA INSIDE. Javier Bardem, who copped the best Actor award in 2000 for BEFORE NIGHTFALL, presented to director Alejandro Amenabar, who remembered the NBR Q&A screening fondly, as did the directors of BROTHEL and GARDEN STATE.

Excellence in Filmmaking Honorable Mentions were announced by Kyra Sedgwick, who was sporting a slash of red lipstick under a dishevelment of blond curls. One of them was for THE WOODSMAN, a strong vehicle for Ms. Sedgwick’s husband.

Michael Mann received the Best Director award for COLLATERAL, one of the best films of the year in your editor’s humble opinion, simultaneously sporting one of the year’s worst titles. I still haven’t met anyone who’s been able to explain to me exactly what it refers to. And I’ve asked quite a few. Dais-shy Daniel Day-Lewis, former NBR Award winner (and Hawkeye in Mann’s THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS) presented. Lewis was visually mind-boggling in a dark plaid beret and green plaid sport jacket, underneath which was a rose sport shirt and a pink ascot. Not to mention the single gold earring. If it weren’t Daniel Day Lewis…and even if it was… As part of his presentation, he noted of Mann “His mind belongs to that of a bygone age when the arts and sciences were indivisibly part of the same adventure of discovery.” He then doffed his hat to the director.

Said Mann in return, “Daniel does not like to appear in public, so I really appreciate it.” And he acknowledged one of Lewis’s analogies about the film. “It was a nocturne.”

Best Film went to FINDING NEVERLAND. There was a well-chosen clip. The presenter was John Irving (former recipient for Best Adapted Screenplay for CIDERHOUSE RULES) to Richard Gladstein and Nellie Bellflower. Irving recounted his receiving the NBR award with Lasse Hallstrom, tying the story into an explanation of what a producer does.

The Final Award, the Career Achievement, was for Jeff Bridges. Clips from 1950, as a baby in THE COMPANY SHE KEEPS, all the way to THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR, were shown. It was a beautifully chosen and scored compilation. The presenter was Joan Allen (who had co-starred in THE CONTENDER and TUCKER with Bridges). Thin and so pretty, blonde and radiant, she told a wonderful story about a Cherokee grandfather and two wolves.

“It’s getting kinda late,” Bridges led off. He made loving reference to his parents, and to “My beautiful wife, Susan, who I’ve been with for thirty years now.” He also praised the creative film experience: “Collaboration, man, that’s the high for me.”

And then the party ended, and the throngs exited to the strains of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, carrying a myriad of souvenirs from the tables. CD scores from PHANTOM, FINDING NEVERLAND, and THE AVIATOR. INCREDIBLES memorabilia. The latest film books. And of course, the NBR Award Ceremony program, the loveliest yet produced.

I’ve been to all but two of these events over the last 25 years. I’ve even produced ten of them. And so I can say, with a reasonable approximation of authority, that there has never been a more successful gala then there was on Tuesday, January 13th, and it was immensely pleasing to be there, uninvolved except as a proud NBR member, soaking in the energy and joy of the evening.

At the '97 NBR's, Rocco Simonelli Thanks Denis Leary for turning down the lead in

Credit for this can be split into three areas:

First is the dedicated team who toiled ceaselessly for the months preceding the evening, including NBR’s recently elected President Annie Schulhof, who dove into her first awards event with great determination; the dedicated team of Bob Policastro and his elegant cohort Carol Rapoport – entitled ‘Gala Chairs’ though no moniker could have been farther from the truth, since they hardly got to sit down; former NBR President Inez Glucksman, who whipped up the most comprehensive and useful Gala journal we’ve ever had; and Megan Henry Pilla , NBR’s Publicist (our name has been everywhere since the early December vote results). Kudos must be doled out, as well, to Bd Member/filmmaker/film historian John Gallagher, who always scripts the event so cleverly, and succinctly.

