BAFTA’s Good Practice for the Oscars

The British film awards serve as an annual warmup for movie people to bask in hyperbolic adulation and self-importance two weeks before the biggest night of the year for ego masturbation, The Oscars. If the BAFTAs were any prediction of the righteousness signaling to take place on February 26th, look for monologues about how maybe nobody else thinks artists deserve to make political statements, but times are too dire for reticence. So, same as last year and the year before.

Emma Stone explained how creative arts transcend borders, Dev Patel noted how his film Lion is about “a love that transcends borders, race, color, anything”. He nailed the big three in terms of transcendence. Casey Affleck relayed how he was able to reach Meryl Streep backstage and thank her for her era defining speech at the Golden Globe Awards:

I told her how much her speech at the Golden Globes meant to all of us and how grateful I was that she did it and kicked in the door a little bit, and said it’s OK to talk about these things and said it doesn’t matter if we are actors, we have been given a microphone and we can speak out.

Pretty brave speaking truth to power, which one are you again in that model? Affleck relayed that the thespian Messiah told him to keep his chin up, “I think there is hope around the corner”. Thank God. Assuming she means more exorbitant actors’ income carved out tax breaks. Barbara Boxer wasn’t in D.C. for thirty years fighting for nothing. Affleck can’t seem to find that same microphone to discuss his cocaine addled fuck fest and sexual harassment lawsuits from his 2010 film, I’m Still Here. Funny how microphones work like that. Is this thing on?

As always, watch The Oscars with the sound off and pray for a nip slip.

_{Photo Credit: Splash News}