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Hugh Grant honoured with Stanely Kubrick Britannia Award



Story by: Jack Foley

POPULAR British actor, Hugh Grant, is ‘cockahoop’ after being awarded the prestigious Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award by Bafta/LA (the US arm of the British film and TV academy) at a ceremony in Los Angeles earlier this month (November 2003).

The accolade, which recognises excellence in film, was presented to the 43-year-old star by Sandra Bullock, his co-star in this year’s romantic comedy, Two Weeks Notice.

Grant is currently in the US promoting his latest British comedy, Love Actually, in which he finds himself playing the British Prime Minister, who falls in love with his tea-lady (Martine McCutcheon).

The film, which opens in the UK on November 21, stars a veritable who’s who of British actors (Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Bill Nighy and Alan Rickman) and has already opened to positive reviews in the States.

Guests at Grant’s ceremony included Michael York, Robin Williams and Jennifer Connelly, while Bullock confessed to being ‘a little jealous’ whenever she is around him, because, for the most part, ‘he is egoless, self-deprecating and unbelievably smart and talented’.

"He’s gifted and I don't think he knows how gifted he is," she added, furthering the praise she bestowed upon him at the London press conference for Two Weeks Notice.

Grant, who is best known for his roles in Bridget Jones’ Diary, Notting Hill and, of course, Four Weddings and a Funeral, described the award as ‘very very nice and unusual for me’ and added that he doesn't really get many prizes, ‘but when I do, I'm cockahoop’.

Despite a reputation for playing the caddish fop in romantic comedy dramas (About A Boy is another popular one), Grant has occasionally taken on more serious roles, including The Remains of the Day, Maurice and Roman Polanski's Bitter Moon. He is currently filming the sequel to Bridget Jones.

The Stanley Kubrick Award is presented in memory of the late director and previous winners have included Sir Michael Caine, Sir Anthony Hopkins and director, Martin Scorsese.

Bafta/LA nominated Grant for the award because ‘his talent and keen intelligence has distinguished him as one of the best and brightest in contemporary cinema’.

Of the other winners at the LA-based ceremony, Australian director, Peter Weir, whose films include Gallipoli and The Truman Show, and whose forthcoming Russell Crowe epic, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, opens at the end of the month, was presented with the first John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Artistic Achievement, while Murder She Wrote star, Angela Lansbury, was awarded a lifetime achievement award.

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