Austin Butler is playing Lance Armstrong in a new movie.
‘Conclave’s Edward Berger is aboard to direct.
Zach Baylin will write the script.
Though a specific part of his life and career has been brought to screens before (in 2015’s ‘The Program’, where he was played by Ben Foster), a new movie focused on controversial cyclist Lance Armstrong is in the works.
Producer Scott Stuber, who has been trying to set this project up for years now, has convinced Armstrong to sign over his life rights and promises a biopic that won’t pull any punches (more on the cyclist’s story below).
What’s the story of the new Lance Armstrong movie?
Lance Armstrong in ’30 for 30: Lance’. Photo: ESPN.
It may not be a complete life-story biopic, but the screenplay from ‘King Richard’s Zach Baylin certainly has good material to work from: Armstrong famously survived cancer and returned to the world of pro cycling, where he would go on to win the famed Tour de France an incredible seven consecutive times.
Hollywood would soon fall in love with that story, with several A-listers chasing the role of a lifetime. But before that story could be told, Armstrong, after denying it for years, ultimately admitted to blood doping, ultimately ending his career.
When will the Lance Armstrong movie be on screens?
Right now, this only exists as a packaged project with several studios bidding to take it on. Stuber has a deal at Amazon MGM Studios, but this idea apparently predates that, so it’s available to a variety of potential homes.
Colin Farrell attends ‘Ballad Of A Small Player’ press conference.
‘Ballad Of A Small Player‘ follows a high-stakes gambler (Colin Farrell) whose luck starts to run out when his past and his debts start to catch up with him. While lying low in Macau, he encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation. Moviefone was in attendance at a press conference for the film, which featured Colin Farrell, Fala Chen, and director Edward Berger.
When asked about filming in Macau, Colin Farrell explained how the city itself is a character in ‘Ballad Of A Small Player’ and reveals how much he enjoyed being there.
Colin Farrell: I’ve heard folks on our film talk about it being like Vegas on steroids. I found it to be a bit the other way around. The strip itself is brand new. It’s only less than 20 years. When I saw it, it’s really impressive. Don’t get me wrong. It’s so elaborate and ostentatious and it’s so bright and there’s fountains and Celine Dion is pumping through the speakers at all hours of the day. But it feels more family-oriented than Vegas does. There’s not a bunch of strip clubs. There’s no people walking around drinking hurricanes out of a straw. I didn’t see any drunkenness. They’re very, very focused on gambling. It’s really is, sounds obvious to say, but gambling-centric. I loved it. I found it really interesting. I found it to be a place of great contrast.
2) Fala Chen Shares A Trick She Used To Help Get In Character While Filming ‘Ballad Of A Small Player”
(L to R) Director Edward Berger, Fala Chen, and composer Volker Bertelmann attend ‘Ballad Of A Small Player’ press conference.
During the press conference, Fala Chen revealed something that was even a surprise to director Edward Berger about how she helped get into character.
Fala Chen: I had Coca-Cola cans, because I couldn’t find sand bags. Last minute, I was like, I need something to weigh down my feet. So I asked Costume to get me something. The temple scene, when we walk, I wanted some weight on my feet that’s not noticeable, but it just helps me, so we had two Coca-Cola cans on my feet. These are things that I played with for Dao Ming’s emotions. When she’s on the island, it’s like floating on the houseboat, so there are a lot of light things going on in her body. Weight was something that I leaned on playing her.
3) Colin Farrell Says Director Edward Berger Has A Rare Energy When It Comes To Making Art
Colin Farrell speaks very highly of director Edward Berger, and his drive to create art.