Second: for reasons perhaps in part relating to the pristine results of the NBR teamwork, but this we can never know for sure, the performances of the presenters and recipients rose to a level of eloquence I may have only seen once or twice before.

And lastly, we cannot discount the contribution of Fate, because the event fell smack in between the two worst cold fronts we’ve had in NYC since World War II. Less than twenty-four hours after we’d wrapped, planes were being turned away from our airports. But the night of the gala we had tolerable, invigoratingly cold weather. Clearly someone, or something, was on our side that night.

Who could have predicted that all these elements would have fallen into place. Instead of a ‘perfect storm’, we had a ‘perfect event.’ There were those who carped – it wouldn’t be America if they didn’t, right – about the evening running fifteen minutes too long…about our Master of Ceremonies being a little out of his element…etc. [I myself felt there were probably two awards too many.] But these were mere trivialities when balanced against the evening’s successes. I left feeling that if I never attended another NBR gala, I had lived to see it reach its zenith

And now for the details.

Again, as over the past several years, we were in that Hollywood set disguised as a restaurant, Tavern on the Green. As I sit here writing and reminiscing, the mournful, passionate score from THE LAST SAMURAI is playing on my stereo system, setting the mood. This CD, as well as a dozen others, were stacked on my table like some avant-garde architecture, along with books, hats, NBR flashlights, a miniature model of Harvey Pekar from AMERICAN SPLENDOR complete with bobbing head – in short a virtual holiday grab bag of film-related goodies to help us relive the evening. I can remember when all one took away was a folded program.

My brother, Lewis, a fellow member of the Board of Directors, was not in attendance for the first time in twenty years. His wife, Alana, was hosting another event that evening. She asked him which one he was planning to go to. He replied, “Yours.” To which she replied, “Smart decision.” My wife Janet and I sat at his table in the company of his son Timothy, daughter Amber, five of their friends, and Jill Krementz, wife of Kurt Vonnegut.

Before dinner there had been drinking, hors d’oeuvres, schmoozing and star gazing from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. School of Visual Arts Film Chairman Reeves Lehmann corralled Sophia Coppola. Mike Ruggiero, head of Acquisitions at the IFC Channel, strolled by. I spotted New Line President Bob Shaye, who I’ve known very slightly over the years since my friend Wes Craven put his company on the map with A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. I approached Shaye and told him that I was happy New Line was going into production on one of my screenplays, SLAY THE BULLY! He admitted to not having read it, but confirmed that the feeling around the company was very high about the project. Then he paused and added “Next time I hope you pick a better title…”

The lights began to blink. Janet and I headed to our seats. The appetizers were already waiting for us, though what they were, we were never quite sure at the time. (They were Seasonal Vegetable Napoleans with Goat Cheese, Baby Greens & Balsamic Dressing [if menu prose imitates proper film credit etiquette, then an ampersand means they were placed on the goat cheese together, whereas an ‘and’ would have meant that one got up on the goat cheese first, followed later by the other]) Nonetheless I ate half of mine, and the closest I could come to identifying it was thinking that it probably provided my daily minimums of both vegetables and cholesterol. Meanwhile, John Gallagher was at one of the front tables, sitting against the podium curtain, distracting us all with his stunning blonde companion.

Next came the main course: Pan-Seared Striped Bass in Lemon Beurre Blanc, on a bed of Vegetable CousCous and garnished with Garlic Spinach. It was the safe and tasty choice, and as I poked at that, and nursed my wine, I kept staring back at a man at the table behind us.

Finally it dawned on me. I excused myself, went over to his table, leaned in toward him and said, “Paul?” He turned, looked at me, and rose, saying “The face looks familiar.” “38 years ago,” I replied, “at Tulane University. I’m Roy Frumkes. You were in the Theater Department, I was the Entertainment Editor of the school newspaper.” He remembered, or certainly seemed to. I was happy to see him again, after all this time, and to tell him how pleased I’d been at his career, first on Starsky and Hutch, then directing features like THE RUNNING MAN. When he asked me what I was up to, I told him I’d produced ten features, all of them independent. He said that he was writing indie scripts now, and that we should stay in touch. Paul Michael Glaser had been the star performer at Tulane. The University’s theater department in the ‘60’s, and its publication ‘The Tulane Drama Review,’ were hailed all over the country. Experimental theater director Richard Schechner was the head of the department. I never became friendly with Schechner, but he did make me aware that Tuna and Swiss on rye tasted better than a plain Tuna sandwich, and for that I’m grateful.

