The 71st EE British Academy Film Awards take place in London this Sunday (February 18), with proceedings presided over by new host, the ever fabulous Joanna Lumley.
Watch from 8/7c on BBC AMERICA to see who the big winners are, not to mention who makes the best speech and who gets the biggest laugh, of course. Below is a list of some of our favorite moments from award shows gone by.
10. Professor X junior meets Professor X senior at the 2006 BAFTA Film Awards
James McAvoy beat some formidable competition — Gael García Bernal, Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michelle Williams — to become the first ever recipient of BAFTA’s Rising Star Award in 2006. Sporting a shaggy mop, a far cry from the largely hairless young Charles Xavier he plays in the X-Men movies, he was handed the award by none other than Sir Patrick Stewart, who was already playing the older version of the role.
9. Taika Waititi falls asleep at the 2005 Academy Awards
Taika is now famous for having directed the third film in Marvel’s Thor series, not to mention his earlier films Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Boy. Back in 2005, however, he was a relative unknown director of short films — until this stunt at the Oscars, that is.
8. Jamie Bell bothers turning up at the 2001 BAFTA Film Awards
Fourteen-year-old Jamie Bell won the Leading Actor award in 2001 for Billy Elliot, beating some much older “peers” in the form of Russell Crowe, Michael Douglas, Tom Hanks and Geoffrey Rush. His acceptance speech was hilarious.
7. Olivia Colman goes all goosey at the 2013 BAFTA TV Awards
Olivia managed to keep it together (just) for her first acceptance speech, giving birth to “Ann-Malivia Colmuff” when she won Best Supporting Actress for her role in gang drama Accused. The second, however, for her comedy performance in Twenty Twelve, was less coherent still. And then she saw “Matthew from Friends.”
6. Daniel Day-Lewis gives the finger at the 2013 Golden Globes
DDL may have won a Golden Globe for his performance in Stephen Spielberg‘s Lincoln, but it was his imitation of everyone’s favorite extraterrestrial, thanks to some coercion by hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, that had us in stitches.
5. Renée Zellweger takes a badly timed bathroom break at the 2001 Golden Globes
Renée was nowhere to be seen when her Bridget Jones co-star Hugh Grant announced she’d won Best Actress for her performance in Nurse Betty. The unflappable Hugh started accepting the honor on her behalf, when she finally rushed on stage and admitted she had been in the bathroom when her name was called. Oops.
4. Meryl Streep loses a shoe at the 2012 BAFTA Film Awards
“That couldn’t have gone any worse,” said Meryl after losing one of her shoes on her way up to the podium in 2012. Jennifer Lawrence must have heard her, as just a year later she topped Meryl’s performance with an even more spectacular fall of her own.
3. Alan Rickman wins his first BAFTA at the 1992 BAFTA Film Awards
Alan had already been nominated for his sensitive performance in 1990’s Truly, Madly, Deeply, but it was his subsequent role as the outrageously villainous Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves that finally bagged him a BAFTA. The irony didn’t escape him.
2. Leonardo DiCaprio gives Dame Maggie Smith a kiss at the 2016 BAFTA Film Awards
The BAFTAs give us an unrivalled opportunity to watch Hollywood acting royalty mix with actual British royalty, in the case of the divine Dame Maggie. Two years ago Leo was riding high after his performance in The Revenant, and Maggie — well, poor Maggie was in front of him.
1. Emma Thompson gives up at the 2014 Golden Globes
Not only are the drinks free at award shows, but the shows themselves are loooong. Some stars try to disguise their inebriation in front of the audience, but not our Emma. In 2014 she padded up to the stage barefoot, clutching her pair of Louboutins in one hand, a martini in the other — and forgot the envelope.
What are your favorite award show moments?