The Artist Wins Seven BAFTA Awards

As has been the case for a couple of years, the winners of the BAFTA awards were tweeted long before anyone not nominated actually saw the show. It's a mystery to me why this organization keeps tape-delaying their ceremony, not just for international audiences (which makes some sense), but also to their homegrown audience. In any case, the winners are below:

Best Film: The Artist
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help
Best Original Screenplay: The Artist
Best Adapted Screenplay: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Best British Film: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Best Foreign Language Film: The Skin I Live In
Best Documentary: Senna
Best Animated Film: Rango
Best Film Editing: Senna
Best Production Design: Hugo
Best Cinematography: The Artist
Best Costume Design: The Artist
Best Makeup & Hair: The Iron Lady
Best Original Music: The Artist
Best Sound: Hugo
Best Special Visual Effects: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II
Best Short Film: Pitch Black Heist
Best Animated Short: A Morning Stroll
Best British Debut: Paddy Considine, Tyrannosaur
Orange Rising Star: Adam Deacon

The Artist was the night's biggest winner and as predictable as this was to everyone, I still managed to do quite terribly at predicting the winners getting only 12/24 (50%). I did predict The Artist to win Best Picture and Best Director, which it did, but it also nabbed Best Actor for its star Jean Dujardin, Best Original Screenplay (a slight surprise), and three more tech awards. Like The Artist, Christopher Plummer and Octavia Spencer continued their awards season domination by lifting the award here thereby making their road to Oscars that much easier. Meryl Streep, meanwhile, repeated her Golden Glove victory over her close friend Viola Davis for Best Actress, which perhaps was a given since she played such a notorious British figure. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy won Best British Film and Best Adapted Screenplay, which was good, but I expected more love for this film. Hugo, The Iron Lady, and Senna also won two awards each.

After tonight, it's perhaps tempting to just rinse and repeat at the Oscars and that very well could happen give or take a Tinker Tailor or so. It's safe to say The Artist will win Best Picture, but there's something nagging in me that says Martin Scorsese might still win Best Director. And while the supporting categories are locked and loaded, the leading categories have just enough drama. Can Jean Dujardin beat George Clooney? Will it be Meryl Streep vs. Viola Davis and if so, who wins? And if The Artist does make a strong showing, what does it mean for the majority of the tech categories as well as its closest competitor Hugo?