However, in the final analysis I’m a dessert man, and soon there came two alternating delicacies: Glazed Banana Passion Fruit Tarts with Passion Fruit Sorbet, and Dark Chocolate Caramel Tortes with Fresh Whipped Cream. Did I also mention that I’m a chocoholic? I got myself sick wolfing down those desserts.

Finally the ceremony started. Charles Busch (star of this year’s DIE MOMMIE, DIE!) was our Master of Ceremonies, following in the footsteps of such notables as Tony Randall, Jose Ferrer (a run of six years, curtailed only by his death), Peter Reigert, Jerry Orbach, Rita Moreno, Stacy Keach, Cliff Robertson & Dina Merrill, Robert Preston, Richard Brown, Ron Silver, Lynn Redgrave, Jane Powell & Dickie Moore, Eli Wallach & Anne Jackson, and Chazz Palminteri. Though Busch’s frame of reference was a little outside the mainstream, he was nonetheless warm, articulate, and moved things along at a jaunty pace, which is the most important thing an NBR emcee must do.

Now I didn’t bring a tape recorder, so I’m going to be paraphrasing here. The lineup of presenters and recipients was stupefying. Here are some highlights.

Best Supporting Actor: Alec Baldwin for THE COOLER. A tanned and theatrical Christopher Plummer introduced Baldwin, both doling out praise and touching on a negative attribute or two…but somehow keeping it affectionate. Baldwin asked if anyone could tell from Plummer’s delivery that he was currently appearing in King Lear. He also said he’d never won an award before, which took the audience by surprise.

Male Breakthrough Performance: Paul Giamatti in AMERICAN SPLENDOR. Introduced by Stanley Tucci, who depicted the winner as a man who read and acted, and had utterly no life beyond those two activities, by the time Giamatti took center stage he was regarded with reverent wonderment. And he was deferentially quite amusing.

Carol Rapoport, FIR's Editor, Laura Linney & Clint Eastwood at the NBR's screening of

Best Actor: Sean Penn, for both MYSTIC RIVER and 21 GRAMS. The introduction, by a reclusive Robert de Niro, triggered a wave of awe in the audience. Penn walked up to the podium, receiving a spontaneous standing ovation (as opposed to an obligatory one, of which there were a few that evening), and I sensed it was because he is perceived as a bad boy who eschews this kind of public affair, but also as a serious artist. Turning to the audience, a pleased Penn first referred to the one-sheet of a grim, arms-folded Morgan Freeman, and asked if the crowd didn’t think that the lifetime-career-recipient seemed a bit disapproving of Penn’s receiving the award. The joke went over well, and he even mimicked the pose to drive the gag home. Then he delivered one of the memorable statements of the evening: “Russell Crowe has been a prick for ten years. (pause, while the laughter settled down) I’ve been a prick for twenty years.” The implication was clear – if Crowe got one, he deserved at least one. Very funny, very well taken.

Best Actress: Diane Keaton for SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE. She looked beautiful and was full of the good old mannerisms we’ve all known her for, now slightly mellowed into a mature grace, and she commented that she was happy to receive an award for a film in which its two lead actors’ ages totaled a hundred and twenty-five.

Female Breakthrough Performance: Charlize Theron for MONSTER. There was no doubt she had to get some kind of award that night, even if it was for Best Make-up of the year (which it was). Suffering from stage fright, she admitted to seeing circles in front of her eyes, which was so cute, though having been alerted of that, I half expected her to pitch forward at any minute and land on one of the front tables. Given her nervous state, she got through about a million acknowledgments in no time at all, reading the list with the speed of an auctioneer.

