Critics Choice Awards 2021: British winners are revealed
Critics Choice Awards 2021: British actors win big as The Crown’s Josh O’Connor scoops Best Actor and Daniel Kaluuya scores Best Supporting Actor prize for Judas And The Black Messiah
The Critics Choice Awards 2021 kicked off in style on Sunday night.
Due to the coronavirus crisis, this year’s ceremony is the event’s first ever one to take place both virtually and in-person, and British actors won big at the awards show, which Taye Diggs hosted for the third time.
Josh O’Connor, 30, earned the prize for Best Actor in a Drama for his performance as Prince Charles in The Crown, and Daniel Kaluuya, 32, was given the Best Supporting Actor gong for his turn as Chairman Fred Hampton in Judas And The Black Messiah.
Critics Choice Awards 2021: British actors win big as The Crown’s Josh O’Connor (pictured) scooped Best Actor and Daniel Kaluuya scored Best Supporting Actor prize on Sunday
Despite his success, Josh did not make an appearance during the ceremony so Tony Hale said: ‘Congratulations, Josh couldn’t be here tonight so we will be accepting it on his behalf.’
Judas and the Black Messiah sees William O’Neal [LaKeith Stanfield] infiltrate the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton [Kaluuya] after he’s offered a plea deal by the FBI.
Sharing his delight at being given the award, Daniel said: ‘Thank you, Thank you so much… I’d like to thank [the film’s director] Shaka King for leading us, believing in us and collaborating with us.
‘I’d like to thank LaKeith, man, we did this together. And Dominique Fishback, and all the incredible cast, the comrades, and crew, everyone back in Cleveland, thank you.
Thankful: Sharing his delight at being given the award, Daniel said: ‘I’d like to thank [the film’s director] Shaka King for leading us, believing in us and collaborating with us’
Drama: The film follows William O’Neal [LaKeith Stanfield] infiltrate the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton [Kaluuya, pictured]
Daniel went on: ‘I’d like to thank the Critics Choice for championing Chairman Fred’s legacy, Fred’s messages and ideas and strategies for helping the people, I appreciate that thank you so much.
Kaluuya also earned the same prize at the Golden Globe Awards last week, which means he is certain to be tipped for this year’s Oscars.
The Get Out star beat fellow Brit Sacha Baron Cohen to the prize, as well as the late Chadwick Boseman, Bill Murray, Leslie Odom Jr. and Paul Raci.
Co-stars: Daniel said: ‘I’d like to thank LaKeith, man, we did this together… and all the incredible cast, the comrades, and crew (Daniel and LaKeith pictured in the film)
Frontrunner: Kaluuya also earned the same prize at the Golden Globe Awards last week, which means he is certain to be tipped for this year’s Oscars
John Boyega the award for Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television won for his role as Leroy Logan in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe Anthology.
The film John stars in, Red, White, and Blue follows the story of a young black man who tried to overcome racial prejudice to become a police officer.
In his acceptance speech, John began: ‘Wow, thank you so much. First and foremost I would like to thank the critics for this choice.
‘The BBC and Amazon and special thank you to Steve Mcqueen for giving me this opportunity in this role and sharing so much of yourself on sat on a day-to-day basis,’ Boyega began.
‘To the most special person in my life. My agent, my brother and my friend for being there with me from beginning and making history. The choices that we’ve made so far. Thank you, guys. Much appreciated.’
American-born, London-based Anya Taylor-Joy also won the Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television category for her acclaimed efforts in Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit.
‘Thank you so much. Thank you to the critics. I would love to take this opportunity to thank our incredible crew in Berlin,’ she began.
‘Honestly it wouldn’t have been the same without every single one of your souls being there. It was a privilege to watch you work every day. Thank you so much for letting me be part of it. Thank you,’ she added.
Following its huge success at the Golden Globe Awards, The Crown is almost certain to do similarly well during the Critics Choice Awards with five of the show’s cast members receiving nods.
Gillian Anderson won the Best Supporting Actress in a Drama series award for her turn as Margaret Thatcher in the Netflix show.
‘Thank you to the Critics Choice Association and to my fellow nominees,’ Anderson said, before thanking her showrunner and producers.
The Crown’s Olivia Colman and Emma Corrin are pitted against each other as they are both nominated for the Best Actress in a Drama Series, Colman for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II and Corrin for her role as the late Princess Diana.
Gong! Following its huge success at the Golden Globe Awards, The Crown is almost certain to do similarly well and Gillian Anderson was the first to scoop a prize for Best Supporting Actress
Acclaimed: Anderson portrayed the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in season four of the Netflix royal drama (pictured)
The show also earned a nod for Best Drama Series, while Tobias Menzies (Prince Philip), and in all, the show emerged as the clear leader of the pack when the nominations were announced on Monday, with six nods received.
The awards show, will see several other Brits up for awards, including Michaela Coel, who won acclaim for her series I May Destroy You (Best Actress in a Limited Series of Movie Made for Television).
