- Title: BRITAIN-AWARDS/EMPIRE 'Interstellar' announced as big winner of Empire Awards
- Date: 29th March 2015
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 29, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** ACTRESS JESSICA CHASTAIN BEING PHOTOGRAPHED ACTOR MARK STRONG CROSSING RED CARPET ACTRESS HAYLEY ATWELL CHASTAIN GREETING FANS ACTOR HENRY CAVILL WITH FANS CHASTAIN ACTOR PETER CAPALDI BEING PHOTOGRAPHED WITH CHILD PERFORMANCE CAPTURE ACTOR ANDY SERKIS BEING INTERVIEWED ACT
- Embargoed: 13th April 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: United Kingdom
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA5JHXEKDV2Q9YGBVFLCX0A9X1H
- Story Text: The conventional film award show season may have ended with the Academy Awards, but one last cinema-based ceremony took place in London on Sunday (March 29).
The Jameson Empire Awards has been a perennial event in the entertainment calendar in recent years, and unlike the other ceremonies, it celebrates the more popular films of the year.
Actress Jessica Chastain led the Hollywood charge this year and she was joined on the red carpet by the likes of 'Agent Carter' actress Hayley Atwell, 'Doctor Who' stars Peter Capaldi and Karen Gillan, 'Superman' actor Henry Cavil, and 'The Lord of the Rings' star Andy Serkis.
'Kingsman, The Secret Service' actor Mark Strong said "They're just great fun, the magazine's great fun. It's voted for by the people that read the magazine so you could argue that it's genuine fans voting for the films and the personalities so it's just a little less po-faced than some of the others."
His thoughts were echoed by British actor Simon Pegg who quipped "Well just because, a lot of them are quite long and boring and intense, and this one isn't."
Empire Magazine focuses on blockbuster movies and Andy Serkis, who was nominated for Best Actor and is appearing in the anticipated new Star Wars film remained tight-lipped on the red carpet about spilling the beans on the project.
"Well back in the day before we were shooting everyone who went in to read the script had to leave phones at the door and there was top security about," he said, adding "You can understand it because over the last year we've seen security blown sky high in the movie world and it's very easy to let slip things. You have to be careful."
Karen Gillan went on to win the Best Newcomer Award, and Best British Film went to 'Kingsman - The Secret Service'.
Jane Goldman, who wrote the screenplay, when asked about a potential sequel to the spy thriller replied "Matthew and I are all about if you've got a good idea, let's put it all in this first one because you never know if you're going to do a sequel. Neither of us are big fans of sequels. You never know, we just put our hearts into writing this first 'Kingsman' movie, we're thrilled about how people have responded to it and the response has been so great, certainly a sequel is being discussed but it was never our... we never had a plan for a franchise. That would be hubris to that."
The Empire Hero Award, which last year went to actor Simon Pegg, was awarded to the cast of the HBO hit television series Game of Thrones, which bucked a trend in the film award show.
"Well, I know. The cheek of us being welcomed into the fold of film," said Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham backstage. "It's a real honour, it's really fantastic and it's great you know because there's a real effort on behalf of everyone involved to get it as filmic and cinematic as possible and for people to recognise that and welcome us in and give us an award, it's fantastic. It's good thinking that has paid off, I think."
Best Actress went to an absent Rosamund Pike and Best Actor went to Serkis.
Speaking backstage, the 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' actor said "What is great is that this, performance capture and the role of Caesar is recognised as a role equally and that it affects or moves or touches an audience in the same way that a live action character would. That's always been my desire, I suppose, to have an understanding that there is no difference between performance capture acting and live action acting. It is all just acting."
Actor Ralph Fiennes who picked up the Empire Legend Award seemed to agree with Serkis about how acting is perfected in post-production.
"Performances are there but they need to be nurtured," he said, adding "They need to be created and I know from having now worked behind the camera my eyes were opened to what editing does to create performance and I've been in a workshop with an editor and seen 'Wow, I didn't realise quite how much the rhythm of an edit creates the spirit of a performance so not a legend, but flattered to briefly have that label thrown my way but I'll bat it away again quickly."
The awards were rounded off with the all-important Best Film and Best Director awards, which went to Christopher Nolan for his sci-fi movie 'Interstellar'. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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