Best Foreign Film: THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. Presenter Dan Aykroyd barreled up onto the stage, imbued with lunatic energy, and burst into song – “Hey, Everybody…!”, exhorting the assembled throng to join in. It was a Blues Brothers moment, I guess, and the audience loved it even while they didn’t know what to make of it. His intro to Denys Arcand, the Canadian director, was slightly more low key, informed, and complimentary. When Arcand took the stage, he confessed that he’d been urged to be funny, but after that intro, he was not going to attempt it.

Best Original Screenplay: Jim Sheridan and daughters Naomi & Kirsten for IN AMERICA. The main thing I took away from their delightfully anecdotal acceptance speeches was how both of Sheridan’s daughters charmingly pronounced the word ‘film’ as ‘filum’.

Kathy Baker, presenting to Anthony Minghella for Best Adapted Screenplay (COLD MOUNTAIN), was clearly an adorable person, shooting impish looks at her peers. Very pretty in person, too, in a muppetish kind of way. I even got a cute smile from her myself.
Clare Danes, another presenter with a comical yet beautiful face, begged off improvising, but then proceeded to pepper her prepared script with sharp little asides. In fact, all but about two or three of the presenters and presenteds were in their finest articulation mode. Those who fell a few choice words short included Hope Davis and Jeffrey Wright.

The Ensemble Award: LORD OF THE RINGS. Several of the cast members came up, including three hobbits and Liv Tyler. What was weird about this was how she towered over the rest of them, suggesting to me that there might have been fewer forced perspective special effects than I’d thought. The acceptance speech was given by Sean Astin , who played Sam in the films, a character I’d grown pretty bored with by the third part, until things suddenly got rather dark and I really grew to like him.

The Billy Wilder Award for a Career in Directing was given to Norman Jewison. I’d been on the set of THE CINCINNATI KID back when I was in college in New Orleans, and had found it inspiring to watch Jewison work, and to meet Edward G. Robinson, Karl Malden, Steve McQueen and Ann Margaret. I even made the cover of American Cinematographer Magazine in 1965, hovering near Jewison as he directed a scene on location at the Royal Orleans Hotel. It was good to see him receive this award, and he seemed thrilled, as well as a bit incoherent, referring to us more than once as “The New York Board of Review”, and imploring us that Canada and the US should be friends. His intro had been delivered by a truly eccentric John Patrick Shanley (screenwriter of MOONSTRUCK), hunched over, talking like someone out of Damon Runyon, tossing the pages of his speech over his shoulder as he finished each one — and a great speech it was.

Best Film: MYSTIC RIVER. Janet kept pestering me about how they could give it Best Film and not give Eastwood Best Director. That’s a question I’ve heard often over the years, and while sometimes I can explain it, all I can say most of the time is that it boils down to the intricacies of a group vote. Clint Eastwood was introduced by Laura Linney, and he was the only recipient of the evening to drag others up with him, namely his two intimidated producers who stuttered out their words of thanks. Clint later returned to the podium to present:

Roy Frumkes greets Morgan Freeman at The 1989 D.W. Griffith Awards Ceremony, unaware of what was coming....

The Career Achievement in Film Award to Morgan Freeman who, by 10:40, suggested that although he’d prepared some words, he agreed with a previous recipient that “…we all gotta pee” and cut it short. I wondered if he’d remembered his last, precedent-setting appearance at our Awards Ceremony. It was back in 1989, on my watch. He was presenting an award to Denzel Washington, and took the opportunity to chide the Board, in a painless enough way, about the irony of his being asked to present a ‘D W Griffith’ Award, as it was called then, and to be presenting it to another black actor no less. Cut to the following year, and the Award’s name had been changed from “D W Griffith” to ‘NBR’.