Colin Farrell: I love to work with Edward. He’s an extraordinary storyteller and he has an attention to detail that is second to none. He’s got possibly the biggest engine. He’s got a huge engine. He can just go and go and go and doesn’t seem to let up. I mean, as is very clearly obvious by the amount of work that he’s doing now. He did ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’ and that was coming out and he was shooting ‘Conclave’ and then we went to shoot ‘Ballad Of A Small Player’. While we shot ‘Ballad Of A Small Player’, he was flying on his own to promote ‘Conclave’ and then back to ‘Ballad’ and he’s just relentless. He’s like that on the set as well. His curiosity is something that I feel propels him forward, with that energy that I speak of, that engine that I speak of. He’s super kind, really bright. I just think he’s an extraordinary storyteller and I loved working with him.
4) Edward Berger Reveals Why He Is Drawn To Darker Films
A lot of director Edward Berger’s films are on the darker side. Here, he reveals why he is drawn to stories like that.
Edward Berger: There’s nothing to hide, but there is, dark, descending into darkness and escaping from it or coming out of it alive, that makes for good films, I believe. When you throw characters into turmoil, just like we are thrown into turmoil sometimes and go through crises, but what makes us go on is that we get through those and have learned something and come out better in the end and learn to value life afterwards. So I want to do that with films, you know? I want to throw my characters, and they do that for me, so I don’t have to do it in life. They do it for us, for all of us.
5) Colin Farrell Recalls How Fun It Was To Work With Tilda Swinton
Tilda Swinton and Colin Farrell work very closely together in ‘Ballad Of A Small Player’. Here, Colin discusses how much he loves working with her and what a brilliant actress she is.
Colin Farrell: I had worked with Tilda in a very brief fashion many, many moons ago, like 25 years ago. So it was lovely to get in the sandbox with her and play around and have some more stuff to do this time. I had a blast working with Tilda. Let’s get that out of the way. She’s just magic. I mean, talk about just little micro changes, every take and she’s just so alive. And the dance. That was fun. Tilda was so up for it. She’s a great fun Tilda, she’s an amazing human being. That was fun for the third or fourth take. It was about 16 takes after that for start to finish. It was a lot of footage that day. I was banged up, but it was great. One loves getting banged up because then one has the illusion of doing a decent day’s work.
A high-stakes gambler decides to lay low in Macau after his past and debts catch up with him. Along the way he encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation.
Colin Farrell attends the Headline Gala screening of Netflix’s ‘Ballad of a Small Player’ during the 69th BFI London Film Festival at The Royal Festival Hall on October 9th, 2025 in London, England. Photo by StillMoving.Net for Netflix.
Brad Pitt will collaborate with ‘Conclave’ and ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ director Edward Berger for a new drama called ‘The Riders.’
Based on a 1994 novel, the story follows a man searching for his missing wife after she fails to return from a trip abroad.
Pitt is also producing the film alongside Ridley Scott, with A24 providing financing and distribution for the project.
Brad Pitt has signed on to star in a new film called ‘The Riders,’ which will team him with German director Edward Berger.
According to Deadline, the film is an adaptation of a 1994 novel by Australian author Tim Winton, which was nominated for the prestigious Booker Prize award for literary fiction the following year. The film has been picked up after a bidding war by A24, which will finance and distribute the project. Filming is set to begin in 2026.
Winton’s novel follows a man named Fred Scully, who is on an extended vacation in Europe with his wife and seven-year-old daughter when they end up in Ireland and come upon an old farmhouse that Scully’s wife Jennifer insists they purchase. As Scully begins renovating the house, Jennifer and their daughter return to their home in Australia to wind down their affairs and sell their property there.
But when Scully arrives at the airport in Ireland to pick them up, only his daughter disembarks from the aircraft. She cannot tell Scully what’s happened, there is no word from Jennifer, and no indication of where she’s gone or what has happened to her, leading a devastated Scully to travel through Europe with his daughter in a desperate attempt to find his wife.
The book has been adapted for the screen by David Kajganich, whose previous credits include the films ‘Suspiria’ (2018) and ‘Bones and All’ (2022), as well as the 2018 AMC series ‘The Terror,’ for which he developed the first season.
Who are the key filmmakers involved in the project?
Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes in Apple Original Films’ ‘F1,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo: Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures / Apple Original Films.
