'Three Billboards' wins as women make waves at the BAFTA Awards

Jill Lawless | The Associated Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Allison Janney 'proud to wear black' at BAFTAs At the U.K. premiere of awards contender 'I, Tonya,' stars Margot Robbie and Allison Janney discuss wearing black on the BAFTA red carpet in support of the Time's Up movement. (Feb. 16)

LONDON – Ferocious female-led tragicomedy Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was the big winner Sunday at the British Academy Film Awards, where women demanding an end to harassment, abuse and inequality dominated the ceremony.

Martin McDonagh's film about a bereaved mother seeking justice won five trophies, including best film, outstanding British film and best actress (Frances McDormand).

Producer Graham Broadbent said the movie is "the story of a woman taking on the establishment and status quo."

"It seems more timely now than we could ever have imagined," he said.

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Writer/director McDonagh said it was fitting, in the year of the Time's Up campaign, that Three Billboards is "a film about a woman who refuses to take any (expletive) anymore."

"Our film is a hopeful one in lots of ways, but it's also an angry one," he said. "As we've seen this year, sometimes anger is the only way to get people to listen and to change."

McDonagh won original screenplay for Three Billboards, which also netted Sam Rockwell the supporting-actor trophy. Allison Janney was named best supporting actress for playing ice skater Tonya Harding's domineering mother in I, Tonya.

Guillermo del Toro won the directing prize for monster fantasy The Shape of Water, which also took trophies for music and production design.

Gary Oldman won best actor for playing British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.

The British prizes, known as BAFTAs, are considered a key indicator of likely success at Hollywood's Oscars, which are March 4.

Awards season has been overshadowed by the allegations of sexual harassment and abuse leveled at scores of entertainment figures since women began coming forward to accuse Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein last year.

England's Old Vic Theatre has been rocked by allegations against former artistic director Kevin Spacey. London police are also investigating nine claims of sexual assault by Weinstein.

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The red carpet and the auditorium at London's Royal Albert Hall were a sea of black as actresses such as Lupita Nyong'o, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence and Margot Robbie eschewed color as a statement against sexual misconduct and gender inequality.

Several actresses brought feminist activists as guests, and men showed solidarity with Time's Up lapel pins.

McDormand opted to wear black and red rather than all black, and noted: "I have a little trouble with compliance."

"But I want you to know that I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black," she added.

Prince William, who serves as the British Academy's president, and Duchess Kate were guests of honor. Kate carefully acknowledged the evening's muted fashion by wearing a dark green Jenny Packham dress with a black ribbon belt.

Ahead of the ceremony, almost 200 British women in entertainment called for an international movement to end sexual misconduct.

Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson, Naomie Harris, Emma Watson and Gemma Arterton were among signatories to a letter saying that 2018 should be "the year that time was up on sexual harassment and abuse."

The stars called for an end to impunity for abusers and announced a fund to support women and men battling workplace abuse, modeled on the Time's Up movement.

The ceremony honored several generations of talent. Filmmaker James Ivory, 89, took the adapted-screenplay prize for Call Me By Your Name.

The 80-year-old director Ridley Scott, whose films include Blade Runner, Alien, Thelma and Louise and Gladiator, received the academy's highest honor, the BAFTA Fellowship.

Daniel Kaluuya, the 28-year-old British star of Get Out, won the rising star award and made a plea for public arts funding, which helped him get his start.

Kaluuya, who is also Oscar-nominated, joked that success meant taking Ubers rather than the subway.

"I get that Prius everywhere," he said.