As part of the prelude to Hans Zimmer’s Achievement in Filmusic Award, a deft montage of film and score clips of the composer’s work had been prepared. In fact, knowledge and taste had been hallmarks of all the edited clips shown that evening, save for one: as an intro to Ed Zwick’s Best Directing award, the clip chosen for THE LAST SAMURAI felt improper, a battle sequence reeking of second unit work. Something that better showed off the ‘imminence’ of the cinematography and the sense of the Zwick’s direction would have been more appropriate. But all the clips, I’m told, were prepared by the studios, so I’m glad I loved as many of them as I did.

Janet’s favorite presenters were Tom Brokaw (to Errol Morris for THE FOG OF WAR) and Lauren Bacall (for the Ensemble Award). We talked about these, and the other celebs, all the way home, and will be recounting the highlights of the evening to friends for many weeks to come. I wish our loyal readers all could have been there.

As a postscript, let me mention that there were several lovely coffee-table books on our tables that evening, including ones for COLD MOUNTAIN (Newmarket Press), THE LAST SAMURAI (Time Inc Home Entertainment), and THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (Harper Collins), including pictures of Christopher Lee, who did not make the final theatrical cut, much to his fans’ chagrin.

And for those eager to get a little deeper into middle earth on an intellectual level, there’s another book which wasn’t on the tables that night which I can recommend: ‘Tolkien: A Cultural Phenomenon’ by Brian Rosebury (Palgrave Macmillan)

“The Sick Bag please… No, that’s fine, that envelope will do nicely…”

Well, here we are again, another season of gratuitous insincerity, red carpets, tearful and interminable speeches, unwarranted backslapping, forced smiles and nice frocks – and that’s just the men.

Yes, it’s award time. As usual the Golden Globe Awards have set the example that nobody else is inclined to follow, and FIR Editor Roy Frumkes’ report on the NBR Awards can already be found in this features section.

As your British columnist it is of course my duty to report on our humble UK contribution to the media melange, the Orange British Academy Film Awards 2003, presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, or the BAFTAs as those in the know call them, not that I think anybody on the western side of the Atlantic really cares (if I’m wrong please let me know). Ultimately of course, and quite soon, we will have the Academy Awards, or the Oscars (a moniker for which we are forever indebted to 1931 Academy librarian Margaret Herrick, bless her cotton socks) this year moved up to February because of poor ratings in it’s usual slot in March (or so I’m told – personally I believe it’s so that the BAFTAs, those awards that nobody in Hollywood cares about of course, don’t influence the judging panel – but that’s just me).

As you can probably tell by now I really haven’t got a lot of time for all these shenanigans, but, again I’m told, they are important to the film industry, and we could all argue this so called point until we are all blue in the face, and they would still go on. So why not let’s just sit back and enjoy, pick holes, disagree with the decisions, ridicule, bad mouth and generally gripe over the whole affair. Besides, it’s a good laugh, it makes good copy and it’s my job. One thing I’ll point out now: I don’t understand this ‘Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role’ or ‘Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role’ thing. If he or she is Best Actor, or Best Supporting Actress, then just say so – which I will.

The, needless to say ‘star-studded’, event was hosted by Mr. Stephen Fry (Wilde, Gosford Park, Bright Young Things (Dir.)), a man the Guardian newspaper once mooted as a “Treasure of the British Empire”, and whose gentle, erudite wit, as always, was a joy to behold. Every word he produces is a precious gem and not a single syllable is wasted. On presenting the nominations for the Best Film, examples from which were shown at intervals during the course of the evening, to remain impartial he had decided not to watch any of the nominated films himself and instead sent his mother, a woman with whom he shares half his genes “and occasionally (his) twin sets and stockings”, to report on them for him. ‘Her’ notes, produced on small scraps of paper were a hoot, in particular her comments on Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World: “Brilliant, a really exciting film. It’s a long time since I’ve seen such a vast quantity of good old fashioned seamen…” There were a few shocked looks on the faces of some of our American visitors with that one I can tell you. We Brits of course are used to such things. It was also noted by Mr. Fry that with titles like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, it had been a record year for the colon.