‘The Riders’ has actually been in development as a film since the early 2000s, with actors like Sam Worthington, Mark Strong, and Luke Hemsworth all attached to various versions of it through 2014. In 2018, the film rights landed with Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions, which will produce the film alongside Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment and Berger’s production banner.
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in 2016’s ‘Jason Bourne’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Preview:
The ‘Jason Bourne’ novel rights are available again.
Skydance and Netflix are among the interested parties.
And in a separate development, the rights to ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ horror concept are also up for grabs.
At a time when the James Bond franchise is at a real creative crossroads and under new direction from Amazon/MGM, another popular espionage/assassination movie series is seeing its source material hit the auction block.
The Hollywood Reporter brings word that the Robert Ludlum library, which comprises the rights to Jason Bourne and his other creations, is being offered up by agency WME on behalf of the late author’s estate.
It’s something of a surprise, since Universal has had the rights for years, producing several movies starring Matt Damon and at least one spin-off (more on that below).
The movie, coming a few years before Daniel Craig’s grounded reinvention of James Bond with ‘Casino Royale,’ ushered in a new era of spy movies that gritty favored realism rather than high-tech gadgets.
Universal extended the franchise with Jeremy Renner playing a different character in 2012’s ‘The Bourne Legacy,’ but it didn’t work out as well.
Damon and Greengrass returned a few years later with 2016’s ‘Jason Bourne,’ which earned $415 million globally.
Who could pick up the ‘Bourne’ rights?
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in 2016’s ‘Jason Bourne’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Per the Reporter’s story, Skydance, Apple and Netflix are said to have met with the estate for the rights.
And let’s not completely count out Universal, which could potentially win the rights back if it made an attractive bid.
As for whether Damon might return as Bourne, we’d cast our doubts as he may well be done with the character, and whoever nabs the rights is likely going to go the reboot route. But never say never!
Bourne, however, isn’t the only property hitting the market, as one of horror’s most famous icons is also up for grabs right now… Step (or lumber, wielding a power tool) forward ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.’
What’s the history of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’?
Conceived by Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel and directed by Hooper, the original project was inspired by serial killers like Ed Gein and Elmer Wayne Henley.
The 1974 movie was stitched together by a variety of funding sources (which ended up causing disagreements between rights holders) by Hooper, who made the feature about a killer, named Leatherface, who uses his chainsaw to go on a cannibalistic killing spree, for $140,000 (not adjusted for inflation), shooting the movie in the rural Texas countryside with unknown actors in 95 degree-plus heat.
In 1983, New Line Cinema acquired distribution rights. The entire franchise would go on to count nine movies in total, grossing north of $252 million at the worldwide box office, spawning comics, a novel and two video game adaptations.
Starring Jessica Biel just as she was segueing from TV to the big screen, it remains the highest-grossing installment at $107 million. That version was shot by the director of photography of the 1974 film, Daniel Pearl.
What’s happening with ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’?
Mark Burnham as Leatherface in Netflix’s ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre.’ Photo: Netflix.
Currently, according to Deadline, the agency known as Verve has the rights, having scooped them up in 2017 and now about to offer them up to interested parties.
As the company’s statement to the trade site reads:
“Verve represents ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ estate and is building out a multimedia strategy for the seminal horror franchise. Verve has not officially submitted the property into any filmmakers, producers or buyers. Because this is such a hot and iconic horror property, packages are pre-emptively being brought to Verve.”
Among those looking to pick up the rights are apparently filmmaker/scribe JT Mollner and producer Roy Lee, hot off ‘Strange Darling,’ their $3 million-grossing, 96% certified Rotten Tomatoes cult hit.
If Mollner gets a script together, word per Deadline is that Glen Powell would like to read it. It’s very early days on this; no contracts or attachments as of yet, and the Mollner/Powell combo is but one interested party of many.
Who else? Try Lionsgate and A24, which have both seen success with horror. And we’d be surprised if Neon, which released ‘Longlegs’ and ‘The Monkey’ didn’t also consider this one.
