Date: 24th February 2003

Delighted Kidman Wins Best Actress BAFTA


A Delighted Nicole Kidman today followed up her Golden Globe award with a British film academy best actress prize for her portrayal of troubled writer Virginia Woolf in British film The Hours.
Kidman, 34, dedicated her award to Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore, her co-stars in The Hours, but downplayed her chances of a hat-trick at next month's Academy Awards.

"Wow. This is a really big deal for me," Kidman said as she accepted the award.

"It is so lovely to share this with two really, really special women. I divide it into three and we share it together."

Kidman beat Streep, Oscar-winner Halle Berry, Chicago star Renee Zellweger and Salma Hayek of Frida to the award, but said it was not a predictor of success at the Oscars.

"I would never gamble on myself," Kidman said.

Her prize was one of only two for The Hours, which had been nominated for 11 honours at the British equivalent of the Oscars.

Martin Scorsese's historical epic Gangs of New York and the musical Chicago were the biggest losers of the night.

Both were nominated for 12 awards, but Gangs won only best actor for Daniel Day-Lewis while Chicago won two - best sound and best supporting actress for Catherine Zeta Jones.

Roman Polanski's Holocaust film, The Pianist, scooped the big awards, winning best film and best director.

Australian Toni Collette missed out to Zeta Jones for best supporting actress for her performance as the kooky single mother in About A Boy.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers had nine nominations but won just two awards - best costume design and most outstanding achievement in special visual effects.

However, it won the public-voted Orange Best Film award.

Christopher Walken won best supporting actor for his role in Catch Me If You Can, while The Warrior, by British director Asif Kapadia, was a surprise winner of the best British film.

Set in India and scripted in Hindu, the film - which was also nominated for best film not in the English language - beat The Hours, Bend It Like Beckham, Dirty Pretty Things and The Magdalene Sisters for the prestigious award.

Spanish director Pedro Almodovar won best non-English language film and best original screenplay.

AAP

Click Here for full list of BAFTA winners.

Source: Press Release