Christine took a rare break from filming ‘Wonder Woman’ last night, as she couldn’t really refuse the invitation from HRH Prince Charles to an exclusive drinks party in St James’ Palace to honour the British Oscar award winners.
The royal couple were celebrating the successes of the British Film Industry with alumni like Dame Judy Dench and Colin Firth (no, I can’t name all three hundred of them!).
Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Academy CEO Dawn Hudson and members of the Academy’s Board of Governors were also in attendance.
Over 45 years of British film production history were represented, from both behind and in front of the camera, like Christine, who won her Oscar for Mike Leigh’s ‘Topsy Turvy’ in 2000.
It is only when you look at the people who attended the day it really makes one proud of our Film industry and the calibre of talent we have.
One statistic that surprised me was the that fact that Dame Judi Dench, who has been nominated no less than seven times for an award; only one for best supporting actress for her eight minute role in “Shakespeare In Love.” I wonder how she felt? By reading her acceptance speech, “I feel for eight minutes I should only get a bit of him.”
Apart from a wonderful day and probably plenty of back slapping there was a purpose too in bringing the issues of the younger generation in gaining entrance into acting and other areas of the film and TV industry.
The other legend to be present was Michael Caine, who with Jack Nicholson, are the only actors to be nominated every decade from the 1960’s to 2000’s. Michael won his Oscar in the film “Hannah And Her Sisters.”
The Makeup Designer for that film was Fern Buchner, who sadly died not long ago.
Michael does not come across as a man who would enjoy the makeup department and yet he was so enamoured by his over the top mascara in “Zulu” that he continued to apply it liberally for the next few films!
I hope it wasn’t a late night, as Christine had to be up again this morning at the crack of dawn on set….Nice while it lasted!
If you want to ask Christine how the evening went, you can ask her personally on our Open Day on Saturday 18th June Click Here