A red-faced Paul Mescal, a royal tribute and a fabulous couple of celebrity cameos: Here’s what you might have missed at the 2026 BAFTA Film Award
It was a vibrant night at London’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday as the world of film descended on the British capital for the 2026 BAFTA Film Awards.
It wasn’t just A-listers like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jessie Buckley, Kate Hudson, Chloe Zhao, Paul Thomas Anderson, Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner waiting with bated breath to see who’d get pulled up onto stage and thrusted a shiny gold BAFTA mask — the Prince and Princess of Wales were also in the house (William is BAFTA president, after all).
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The host for the evening was The Traitors U.S. star Alan Cumming, who loosened guests up by asking the entire room to let out a primal scream on the count of three. He soon struck up a reliably humorous bit with Paul Mescal, red-faced next to partner Gracie Abrams, as Cumming repeatedly asked the Hamnet star if he’d heard of various industry professionals. “No,” was usually Mescal’s answer, bar one time when Cumming caught him on his phone.
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Behind the scenes, it was quite literally a rotating door of talent as award winners made their way on and off the stage, up and down the stalls. Ryan Coogler and Joachim Trier were particularly drawn to each other throughout the evening, routinely going out of their way to give one another a celebratory hug (Sinners made BAFTA history with three wins, while Sentimental Value nabbed best film not in the English language). Coogler even thanked his “mentor” Trier in his best original screenplay acceptance speech.
Things got slightly hairy when Cumming was made to repeatedly read out Tourette’s disclaimers. John Davidson, a Tourette’s campaigner and inspiration behind the BAFTA-nominated I Swear, was heard shouting and cursing at presenters through the opening 20 minutes of the ceremony. “Tourette’s Syndrome is a disability, and the tics you’ve heard tonight are involuntary,” said Cumming, “which means the person who has Tourette’s Syndrome has no control over their language. We apologize if you are offended tonight.” Davidson eventually left the room, which The Hollywood Reporter understands was of his own accord.
One of the lighter moments of the show came when Paddington Bear himself came on stage to present the award for best children and family film, which went to Lakshmipriya Devi’s Boong. The U.K. icon — currently the star of Paddington The Musical, in which he is played by a young woman in a bear suit, Arti Shah — apologized for getting spoonfuls of marmalade over the BAFTA he was dishing out. As he exited, Cumming fawned over Paddington’s cuteness, saying he wanted to take him home. “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve taken home a South American bear,” added the host, prompting raucous laughter.
The best of Cumming’s antics came around the midway point when he began handing out British snacks as though he were a flight attendant walking down the plane aisle. Kylie Jenner, partner of Marty Supreme‘s Chalamet, was asked, “Have you ever had your gums around a jammy dodger?” Well, it turns out, she has not. DiCaprio, meanwhile, was given hobnobs, Emma Stone hulahoops, and Rose Byrne twiglets (for our non-U.K. readers, this jibberish is simply various chips and biscuit-adjacent confectionery).
Then came the hotly anticipated performance from the singing trio of KPop Demon Hunters, Huntrix, who performed their first live show outside of the U.S. One Battle After Another‘s Chase Infiniti knew all the words to “Golden” and was seen dancing in the front row.
But the evening belonged to Paul Thomas Anderson, who took home best director, best adapted screenplay and the top prize: best film. He had guests captivated as he dedicated his best director honor to Adam Somner. The late U.K. native was a producer and assistant director to PTA for 20 years.
Writer : SN
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