It’s early days, but we don’t expect to wait too long before hearing the roar of the chainsaw again.
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in ‘The Bourne Ultimatum.’ Photo: Universal Pictures.
If Eon Productions can somehow lure Edward Berger – the German director of 2022’s devastating ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ and now ‘Conclave’ – to direct the next James Bond film, they can have my money now. Between the brutal scope of ‘All Quiet’ and the cerebral thrills of this new Vatican-set suspense drama, Berger has effectively shown his ability to bring intelligence, visual acumen, and narrative coherence to two wildly different genres – although one could argue that ‘Conclave’ is also about war, just played out on a different front.
The process of choosing a new Pope, a ritual shrouded in antiquity and mystery, is revealed in Berger’s absorbing film to be anything but holy. As various cardinals jockey for power and position themselves for the post, with conspiracies and scandals erupting left and right, ‘Conclave’ brilliantly demonstrates that even the alleged holiest of men – and yes, it’s all men – can be as petty, vain, and spiteful as anyone else. And it’s impressive how Berger shrouds all the pomp and circumstance in the cinematic equivalent of a paperback beach read.
Following the sudden death of the Pope, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), as Dean of the College of Cardinals, must assemble the conclave of cardinals who will elect the pontiff’s successor. Even as the cardinals are still arriving at the Vatican from all over the world, camps form around certain candidates. Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci) is the liberal, forward-thinking progressive from America; Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow) of Canada, already in the Vatican as an advisor to the Pope, is more of a moderate; Nigeria’s Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) is conservative and fiercely anti-homosexual, but could break new ground as the first African Pope; and Venice’s Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) is even more reactionary and seemingly determined to drag the Church back to the Middle Ages.
Once all the Cardinals are convened – including the mysterious, ethereal Cardinal Benitez of Kabul (Carlos Diehz), whose very existence was apparently known only to the late Pope before his unexpected arrival – they are sealed off from the outside world to begin voting. Almost immediately, scandalous information begins to emerge and shake up the voting process: Lawrence is informed that Tremblay was asked to resign by the Pope the evening before the latter’s death over an unknown matter, while a figure from Adeyemi’s past shows up and threatens to upend even his position as Cardinal. As round after round of anonymous voting continues, even Lawrence – who backs Bellini – starts to accrue votes, making Bellini and others suspicious that he really wants the job for himself. Everyone is revealed to have secrets – even the nuns, led by the fierce Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini), who are there to serve the Cardinals but act as a silent force amidst the proceedings.
As all this plays out across production designer Suzie Davies’ sumptuous recreations of the Vatican, including the Casa Santa Maria and the Sistine Chapel, the supposedly spiritual nature of the proceedings peels away like a mask, revealing the political machinations, petty jealousies, hidden histories, and potentially corrupt ambitions that lie beneath. Each of the major cardinals – both those actively seeking the papacy and those who claim they don’t want it – strategizes against the others, while Lawrence strains to keep order even as he is forced to reveal certain information that could affect the outcome of the election and even his own position.
Berger stages and paces it all like a spy thriller, with whispered confessions, clandestine meetings, and shocking revelations, but minus of course the car chases, bone-crunching fisticuffs, and explosive shoot-outs. There is also a nice seasoning of humor – served up dry by Fiennes in particular – that punctuates the somber proceedings here and there. Yet the film still builds up a palpable aura of suspense as it reveals the human failings that lie at the heart of one of the world’s oldest and most secretive institutions. While some of the Church’s own failings – like its inability to deal in real-life with a seemingly never-ending stream of sexual abuse scandals – are glossed over here and one late-in-the-game twist isn’t quite fleshed out enough to have the impact it should, ‘Conclave’ is nevertheless absorbing from start to finish.
