WELL, the votes were counted and the crème de la crème of British (and world-wide) film turned out to sparkle in high style at the 2003 BAFTA film awards - but who walked off with a golden mask in their hot little hands?
Stephen Fry will - once again - did a sterling job as the host with the most of the glittering Orange British Academy Film Awards on Sunday (23rd February 2003) at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London.
The award was followed by dinner and a swanky showbiz party at Grosvenor House in London's West End, by which time Meryl Streep may have recovered from her embarrassing faux pas - of Freudian slip - by accidentally telling the audience she would like to spank them (she meant thank) as she was accepting the best Adapted Screenplay on behalf of Charlie Kaufman for the film 'Adaptation'.
The pleasantly surprising thing this year at the Orange British Academy Film Awards 2003 was that no one film dominated proceedings, and everyone seemed to win some recognition for excellence.
All singing, all dancing film musical 'Chicago' and Martin Scorsese's epic 'Gangs of New York' led the running with 12 nominations each, closely followed by The Hours with 11 and Lord of the Rings The Two Towers with 9.
In reality, 'Chicago' and 'The Hours' both received just two awards including Best Supporting Actress for Catherine Zeta Jones ('Chicago') and Best Actress for Nicole Kidman ('The Hours').
Daniel Day-Lewis walked off with the Best Actor award for his riveting performance of Bill the Butcher in Martin Scorsese's epic Gangs of New York (the only award the film received), and Roman Polanski's harrowing WWII drama, 'The Pianist' won Best Film and Best Director.
The second instalment of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy walked off with three awards (Orange Film of the year, Best Costume and Best Visual Effects).
The Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema (which is gifted at the discretion of the Academy) was awarded to First Assistant Director David Tomblin and Second Assistant Director Michael Stevenson for their outstanding contributions to film.
While the Academy Fellowship, the highest honour bestowed in recognition of an outstanding contribution to world cinema, was given to Film Producer Saul Zaentz.
A full listing of all the categories, nominations and winners follows.