Luminaries gracing the stage to present the awards included Patrick Stewart, Val Kilmer, Naomi Watts, Emma Thompson, Ian McKellan, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs, Renée Zellweger, Paul Bettany, Holly Hunter, Scarlett Johansson, Andy Sirkis, Alicia Silverstone, Miranda Richardson, Helena Bonham Carter, John Voight and Sir Richard Attenborough, but the best to me was having the prestigious Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music presented by LL Cool J.

A full listing of the nominations and winners can be found below, for which I thank BAFTA, but in short the evening, not unexpectedly, went to Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which garnered five awards namely Best Film, Cinematography, Special Effects, Orange Film of the Year and Best Adapted Screenplay. Although only getting three awards, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World’s Peter Weir had the satisfaction of beating ROTK’s Peter Jackson to Best Director.

Lost in Translation also made an excellent showing, getting Best Actor and Best Actress Awards for Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson respectively, plus Best Editing Award, and Cold Mountain trounced in to scoop up the leftovers of Best Supporting Actress (Renée Zellweger) and Best Film Music.

The excellent Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl only picked up Best Hair and Make-up and Mystic River, Big Fish and Girl With a Pearl Earring all got zilch, which is why I get a little disillusioned with these affairs.

BAFTA’s most prestigious award, the Fellowship of the Academy, went to veteran John Boorman, and it was noted that none of the assemble sycophants mentioned Zardoz…
None of these award ceremonies is complete without a tribute to those who are sadly no longer around, and this one was no exception. With a moving collection of stills and film clips we were reminded of the great skills and movie moments of Bob Hope, Robert Stack, Rachel Kempson, Adam Faith, David Hemmings, Brian Gibson, Horst Bushholz, Dame Wendy Hiller, David Lodge, Gregory Peck, Leni Riefenstahl, Michael Kamen, George Axelrod, Patricia Roc, Ron Goodwin, John Schlesinger, Hope Lange, Gregory Hines, Ann Miller, Donald O’Connor Denis Quilley, Elia Kazan, Charles Bronson, Alexander Walker, Hume Cronyn, Sir Alan Bates and last but certainly not least, Katherine Hepburn. Curiously this montage was accompanied by John Barry’s rousing score from Raise the Titanic. Whoever had this bizarre idea was lucky – it worked, and it was good to see and hear what is actually one of Barry’s best themes actually accompanying something of quality, and not the expensive piece of rubbish it was composed for. As producer Sir Lew Grade famously said of his ‘epic’: “It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic”.

If any of the names above are unfamiliar to you, you could do worse than to look them up. As Stephen Fry so rightly said, the world is a poorer place without them, but will always be a richer one because of them.

I will close with some more pearls of wisdom from the excellent Mr. Fry which sum up my final thoughts on the evening:

“The stage as you can see is bedecked with mirrors. An original and charming design idea, or a satirical reference to the self reflective nature of our crazy, vain business?”

“Remember, the evening celebrates one thing above any other, and that is the art of film making. Celebrity and quite preposterous evening wear may incidentally arise from out of this world, but it is the work that remains. A world without films would be unthinkable. Keep going to the cinema – Grow that DVD collection.”

Well said Stephen.

THE ORANGE BRITISH ACADEMY FILM AWARDS 2003
Winners highlighted

THE ALEXANDER KORDA AWARD for the Outstanding British Film of the Year
Cold Mountain – Sydney Pollack/William Horberg/Albert Berger/Ron Yerxa/Anthony Minghella
Girl with a Pearl Earring – Andy Paterson/Anand Tucker/Peter Webber
In This World – Andrew Eaton/Anita Overland/Michael Winterbottom
Love Actually – Duncan Kenworthy/Tim Bevan/Eric Fellner/Richard Curtis
Touching the Void – John Smithson/Kevin MacDonald

