BAFTA Los Angeles to honor Helena Bonham Carter

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles will honor actress Helena Bonham Carter with the Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year at the 2011 BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Awards on Nov. 30 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The BAFTA L.A. accolade tops off an award-winning year for the British actress, currently in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2." Earlier this year she was nominated for a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and an Oscar for supporting actress in the Academy Award winner for best film, "The King's Speech."

The actress joins the previously announced John Lasseter, who will receive the Britannia Award for Worldwide Contributions to Filmed Entertainment and "Harry Potter" director David Yates, the winner of the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing.

-- Susan King

Photo: Helena Bonham Carter. Credit: Ian Gavan / Getty Images 

Next year's Oscars front-runner: 'The President's Speech'?

Leave it to that rascal Jimmy Kimmel to give a deviously hilarious spin to recent Oscars champ "The King's Speech." Here is his vision of a Yankee version.

-- Tom O'Neil

Colin Firth's rep denies the actor left his Oscar in the loo

"Story is completely untrue," Colin Firth's representative told The Envelope, referring to reports that her client left his Oscar in the bathroom soon after winning Sunday night. "Though it did give us a good laugh."

"Colin Firth was so flushed by his Oscar triumph that he left his Best Actor trophy on top of a loo," reported London's Daily Mail about his attendance at the Vanity Fair party. "Luckily, the cloakroom attendant spotted it on a cistern and chased after the star to hand it back."

If "The King's Speech" star really had left his statuette in the washroom, he wouldn't have been the first. Meryl Streep famously abandoned her Oscar for "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979), but was reunited with it moments later when another ladies room occupant discovered it and ran after her. Who can blame Streep for the oversight, actually? After all, it was merely a statuette for the supporting category. She'd catch up with the Oscar for lead actress three years later ("Sophie's Choice").

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-- Tom O'Neil

Photo: Colin Firth, Oscar firmly in hand. Credit: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press

Oscar trivia: 'The King's Speech' truly reigns among best pictures

Here are some interesting Oscar trivia:

• While stars such as Charles Laughton and Helen Mirren have won Academy Awards for portraying kings and queens of England, no movie about British royals had won best picture before "The King's Speech."

• "The King's Speech's" awards tally (four) curiously matched that of "No Country for Old Men" three years ago. Both films won best picture, director, screenplay and one acting award.

• "The Fighter" stars Christian Bale and Melissa Leo are the eighth pair of co-stars to win the Oscars for supporting roles, following Karl Malden and Kim Hunter ("Streetcar Named Desire," 1951), Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed ("From Here to Eternity," 1953), Red Buttons and Miyoshi Umeki ("Sayonara," 1957), George Chakiris and Rita Moreno ("West Side Story," 1961), Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman ("The Last Picture Show," 1971), Jason Robards and Vanessa Redgrave ("Julia," 1977), and Michael Caine and Dianne Wiest ("Hannah and Her Sisters," 1986).

• "True Grit" joins "Gangs of New York" (2002) for suffering the second-worst shutout in Oscar history, with 10 defeats, no wins. Two films are tied for the worst: "The Turning Point" (1977) and "The Color Purple" (1985) each lost 11 times.

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-- Tom O'Neil

Photo: Colin Firth in "The King's Speech." Credit: Weinstein Co.

Auto-tuning the Oscars: The Gregory Brothers' music to movie mash-up

The Gregory Brothers, musicians best known for their auto-tuning technique in which they turn a film's dialogue into song, hit the biggest stage of their careers on Oscar night. Their movie mash-up of Unintentional  Musicals, hailed as one of the favorite moments of the telecast, featured clips from "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1," "Toy Story 3" and "Twilight Saga: Eclipse."

Of "Harry Potter," Michael Gregory, the band's drummer and audio technician, said, "When I saw Ron Weasley's monologue when he reunited with Hermione, I knew that had to become a booty jam as soon as possible."

The group, a quartet comprising Michael, his brothers Evan and Andrew and Evan's wife, Sarah, worked for a couple of months on the video mash-up and had relative freedom to do their own thing. One segment that was cut out of the telecast was their take on the big Oscar winner of the night, "The King's Speech," which, according to Michael, is "the most gangsta moment of the House of Windsor."

The Gregory Bros.' two-minute video, including "The King's Speech" segment but without the "Social Network" segment that aired on the telecast, is below. Why the swap? Maybe the Oscar producers felt "The Social Network" wasn't getting enough love over the course of the show. Take a look and let us know what you think in the comments field.

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-- Nicole Sperling

Oscar winners: For director Tom Hooper, 'it's such a big deal' [Video]

For "The King's Speech" director Tom Hooper, a little time off on a deserted island would be nice right about now.

