Baftas 2019: Aussies victorious as The Favourite wins big

Two Australians were among the winners at this year’s BAFTAs as The Favourite took out seven categories.

Production designer Fiona Crombie and set decorator Alice Felton pose with their awards for Production Design for their work on the film The Favourite. Picture: AFP

Australian Oscar nominees Tony McNamara and Fiona Crombie were among the winners at this year’s BAFTAs, the British equivalent of the Academy Awards, as The Favourite took out seven categories at Sunday’s presentation.

Kate, Duchess of Cambridge meets Olivia Colman, and director Yorgas Lanthimos, 2nd right, and writer Tony McNamara. Picture: AP

The BAFTAs are selected by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

The Favourite, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, is an inventive, ­irreverent story of intrigue and ­intimacy in the early 18th-century court of Queen Anne.

Crombie and her colleague Alice Felton won best production design for their work on the film, and McNamara won best original screenplay with co-writer Deborah Davis.

Deborah Davis, right, and Tony McNamara pose with their awards for an Original Screenplay for The Favourite. Picture: AFP

In their acceptance speech, Crombie and Felton dedicated their award “to every woman and working mother who keeps it ­together and makes it happen”.

Olivia Colman, who plays Queen Anne, won best actress, and Rachel Weisz won best supporting actress. The Favourite was voted best British picture, and also took out best costume design and best hair and make-up.

Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma was the other big winner, with four BAFTAs, including best picture. Cuaron won best director and Roma was also voted best film not in the English language.

Roma, filmed in black and white, is based on the director’s recollections of his childhood growing up in Mexico City, and of the life of the family’s live-in indigenous maid, Cleo (played by Oscar nominee Yalitza Aparicio). Cuaron, who shot Roma himself, also took out the award for best cinematography.

Actress Olivia Colman with her Best Actress award for her role in the film The Favourite. Picture: AP.

Other BAFTA winners included Rami Malek, voted best actor for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, and Mahershala Ali, best supporting actor for Green Book.

Spike Lee won the award for best adapted screenplay for his film BlacKkKlansman, alongside David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel and Kevin Willmott.

Vice’s Hank Corwin won best editing, and Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga and Lukas Nelson were joint winners of best film music for A Star Is Born. Lady Gaga is the first woman to win a BAFTA in this category.

Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron with his Bafta awards. Picture: AFP.

The final voting for the Oscars closes on February 19. The Favourite and Roma are the leading nominees, with 10 nods each. If Roma were to win the Oscar for best picture, this would be the first time for a foreign-language film.

The Oscars will be broadcast on Monday, February 25, at about noon Australian time.