‘Conclave’ offers up the model of a fantastic ensemble cast, led by the great Ralph Fiennes in one of his finest performances ever. When we meet him, Cardinal Lawrence is a man already deep into a crisis of faith, unsure of whether he even wants to remain a cardinal and reluctant to supervise the conclave and the election. His doubts about his own faith mirror that of the late Pope, and the more that Lawrence is burdened with, the more you can see in Fiennes’ eyes and manner how disillusioned he becomes. And yet something within him remains aligned with his God, and a speech he gives to the conclave halfway through makes it clear that in many ways he’s well-suited to the papacy he rejects. Fiennes is simply brilliant in the role as a man struggling to retain his composure and spirituality in a situation that tests them relentlessly.
“The men who are most dangerous are the men who want it” is a theme that echoes through this film, and all the other “men who want it” – Lithgow, Tucci, Castellitto, and Msamati – bring their vain, ambitious characters to life in deft strokes, with Tucci especially superb in portraying the subtly manipulative Bellini. New actor Carlos Diehz, in his first major motion picture, also brings a serenity to Cardinal Benitez that makes an impression despite the character’s tricky placement in the narrative. And of course there’s Isabella Rossellini, who is a portrait of strength, courage, and implacability as the head of the nuns who are there to silently support the conclave – a woman who nevertheless speaks volumes every time she opens her mouth.
We can expect ‘Conclave’ to be part of the Oscars conversation this season, even if it’s not quite as award-friendly as Berger’s ‘All Quiet on the Western Front.’ But nominations for best picture, best actor (Fiennes), best supporting actor (Tucci), cinematography, editing, costume design, and production design all seem like they’d be in the mix, with Berger and Rossellini also possible contenders depending on the strength of their categories. All would be well-deserved: this is in many ways big studio filmmaking of a classic vintage.
As we noted earlier, ‘Conclave’ doesn’t address the real-world issues and conflicts that face the Church as it trundles uncertainly into the 21st century, its mission and reason for existence very much in flux. This is, when it comes down to it, a political thriller cloaked in the pageantry and mystery of a vast, murky religious edifice. But Peter Straughan’s screenplay (from the novel by Robert Harris) and Berger’s sure-handed, meat-and-potatoes direction – which suits this material as effectively as his more stylized work on ‘All Quiet’ – reveal that there’s much more going on under the surface, and that even an institution that claims to be operating at the behest of its God is still privy to the will, whims, and weakness of man.
‘Conclave’ receives 9 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Conclave’?
When the Pope dies, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with organizing the conclave to elect his successor. But a secret kept by the late Pope, as well as machinations by some of the other cardinals, threatens the process and the papacy.
Who is in the cast of ‘Conclave’?
Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence
Stanley Tucci as Cardinal Bellini
John Lithgow as Cardinal Tremblay
Sergio Castellitto as Cardinal Tedesco
Isabella Rossellini as Sister Agnes
Lucian Msamati as Cardinal Adeyemi
Carlos Diehz as Cardinal Benitez
Brían F. O’Byrne as Monsignor Raymond O’Malley
(L to R) Director Edward Berger and Ralph Fiennes talk ‘Conclave’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Ralph Fiennes and director Edward Berger about their work on ‘Conclave,’ Fiennes first reaction to the screenplay and his approach to his character, the tone and themes of the movie, and what audience members should expect from this theatrical experience.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch the interviews.
Moviefone: To begin with, Ralph, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and your approach to playing this character?
Ralph Fiennes: Well, I was hooked by the screenplay. It was a page-turner. The character of Lawrence, he’s central to the story as a witness, as a man with complex feelings of inner turmoil, inner contradiction. He’s suddenly a man thrown almost reluctantly into running a conclave. Having a Catholic upbringing, although no longer practicing Catholic, it provoked a massive sort of retrospective. I must unearth all those bits of my mother taking me to first communion and talking to me about the teachings of Jesus. All the stuff that was somehow back in my childhood had to be brought right forward and to be used as a source of, I guess, research or something on which to think about. But it was a page-turner to read, and it was gripping, and I had no doubt that I wanted to do it.