Also among those up for coveted prizes are Tracey Ullman for Mrs. America (Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television), Nicholas Hoult for The Great (Best Actor in a Comedy Series), and Hugh Grant for The Undoing (Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television).
Suited and booted: Orlando Bloom helped present awards during the virtual ceremony
Cynthia Erivo also received a nod for The Outsider (Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series), who will be up against Wunmi Mosaku (Lovecraft Country).
The Crown and Ozark are both up for the Best Drama Series, with fellow nominees that include The Mandalorian (Disney Plus), Perry Mason (HBO), Lovecraft Country (HBO), This Is Us (NBC), The Good Fight (CBS All Access) and Better Call Saul (AMC).
For Ozark, in addition to Best Drama Series, are up for Best Actor in a Drama Series for Jason Bateman, Best Actress In A Drama Series for Laura Linney, Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Tom Pelphrey and Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Julia Garner and Janet McTeer.
Elsewhere, Schitt’s Creek received five nominations including Best Comedy Series as well as Best Actor in a Comedy Series for Eugene Levy and Best Actress in a Comedy Series for Catherine O’Hara as well as Best Supporting Actor and Actress in a Comedy Series for its stars Daniel Levy and Annie Murphy, respectively.
Normal People received a nod for Best Limited Series, as well as nods for its lead actor and actress, Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones.
Kelly Clarkson received a nomination for Best Talk Show alongside the likes of Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk.
What We Do In The Shadows (FX) has five nominations; Better Call Saul has four nominations as does The Plot Against America (HBO); This Is Us (NBC) has three nominations, The Undoing (HBO) also has three noms as well as Ted Lasso (Apple TV+) and The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix).
In the film categories, David Fincher’s Mank garnered an impressive 12 nominations, while Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari has been given 10 nods at the awards show, meaning these two films lead the pack at the 2021 ceremony.
Mank is Netflix’s black-and-white Citizen Kane origin story, and is up for Best Picture, Best Actor (Gary Oldman), Best Supporting Actress (Amanda Seyfried) and Best Director (Fincher), among others.
Minari, A24’s drama about a Korean-American family who seek a new life in Arkansas, has been nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Steven Yeun), Best Supporting Actress (Yuh-jung Youn), Best Director and Best Screenplay (both Chung).
Netflix’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Universal’s Tom Hanks western News Of The World follow with eight and seven nominations each, respectively.
As a result, streaming giant Netflix has received an impressive 46 nominations in total at the event.
The Best Picture category has 10 nominations: Mank, Minari, Da 5 Bloods, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, News of the World, Nomadland, One Night In Miami, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal and The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, which was snubbed by this year’s Golden Globes, garnered six nominations in total, as did Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer last year aged 43, has been posthumously nominated for Best Actor in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Best Supporting Actor in Da 5 Bloods, and has also been mentioned in Acting Ensemble for both movies.
Several British stars have been recognised at the event including Colman, 47, who received a nod for her role in The Father, while The Crown alum Vanessa Kirby features in the Best Actress category for Pieces of a Woman.
The actress, 32, will be up against fellow Brit Carey Mulligan, 35, for her performance in Promising Young Woman, which is also nominated for Best Picture.
The Crown’s Emerald Fennell, 35, who played Camilla on the Netflix show, also impressed, receiving two nominations in the Best Original Screenplay and Best Director categories for her work on Promising Young Woman (Focus Features).
Overall her movie got a whopping six nods from the Critics Choice Awards, also being featured in Best Picture, Best Hair and Makeup, Best Costume Design and Best Actress (Mulligan).
Promising Young Woman is a revenge thriller that follows Cassie (Mulligan), a barista who ends up on a warpath as she tries to seek out vengeance on those who have wronged her.
While Kirby’s film Pieces Of A Women tells the story of young woman, Martha, who when her home birth ends in tragedy, begins a year-long odyssey of mourning that fractures relationships with loved ones in a deeply personal story about her learning to live alongside her loss.
Mulligan and Kirby join Frances McDormand, Viola Davis, Andra Day, Sidney Flanigan and Zendaya in the best actress category.
Brits also dominated in the Best Actor group with Riz Ahmed, 38, Delroy Lindo, 68, Oldman, 62, and Anthony Hopkins, 83, all receiving nominations.
Ahmed was nominated for his role in Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios) and Lindo was chosen for his performance in Da 5 Bloods (Netflix).
Sound of Metal is about how a drummer’s life is thrown into freefall when he begins to lose his hearing while Da 5 Bloods follows four veterans who seek the remains of their squad leader and the fortune he helped them hide after Vietnam.
Oldman also joins them in this category for Mank, which received 12 nods at the awards show, and Anthony Hopkins is the fourth Brit featured for starring in The Father (Sony Pictures Classics) alongside Colman.
The movie follows an ageing Welshman, played by Hopkins, who must deal with his progressing memory loss, while Colman portrays his daughter.
Brit Paul Greengrass was also given a nod by the awards ahow alongside Luke Davies for the News of the World (Universal Pictures) in the Best Adapted Screenplay category.
And screenwriter Christopher Hampton shares a nomination with Florian Zeller for The Father as well.