LA critics honour Firth for royal role
Monarchy drama 'The King’s Speech' earned a clutch of accolades today from the influential Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Colin Firth, who plays the Queen’s father, George VI as he struggles to overcome a debilitating stammer, scooped the best actor award, and Geoffrey Rush, who plays his speech therapist Lionel Logue, was runner-up for the best supporting actor section.
Behind the cameras, David Seidler was runner-up in the best screenplay category and Eve Stewart a runner-up in production design.
'The King’s Speech' and Facebook drama 'The Social Network', which was named the year’s best picture, are tipped for Oscars.
Kim Hye-ja won best actress for South Korean drama 'Mother'.
The runners-up were Edgar Ramirez for the terrorist epic 'Carlos' and Jennifer Lawrence for the Ozarks crime thriller 'Winter’s Bone'.
Overseas crime dramas won the other acting honours. Jacki Weaver was named best supporting actress for Australia’s 'Animal Kingdom' and Niels Arestrup as supporting actor for France’s 'A Prophet'.
The runners-up were Olivia Williams for the thriller 'The Ghost Writer' and Geoffrey Rush for 'The King’s Speech'.
In a tie vote, the directing prize was shared by David Fincher for 'The Social Network' and Olivier Assayas for Carlos, which also was the best picture runner-up. Carlos won for best foreign-language film and the runner-up was 'Mother'.
'The Social Network', which stars Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, won two other honours. Aaron Sorkin earned the best-screenplay prize, while composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross shared the award for best musical score with Alexandre Desplat for 'The Ghost Writer'.
Tom Hanks and Tim Allen’s blockbuster 'Toy Story 3' was chosen as best animated film, while French film-maker Sylvain Chomet’s 'The Illusionist' was runner-up.
Winners, including career-achievement recipient Paul Mazursky, will be honoured at a ceremony in Los Angeles on January 15.
Along with the New York Film Critics Circle, which announces its winners today, the Los Angeles reviewers’ awards are among the key critical picks that help single out potential favourites on the build-up to the February 27 Academy Awards.
Top critics groups usually pick different films, though 2009’s 'The Hurt Locker' preceded its best-picture win at the Oscars with the same honour from the Los Angeles and New York groups, along with the National Society of Film Critics.
Critics’ awards also often go to smaller, even obscure films, though the Los Angeles group went mainstream two years ago and gave its best-picture prize to the animated blockbuster 'WALL-E'.