MF: Edgar, can you talk about the specific tone you wanted to create for this film and the themes you wanted to explore as a director?
Edward Berger: I was really drawn to this movie because it dealt with the question of doubt. I was able to sort of visualize whatever is going on, the interior journey that Ralph finds his character is going through, which is a journey of doubt, a crisis of faith, and to visualize that was very interesting. At the same time, it was my opportunity to make a political thriller, and very much inspired by the (Alan J.) Pakula movies from the ’70s, ‘All the President’s Men’, and ‘The Parallax View’. Those movies, how they play with dark, and light, and shadow, and color, and a pace of editing, and a precision was really sort of a Northern Star for us.
MF: Finally, Ralph, what would you say to audience members sitting down now to see this movie in a theater to prepare them for the theatrical experience they are about to have?
RF: Well, you’re going to get a wonderful insight into the workings of The Vatican. You have a central set which is incredibly cinematic, which is a recreation of the Sistine Chapel, and it looks phenomenal. It’s a set. We can’t shoot in the real Sistine Chapel. It’s one of the great wonders of the world. It’s been recreated brilliantly by the people who’ve made the set and by the visual effects crew to finish it on film. But that sort of scale is extraordinary to have. You will fail to appreciate it on a small screen. There’s something about The Vatican and other big locations. We shot in the Palace at Caserta outside Naples, various locations in and around Rome, where Edward found other locations to create this sense of scale. It’s huge, The Vatican. I mean, you look across at St. Peter’s, this huge church, and all the buildings around it. That’s what’s great about film, isn’t it? You have shots that give a sense of the epic, which are juxtaposed against the intimate, and the constrained, and the enclosed, and the close-ups. That equation of the epic scale, visual shots that hold a great sense of space and depth against the human face in close-up. That tension is best experienced in the cinema, and you get it massively in the way Edward has made this film.
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What is the plot of ‘Conclave’?
Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), tasked with organizing the election of the successor to the deceased pope, discovers the former pope had a secret that must be uncovered, concerning one or more of the candidates to succeed to the papacy.
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in ‘The Bourne Ultimatum.’ Photo: Universal Pictures.
Preview:
Universal is looking to revisit Jason Bourne.
‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ director Edward Berger is in negotiations to develop the new movie.
Though Matt Damon played the character in the past, there is no casting information yet.
If you had told us that ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ director Edward Berger would follow his Oscar-winning war movie with a new iteration of the Jason Bourne film franchise, we’re not sure we would have believed you. Technically, he isn’t –– more on that below.
But according to Deadline, he is also looking into the idea of joining a franchise, as he’s in negotiations to develop a new Jason Bourne movie for Universal.
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What’s the story of the Bourne franchise so far?
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in ‘The Bourne Ultimatum.’ Photo: Universal Pictures.
Adapted from the novels originated by Robert Ludlum in 1980 with ‘The Bourne Identity’ and continued by authors including Eric Van Lustbader and Brian Freeman, the ‘Bourne’ movie franchise kicked off in 2002 with the eponymous original film starring Matt Damon and directed by Doug Liman.
Damon plays the title character, a man who is pulled from the Mediterranean sea with no memory of who he is, but a particular set of skills with which he can protect himself.
As it turns out, he’s a special agent trained by a CIA black ops outfit codenamed Treadstone and must figure out the rest of his background while other Treadstone trainees and agents track him down.
Following those, the franchise took a left turn into spin-off territory, as Jeremy Renner starred as a different character (albeit with a similar background) for director Tony Gilroy in 2012’s ‘The Bourne Legacy.’
Greengrass and Damon reunited to make 2016’s ‘Jason Bourne’, though that didn’t get quite the same rapturous reception as their previous collaborations.
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in ‘The Bourne Ultimatum.’ Photo: Universal Pictures.
How the movie shakes out will depend on certain factors –– what Universal intends for the story to reboot the character for a new take, or whether they can entice Damon back.