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
ALBERT FINNEY – Big Fish
BILL NIGHY – Love Actually
IAN MCKELLEN – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
PAUL BETTANY – Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
TIM ROBBINS – Mystic River

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions Barbares) – Denise Robert/Daniel Louis/Denys Arcand
Belleville Rendez-vous – Didier Brunner/Sylvain Chomet
Être et Avoir – Gilles Sandoz/Nicolas Philibert
Good Bye Lenin! – Stefan Arndt/Wolfgang Becker
In This World – Andrew Eaton/Anita Overland/Michael Winterbottom
Spirited Away – Toshio Suzuki/Hayao Miyazaki

THE ANTHONY ASQUITH AWARD for Achievement in Film Music
Cold Mountain – Gabriel Yared
Girl with a Pearl Earring – Alexandre Desplat
Kill Bill Vol. 1 – The RZA
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Howard Shore
Lost In Translation – Kevin Shields

MICHAEL BALCON AWARD for Outstanding Contribution to Cinema
Working Title.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Cold Mountain – John Seale
Girl with a Pearl Earring – Eduardo Serra
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Andrew Lesnie
Lost In Translation – Lance Acord
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World – Russell Boyd

THE CARL FOREMAN AWARD for special achievement by a British Director/Producer or Writer in their first feature film
SERGIO CASCI, Writer (for American Cousins)
JENNY MAYHEW, Writer (for To Kill A King)
PETER WEBBER, Director (for Girl With A Pearl Earring)
EMILY YOUNG, Director/Writer (for Kiss of Life)

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Big Fish – Dennis Gassner
Cold Mountain – Dante Ferretti
Girl with a Pearl Earring – Ben van Os
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Grant Major
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World – William Sandell

ORANGE FILM OF THE YEAR (PUBLIC VOTE)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Matrix Reloaded
Bruce Almighty
Johnny English
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
X Men 2
Finding Nemo
Calendar Girls
Love Actually

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
EMMA THOMPSON – Love Actually
HOLLY HUNTER – Thirteen
JUDY PARFITT – Girl with a Pearl Earring
LAURA LINNEY – Mystic River
RENÉE ZELLWEGER – Cold Mountain

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
21 Grams – Guillermo Arriaga
The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions Barbares) – Denys Arcand
Finding Nemo – Andrew Stanton/Bob Peterson/David Reynolds
Lost In Translation – Sofia Coppola
The Station Agent – Tom McCarthy

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Big Fish – John August
Cold Mountain – Anthony Minghella
Girl with a Pearl Earring – Olivia Hetreed
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Fran Walsh/Philippa Boyens/Peter Jackson
Mystic River – Brian Helgeland

THE DAVID LEAN AWARD for Achievement in Direction
Big Fish – Tim Burton
Cold Mountain – Anthony Minghella
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Peter Jackson
Lost In Translation – Sofia Coppola
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World – Peter Weir

BEST ACTRESS
ANNE REID – The Mother
NAOMI WATTS – 21 Grams
SCARLETT JOHANSSON – Girl with a Pearl Earring
SCARLETT JOHANSSON – Lost In Translation
UMA THURMAN – Kill Bill Vol. 1

BEST ACTOR
BENICIO DEL TORO – 21 Grams
BILL MURRAY – Lost In Translation
JOHNNY DEPP – Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
JUDE LAW – Cold Mountain
SEAN PENN – 21 Grams
SEAN PENN – Mystic River

BEST FILM
Big Fish – Bruce Cohen/Dan Jinks/Richard D Zanuck
Cold Mountain – Sydney Pollack/William Horberg/Albert Berger/Ron Yerxa/Anthony Minghella
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Barrie M Osborne/Fran Walsh/Peter Jackson
Lost In Translation – Sofia Coppola/Ross Katz
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World – Samuel Goldwyn Jr/Peter Weir/Duncan Henderson

FELLOWSHIP OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY OF FILM AND TELEVISION ARTS
John Boorman