-- Amy Kaufman
Twitter.com/AmyKinLA

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Oscars: Tom Hooper promises to be sober for 'Oprah'

The long slog of awards season may be over for Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper, but he's still not done talking about "The King's Speech."

He's already been booked to make an early Monday morning appearance on "Good Morning America," followed by a stop at Oprah's annual Oscar special.

"I don't think I'm going to go to bed for a while. [But] I don't want to be the first person to go on 'Oprah' drunk, so I'll try to restrain myself," he said backstage, moments after receiving his statue.

Hooper said the success of the film made him realize that he needs to continue to search for good stories, as before uncovering "The King's Speech," he "didn't quite believe there were masterpieces sitting unread in attics."

"I kind of thought the system worked -- that there were scouts, and if there was a good script, we'd all know it," he said. "But this play failed to be produced as a fringe theater play. This play was going nowhere when I came to it."

Though he's eager to leave the awards trail behind, Hooper said he's going to miss his newfound friends, Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, with whom he claims to have an "extraordinary connection."

"We had a rehearsal period of about three weeks, and I just think we kind of became incredibly good friends ... and we're all friends for life," he said. "There's something about the way I was shooting them -- the fact that I liked them so much as people is probably in the DNA of the movie."

--Amy Kaufman

Twitter.com/AmyKinLA

Photo: Tom Hooper. Credit: Kevin Winter / Getty Images

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Oscars: Colin Firth, lead actor winner and master chef?

When he walked backstage with his Oscar, Colin Firth was asked about his relationship with British royalty. Now that he’s gotten the royal nod of approval for his role as King George VI in best picture winner “The King’s Speech,” does he expect to be invited to the royal wedding?

“As I understand it, the invitations have already gone out,” Firth said. “Mine is definitely lost in the post somewhere. I’m working on tracing it.”

It was then pointed out that “The King’s Speech” got made, in part, thanks to a grant from the UK Film Council, which is being scrapped by the incoming government. Firth said that he didn’t really want to become entangled in the politics of that but added that he thought it was “a very short-sighted decision.”

 And now that the awards season is over, is the actor relieved to take a break from Bertie?

“Yes, I have started having fantasies about what I’ll do when I don’t have to talk to you lot,” he joked to reporters. “No, it’s lovely company. I think I’m going to cook a lot. I’m not very good at it, but I’m going to inflict my cooking on anyone within range. I think I’ll be the only one eating it.”

 What does he think the message of “The King’s Speech" is?

“I don’t believe in messages in anything I do. I make pictures; I don’t think we’re philosophers. I don’t think good storytelling should dictate what people should think or feel,” Firth replied. “What has struck me is that the emotional response has been very personal, very wide and very diverse. Obviously, speech therapists and people with speech impediments have been affected by it. … I think that it’s important that it resonates with people who haven’t been heard in a long time.”

 When Firth was onstage accepting his Oscar, he told the audience that he was trying to control his impulse to dance. Now backstage he was asked whether he’d please let those impulses loose.

“I was struggling to contain them in that moment, and I think that I need some quality time alone,” he said. “I don’t think this is the right environment for that type of behavior, and anybody who has seen ‘Mamma Mia!’ will know what I mean.”

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Colin Firth. Credit: Associated Press 

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Oscars: 'The King's Speech' wins for best picture

“The King’s Speech” won the Oscar for best film Sunday night at the 83rd Academy Awards. Directed by Tom Hooper, the film about King George VI’s attempts to conquer his stutter as he ascends the British throne had been in a tight race for the top Academy Award with David Fincher’s “The Social Network.” That film had dominated the awards season through the Golden Globes, but “The King’s Speech” began to build more momentum with the industry guild awards, starting with the Producers Guild Awards in late January, and on through the BAFTAs, the British equivalent of the Academy Awards, two weeks ago.

The Academy Awards were handed out at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Check in for reaction and more here on Awards Tracker.

-- Susan King

Photo: "The King's Speech" winners, including front: Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Gareth Unwin. Credit: Associated Press.

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Oscars: 'The Social Network' wins for film editing

“The Social Network’s” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter won the Oscar for film editing at the 83rd Academy Awards on Sunday night. This is the second nomination for Wall and Baxter, who were previously nominated together for their work on “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” They also won the BAFTA Award for editing with their work on “The Social Network.”

Wall and Baxter competed against Andrew Weisblum for “Black Swan,” Pamela Martin for “The Fighter,” Tariq Anwar for “The King’s Speech” and Jon Harris for “127 Hours.”

The Academy Awards are taking place at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood and are being televised live on ABC. We'll carry all the breaking news and reaction here on Awards Tracker.

-- Rick Rojas

Photo: Angus Wall, left, and Kirk Baxter congratulate each other for their win for "The Social Network." Credit: Associated Press.

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