If he is considered, he’ll likely wait for the script (no writer is attached) to be written before he commits at all.
As for Berger, he’s also developing a spy series for Netflix based on Christopher Reich’s Simon Riske book series, which have been compared to both Bourne and the James Bond series.
Plus, he’s already in post-production on a film for Universal’s Focus Features arm –– religious thriller ‘Conclave’, about the group of Catholic Cardinals responsible for selecting a new Church leader while one of their number is trying to uncover a secret from the late Pontiff.
Awards season got on a plane and headed to London on Sunday for the 2023 British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards, which recognised achievement in film during 2022.
And given how competitive the awards race has been this year, it was another surprising night, as war drama ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ –– already a favorite with 14 nominations –– went home with seven trophies.
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What did ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ win at the BAFTAs?
The movie, adapted from Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel by director Edward Berger and writers Ian Stokell and Lesley Paterson was the big winner on the night, taking home Best Film, Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Not In The English Language, cinematography, score, sound.
It was all the more impressive, since ‘Western Front’ split its wins between technical trophies and some of the bigger categories, while most of its competition won either acting or technical awards. “For a German-language film, we’ve been blessed with so many nominations, and winning this is just incredible,” said producer Malte Grunert on stage while picking up Best Film.
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What other movies won trophies at the BAFTAs?
The runner up in sheer awards haul was Martin McDonagh’s ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’, which landed acting kudos for Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon, a Best Screenplay award for McDonagh and Outstanding British Film, which led its director to crack, “I know that every Irish person in the cast and crew is saying, ‘Best what award?’” (the film was partly financed by the UK’s Film4).
‘Elvis’, a little like ‘All Quiet,’ also crossed between the main and technical awards: Austin Butler beat out the likes of Brendan Fraser for Best Actor, while some of its crew won in categories such as Costume Design and Make-Up And Hair.
Of the more expected winners, Cate Blanchett took home her latest statuette for playing a driven, problematic conductor in ‘TÁR’, while ‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’ added another animation award to its crammed trophy case.
‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell –Winner
‘Living’, Kazuo Ishiguro
‘The Quiet Girl’ – Colm Bairéad
‘She Said’ – Rebecca Lenkiewicz
‘The Whale’ – Samuel D. Hunter
‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, Paul Rogers – Winner
‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, Sven Budelmann
‘The Banshees of Inisherin’, Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
‘Elvis’, Jonathan Redmond, Matt Villa
‘Top Gun: Maverick’, Eddie Hamilton
Michelle Yeoh in ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once.’ Photo Credit: Courtesy of A24.
ORIGINAL SCORE
‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, Volker Bertelsmann – Winner
‘Babylon’, Justin Hurwitz
‘The Banshees of Inisherin’, Carter Burwell
‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, Son Lux
‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’, Alexandre Desplat
PRODUCTION DESIGN
‘Babylon’, Florencia Martin, Anthony Carlino – Winner
‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, Christian M. Goldbrick, Ernestine Hipper
‘The Batman’, James Chinlund, Lee Sandales
‘Elvis’, Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, Bev Dunn
‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’, Curt Enderle, Guy Davis
‘Elvis’, Jason Baird, Mark Coulier, Louise Coulstron, Shane Thomas – Winner
‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, Heike Marker
‘The Batman’, Naomie Donne, Mike Marino, Zoe Tahir
‘Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical’, Naomie Donne, Barrie Gower, Sharon Martin
‘The Whale’, Anne Marie Bradley, Judy Chin, Adrien Morot
SOUND
‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ – Winner
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’
‘Elvis’
‘TÁR’
‘Top Gun: Maverick’
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ – Winner
‘All Quiet on the Western Front’
‘The Batman’
‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’
‘Top Gun: Maverick’
CASTING
‘Elvis’, Nikki Barrett, Denise Chadian – Winner
‘Aftersun’, Lucy Pardee
‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, Simone Bär
‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, Sarah Halley Finn
‘Triangle of Sadness’, Pauline Hansson
