Sir Patrick Stewart came dangerously close to making a gaffe when presenting at Thursday night’s Bafta Awards… but luckily, he stopped himself at the last second.
The war picture All Quiet on the Western Front was one of the night’s top victors at the 2023 Academy Awards, with Austin Butler, Cate Blanchett, Kerry Condon, and Barry Keoghan.
The award for best British film went to The Banshees of Inisherin, which was given to writer and director Martin McDonagh by the Picard and X-Men actor.
Nevertheless, Sir Patrick almost divulged the findings before the winner was declared.
On Monday’s Good Morning Britain, entertainment editor Richard Arnold, who was in attendance at the ceremony in London, stated, ‘Another moment saw X-Men veteran Patrick Stewart almost announce a winner before we’d even heard the nominees.’
As the 82-year-old took the stage to present the prize, he described the films in the category as ‘curious, exhilarating, empathetic, painful, and daring. Tonight’s films challenged us to reconsider our past, altered our perceptions of the present, and offered us all hope for the future.’
The nominees were then shown on TV as the following step.
Before then, Sir Patrick moved to open the envelope in front of him, which would have revealed which film had received the award.
As he looked up behind him at the screen, the actor realised his mistake and placed his hand over his month as he peered out at the crowd, who chuckled at his gaffe.
When it came time to declare the winner, he had to be reminded that he was the one who had to break the news, as he said: ‘Me? Oh yes! Without a doubt. I’m very sorry.’
In his address, playwright and filmmaker Martin said that several of his film’s Irish cast and crew questioned the film’s nomination for best British picture.
On the night, The Banshees of Inisherin took home numerous honours, including best original script, best supporting actress for Kerry, and best supporting actor for Barry.
It did, however, lose best film to All Quiet on the Western Front, as well as best original soundtrack and editing, and Colin Farrell did not win best main actor, since the award went to Elvis actor Austin instead.
Some people believed Colin was robbed of the award, while Austin used his speech to honour the Presley family and Elvis’ late daughter, Lisa Marie Presley.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.
Source My Celebrity Life.