Despite poor results Irish stars shine on Baftas red carpet
Irish stars may not have featured in the awards at London’s BAFTAS, but they certainly won in the fashion stakes, with Saoirse Ronan and Jessie Buckley appearing in stunning red carpet creations.
Both actresses had been nominated for Leading Female Actress but that award went instead to the favourite - Renee Zellweger for playing the lead role in Judy, about actress Judy Garland.
Saoirse Ronan, who was nominated for her role in Little Women, appeared at last night’s awards bash, which was hosted at London’s Royal Albert Hall by Graham Norton, in a black spaghetti-strap dress.
She also wore what looked like long dangle rainbow earrings, although one red carpet observer described them as resembling the “contents of a Skittles bag”.
The Carlow actress played Jo March alongside an all-star cast which includes Emma Watson, Laura Dern and Meryl Streep.
An only child, Ronan has previously said she was pleased to be cast as Jo, telling Vanity Fair: "I got to have sisters."
Jessie Buckley, who was nominated for her role in Wild Rose, wore a black floor-length gown with a stunning white feather shawl around the neck of her bodice,.
The Kerry actress was due to perform at the ceremony, and had said on her way in last night that she planned to “just sing my socks off”.
Another highlight of the night was the tumble The Irishman star Al Pacino took on his way in.
He had to be helped to his feet by those beside him.
He was later all smiles for the cameras and brushed it off.
1917 won Best Film and Outstanding British Film, Joaquin Phoenix won Leading Male Actor for playing the lead in Joker and Brad Pitt won Best Supporting actor for Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood
Other awards included Jojo Rabbitt for Best Adapted screenplay and Granddad Was A Romantic for Best British short animation.
The star-studded ceremony, which is one of the last stops on the awards circuit before the Oscars on February 9, saw guests walk on a recycled red carpet before tucking into a dinner made of sustainably sourced food.
Single-use plastic was banned at the ceremony.
The traditional gift bags were axed in favour of a "gifting wallet" made from recycled plastic by sustainable travel goods company Groundtruth and containing redeemable vouchers.
Guests were asked to make sustainable fashion choices for the ceremony and consider the impact of their travel options.
Bafta chairwoman Pippa Harris, who is also the producer of nominated film 1917, discussed the lack of female directors being nominated this year.
She told the PA news agency: "Although there are no women directors in the main fiction category, there are actually 13 female directors nominated, so for documentary, foreign language film, feature animations, short films, debut directors, and those women, their work should be celebrated, their work is just as important.
"They represent the future of the industry, so actually I think it's quite a positive story but it sort of got lost in the fact that there's no-one in the main fiction category."
On the issues around the lack of diversity at this year's awards, Ms Harris said: "We've announced a wide-ranging review, we're going to be looking at everything across the board in terms of the awards process.
"But also I think it's fair to say this is an industry-wide issue. It takes everyone to look at what they're doing.
"Awards are right at the end of a whole process and so we need to look at the types of films being made, the opportunities that people are getting, how the films are being promoted. All of these things play a part."
