55th British Academy Film Awards


The 55th British Academy Film Awards, given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, took place on 24 February 2002 and honoured the best films of 2001.
won Best Film, Best Director for Peter Jackson, Best Makeup and Hair, and Best Visual Effects. Russell Crowe won Best Actor for A Beautiful Mind, which also won Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Connelly. Judi Dench won Best Actress for Iris and Jim Broadbent won Best Supporting Actor for Moulin Rouge!. Gosford Park, directed by Robert Altman, was voted Outstanding British Film of 2001.

Winners and nominees

Statistics

AwardsFilm
4
3Moulin Rouge!
2Amélie
2A Beautiful Mind
2Gosford Park

Russell Crowe controversy

After winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Russell Crowe gave a speech in which he quoted a poem by Patrick Kavanagh. When the ceremony was broadcast, Crowe was upset that the poem was cut. He blamed the producer, Malcolm Gerrie, and confronted him about it. It was reported that the confrontation got physical and there was speculation that it would cost him the Academy Award for Best Actor.
The poem that was cut is a four line poem:

"To be a poet and not know the trade,
To be a lover and repel all women;
Twin ironies by which great saints are made,
The agonising pincer-jaws of heaven."