‘And the BAFTA goes to…’ read Sarah Jessica Parker. And we waited.

Seconds later Daniel Day-Lewis has risen to the stage and in front of an admiring audience  delivered one of the more amusing, yet still humbling acceptance speeches of the night. For those of you who missed it, the Oscar hopeful made the speech of a lifetime, referencing his famous method acting, while gently making fun:

‘Just on the chance I might one day have to speak on an evening such as this I’ve actually stayed in character as myself for the last 55 years and had a various selection of Bafta sets downscaled, dating from the late fifties, placed in every single room of every house I’ve ever lived in and every time I rise from a chair it spontaneously unleashes a soundtrack of thunderous applause, with a few boos and drunken hecklers’

But there were no boos. Joking aside, his commitment to a character clearly works. Once again, his ability to bring a story to life has been recognised by the industry. Last month he picked up the Golden Globe and SAG awards for the same role. He’s now added his fourth BAFTA to that growing list, thanking Steven Spielberg for his time working on Lincoln and wishing they were ‘still on the expedition together’. Just one more step towards the Academy awards.

George Clooney at Toronto Film Festival 2008 (Photo by Josh Jensen via Flickr)

Another very nice surprise of the evening was when another of today’s Wild Geese turned up. The always dashing George Clooney attended in his producer role on Argo which was awarded Best Film. Sporting a healthy beard, we’re betting guys from London to LA will be growing facial hair to match his style.

Clooney has done some monumental work behind the camera in the past few years, so it was incredibly gratifying to see him pick up the BAFTA for Best Film with director Ben Afflect and co-producer Grant Heslov.

In his acceptance speech Clooney had nothing but praise for his director:

‘You’re smart and you know what you want but more important, you love what you’re doing’