Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – the final film in the fantasy franchise based on JK Rowling’s novel – has won best film and best director for David Yates at the 2012 Empire Awards.
Many of the film’s cast attended but Daniel Radcliffe was unable to attend the ceremony to receive Harry Potter’s prize. He left a video message, saying: “I’ve always been quite a harsh judge of the series, but I was over the moon with this final film. I think we went out on a high note.”
The Empire Awards are voted for entirely by the public.
Gary Oldman won best actor for his role in political thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. And The Inbetweeners Movie beat Bridesmaids to pick up best comedy. Blockbusters Thor and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn also won.
Tim Burton with partner Helena Boham Carter at the Empire Awards
Full list of winners
Best film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Best British film: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Best actor: Gary Oldman
Best actress: Olivia Colman
Best Director: David Yates (Harry Potter)
Best male newcomer: Tom Hiddleston (Thor)
Best female newcomer: Felicity Jones (Like Crazy)
Best comedy: The Inbetweeners Movie
Best horror: Kill List
Best thriller: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Best sci-fi: Thor
The Art of 3D award: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
The nominations for the 84th Academy Awards were announced this morning. In the technical categories, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 came away with three nominations. They are:
Art Direction
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
Makeup
Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
Visual Effects
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
Two former Potter actors were also recognized for their achievements this year. Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) was nominated in the Leading Actor category for his work in “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” and Kenneth Branagh (Gilderoy Lockhart) for Supporting Actor in “My Week with Marilyn.”
Daniel Radcliffe miffed with Oscar Snobbery, says Alan Rickman deserved nomination
Meanwhile in an interview with Radio Times, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe said that the Harry Potter franchise has been continuously ignored by the Academy. The last film in the series, “Deathly Hallows – Part 2,” alone made $1.3 billion at the global box office, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.
“I don’t think the Oscars like commercial films, or kids’ films, unless they’re directed by Martin Scorsese,” Radcliffe told the Radio Times. “I was watching ‘Hugo’ the other day and going, ‘Why is this nominated and we’re not?’ I was slightly miffed.”
Radcliffe added: “There’s a certain amount of snobbery … It’s kind of disheartening. I never thought I’d care.”
Earlier, Radcliffe said in an interview with BBC America that Alan Rickman, who played Professor Severus Snape, should have received some Academy recognition for his performance in the finale.
“The one thing I would have loved was for Alan Rickman to get nominated … I think what Alan does with that character, with the world watching you expecting that scene to be a certain way, was amazing,” he said.
On the films, Radcliffe continued: “I don’t know if it’s a case of being passed over. I think it could just be that we’re not one of the nine best films of the year … Actually, we probably made the top nine in my head now that I think about it.”
Congratulations to the Harry Potter crew for their nominations. However, fans would be disappointed that the final Potter movie did not get any nominations in the non technical category, particularly one where most were hoping for – best supporting actor nomination for Alan Rickman – who absolutely dazzled with his portrayal of Severus Snape in the movies. Certainly almost every Harry Potter fan would agree with Radcliffe here.
Daniel Radcliffe Announces BAFTA Nominations, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 up for four awards
Daniel Radcliffe was joined by actress Holliday Grainger to announce the nominees for the 2012 British Academy Film Awards. To see video of Radcliffe and Grainger announcing the nominees, see below:
BAFTA’s annual film awards ceremony is known as the British Academy Film Awards. It aims to reward the best work of any nationality seen on British cinema screens during the preceding year. Since 2008 the ceremony has been held at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden having previously taken place at the flagship Odeon cinema on Leicester Square since 2000. The ceremony previously took place in April or May, but from 2002 onwards has taken place in February, in order to precede the Oscars.
Production Design (Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan)
Make-Up & Hair (Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin)
Sound (James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener)
Special Visual Effects (Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery)
Radcliffe spoke to several news outlets following the nominations announcement and talked about his favorite films of the year, as well as Gary Oldman’s (Sirius Black) nomination for Lead Actor in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.”
The eight films have turned Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint into global superstars and have spawned countless imitations. However critical acclaim and combined box office receipts of around £5 billion have not brought the one thing that the boy wizard really wants – an Oscar.
But now the makers of the Harry Potter films have launched a campaign to have the final instalment recognised at the Academy Awards, ending a 10-year snub in the major awards categories.
Despite breaking box office records, the wizarding adventures have been overlooked by the Academy year after year.
In one last push to right the perceived wrong Warner Bros, the studio behind the films, is lobbying Academy voters to nominate Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in a dozen categories including best picture and best director for David Yates, who has directed the last four Harry Potter films.
Warner Bros is also hoping to break the spell by lobbying for Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson to be nominated in the best actor and actress categories respectively. The most likely chance of success comes in the best supporting actor category with Alan Rickman’s performance as Professor Severus Snape. Radcliffe, who plays Potter, has added his voice to the campaign for Rickman. He said: “I don’t think there is going to be another performance from an actor in a supporting role that is so powerful.”
Hollywood studios spend big money on campaigning during Oscars season.
Warner Bros has set up a ‘For Your Consideration’ website for the final Harry Potter film, which charts the wizard’s final victory over the forces of evil. The studio is running special trailers and advertising campaigns in the film’s honour. The ballot closes on January 13 and the nominations will be announced on January 24.
To date, the Harry Potter films have been nominated for nine Oscars but have failed to win any. The categories for which the films have been nominated include best art direction, best score and best cinematography. While these are all hard-fought categories, they are outside the ‘big five’ categories that are the true mark of Oscar glory: best picture, best director, best actor, best actress and best screenplay.
The films have fared slightly better at UK awards ceremonies. Last year the series was awarded a BAFTA for outstanding contribution to cinema. The award was collected by the books’ author JK Rowling.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – the eighth and final movie of the popular book series by JK Rowling – is now available for pre-order as DVD and bluray in the UK.
The UK release date for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 DVD and blu-ray has been announced as December 2, 2011. While the DVD is a two-disc edition, the blu-ray package includes three things: bluray + DVD + Digital Copy and the best part is that it is region-free. This could be useful for Harry Potter fans living in Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa, for whom Amazon.co.uk has a free shipping offer (yes, internationally!) on shopping over £25. Read more here.
Fans in England will also be delighted to know of a special limited edition movie one-eight blu-ray box set thats also available for pre-order and comes out on the same date, i.e. December 2:
Oddly, Warner Bros is yet to announce the release date for the final Harry Potter DVD in the United States, with the Amazon page for Deathly Hallows Part 2 DVD just showing a message: “Sign up to be notified when this item becomes available.” It is obvious the US fans won’t be liking it one bit to wait extra for their favourite movie. Favourite indeed because HP7 Part 2 has already been voted the best movie of the series so far on the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Facebook page. No wonder its also the third highest grossing film of all times!
We will keep you posted when the US release date for Deathly Hallows Part 2 DVD is announced.
