We are only a few days into 2015, but already the excitement of the new awards season is alight with British actors Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike and David Oyelowo continuing to collect accolades at this year’s early ceremonies.
On Saturday evening, all eyes were drawn towards the Palm Springs Film Festival where the four actors scooped top prizes – a good indication for the big awards season ahead.
Redmayne received honours for his stunning portrayal of Professor Stephen Hawking in biopic THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, directed by James Marsh, whom he thanked for giving him “the confidence to fail” during his eloquent speech.
The winner’s close friend, Cumberbatch also took to the stage with his THE IMITATION GAME co-stars Allen Leech, Matthew Beard and Alex Lawther to pick up the gong for ensemble performance, which proved to be one of the big biopics of 2014 telling the story of Alan Turing and his codebreaking endeavours to break the German Enigma code. The movie also stars fellow Brits Mark Strong, Charles Dance, Matthew Goode and Keira Knightley, who according to Cumberbatch, was absent because she “thought the awards were being held in Palm Beach“.
Another British male who has also been making his stamp on the awards season is Oyelowo after his stirring portrayal of Martin Luther King in SELMA, who received the breakthrough prize by the film’s producer Brad Pitt, who led the audience in a sing-a-long lesson in how to pronounce Oyelowo’s surname. Take a look at the video below:
Of course, the evening wasn’t all about the men, Rosamund Pike was also given a nod for her breakthrough performance was Pike as Amy Dunne opposite Ben Affleck in GONE GIRL.
Although it may seem it was the Brits who stacked up the accolades, there were others too – the brilliant director of BIRDMAN Alejandro González Inárritu, who was introduced by lead actor of the film, Michael Keaton, received an award, BOYHOOD’s Richard Linklater, WHIPLASH’s J.K. Simmons, Julianne Moore, Reese Witherspoon and FOXCATCHER’s Steve Carell was honoured for his creative impact in acting.
The awards season is certainly hotting up and we will no doubt see these names continuing to crop up during the impending months.