EDITING
21 Grams – Stephen Mirrione
Cold Mountain – Walter Murch
Kill Bill Vol. 1 – Sally Menke
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Jamie Selkirk
Lost In Translation – Sarah Flack

SOUND
Cold Mountain
Kill Bill Vol. 1
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

ACHIEVEMENT IN SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Big Fish
Kill Bill Vol. 1
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

MAKE UP & HAIR
Big Fish – Jean A Black/Paul Le Blanc
Cold Mountain – Paul Engelen/Ivana Primorac
Girl with a Pearl Earring – Jenny Shircore
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Richard Taylor/Peter King/Peter Owen
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl – Ve Neill/Martin Samuel

SHORT ANIMATION
DADS DEAD – Maria Manton/Chris Shepherd
DEAR SWEET EMMA – John Cernak
JOJO IN THE STARS – Sue Goffe/Marc Craste
NIBBLES – Ron Diamond/Chris Hinton
PLUMBER – Randi Yaffa/Andy Knight/Richard Rosenman

SHORT FILM
BROWN PAPER BAG – Natasha Carlish / Mark Leveson/Michael Baig Clifford W: Geoff Thompson
BYE CHILD – Andrew Bonner/Bernard McLaverty
NITS – George Issac/Jan Roldanus/Harry Wootliff
SEA MONSTERS – Matt Delargy/Mark Walker/Raphael Smith
TALKING WITH ANGELS – Michael Knowles / Janey de Nordwall/Yousaf Ali Khan

New York, NY, December 4, 2002 – The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures named Paramount’s The Hours 2002 Best Film of the Year. The following honorees will be presented with awards at the annual gala on Tuesday, January 14, 2002 in New York City.

TOP TEN FILMS OF 2002
1. The Hours – Best Film
2. Chicago
3. Gangs of New York
4. The Quiet American
5. Adaptation
6. Rabbit-Proof Fence
7. The Pianist
8. Far From Heaven
9. Thirteen Conversations About One Thing
10. Frida

TOP FIVE FOREIGN FILMS OF 2002
1. Talk to Her – Best Foreign Film
2. Y Tu Mama Tambien
3. 8 Women
4. City of God
5. El Crimen del padre Amaro

Best Actor: Campbell Scott, Roger Dodger
Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven

Best Supporting Actor: Chris Cooper, Adaptation
Best Supporting Actress: Kathy Bates, About Schmidt
Best Acting by an Ensemble: Nicholas Nickleby
Breakthrough Performance Actor: Derek Luke, Antwone Fisher
Breakthrough Performance Actress: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Secretary

Best Director: Phillip Noyce, The Quiet American and Rabbit- Proof Fence
Best Directorial Debut: Rob Marshall, Chicago
Screenwriter of the Year: Charlie Kaufman, Adaptation, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Human Nature

Best Documentary: Bowling for Columbine
Best Animated Feature: Miyazaki’s Spirited Away
Best Film Made for Cable TV: The Laramie Project

Special Award for Visionary Cinematic Achievement: George Lucas
Career Achievement: Christopher Plummer
Special Filmmaking Achievement: George Clooney, Director, Producer, and Star of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Career Achievement – Film Music Composition: Elmer Bernstein
Career Achievement – Cinematography: Conrad Hall

Humanitarian Award: Sheila Nevins

William K. Everson Award for Film History: Annette Insdorf for her book “Indelible Shadows: Films and the Holocaust ”

Special Recognition of Films that Reflect the Freedom of Expression:
Ararat, Bloody Sunday, The Grey Zone, Rabbit-Proof Fence

Special Mention for Excellence in Filmmaking
The National Board of Review, in keeping with its long tradition of recognizing excellence in filmmaking is proud to salute the following films, crafted by visionary artists which demonstrate the creativity and determination which have always been vital to the film industry:
Frailty
The Good Girl
The Guys
Heaven
Igby Goes Down
Max
Personal Velocity
Real Women Have Curves
Roger Dodger
Sunshine State
Tadpole
Tully