TOM CRUISE, ARNOLD
SCHWARZENEGGER and HUGH JACKMAN RECEIVE HONORARY AWARDS AT THE 19TH JAMESON
EMPIRE AWARDS
OTHER AWARD WINNERS INCLUDE: EMMA THOMPSON; JAMES MCAVOY; MARGOT ROBBIE; SIMON
PEGG; SALLY HAWKINS; MICHAEL FASSBENDER
To celebrate 25
years of the magazine, Empire bestowed two special Lifetime awards on star
guests Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Current Empire cover-star Cruise
was presented with Empire’s Legend of Our Lifetime award by Rosamund Pike.
Acknowledging his stellar career to date, the magazine highlighted his
outstanding work on Top Gun, Mission Impossible, Jerry Maguire and Interview
with the Vampire. The Action Hero of Our Lifetime award was bestowed to action
legend Arnold Schwarzenegger who was honoured for his performances in a host of
well-loved action movies including True Lies, The Terminator series and Total
Recall.
Two further special
awards were presented by Empire to Hugh Jackman and Simon Pegg. Jackman
attended the ceremony to receive the Empire Icon award presented by Jameson
Irish Whiskey while Simon Pegg collected the Empire Hero award. Pegg joins an
illustrious list of previous winners that includes Daniel Radcliffe, Michael
Fassbender, Keira Knightley and Jude Law.
Pegg’s recent film
The World’s End scooped Best British Film in what was to be an outstanding
evening for British filmmaking talent. James McAvoy and Emma Thompson took the
Jameson Best Actor and Best Actress presented by Max Factor awards and Alan
Partridge: Alpha Papa was awarded Best Comedy presented by Magic 105.4. In
addition, Oscar® and BAFTA-nominee Sally Hawkins received the award for Best
Supporting Actress for Blue Jasmine. Joining Hawkins in the new supporting
actor categories – introduced this year to acknowledge the extensive breadth
actors shortlisted by readers – was Michael Fassbender who won the Best
Supporting Actor presented by The National Lottery award for his role in 12
Years a Slave.
Actors new to our
screens were honoured in the Newcomer categories with Margot Robbie collecting
the award for Best Female Newcomer presented by Max Factor for her exceptional
performance in The Wolf of Wall Street while Aidan Turner collected Best Male
Newcomer presented by Tresor Paris for his role in The Hobbit: The Desolation
of Smaug. Peter Jackson’s epic sequel also took a second award for Best
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film presented by MediCinema.
Another film
scooping multiple awards was Gravity for which helmer Alfonso Cuarón triumphed
in the Best Director category and which received the prestigious Best Film
accolade, presented by Sky Movies.
As previously
announced, British director Paul Greengrass also received the Empire
Inspiration Award, presented by Mazda Motors UK, for his work on the Bourne
trilogy and recent commercial and critical success Captain Phillips.
The Jameson Empire
Awards continue to recognise the diverse tastes of cinema-goers, with awards
dedicated to popular genres including Best Horror which went to The Conjuring,
and Best Thriller presented by Quaglino’s awarded to The Hunger Games: Catching
Fire.
The Jameson Empire
Done in 60 Seconds short film award-winner was David Smith from the UK for his
remake of There Will Be Blood. Smith was on a shortlist of 24 contestants from
16 countries , nominated by Empire readers, which was then whittled down to the
Top 5 by the judging panel which included: Ben Wheatley, Jon S. Baird, Edith
Bowman, Alex Zane and Editor-In-Chief of Empire Mark Dinning, who finally
picked their winner.
Also present at the
event this evening were nominees, presenters and guests including: Tom Cruise;
Arnold Schwarzenegger; Kate Beckinsale; Darren Aronofsky; Hugh Jackman;
Rosamund Pike; Simon Pegg; JJ Abrams; Margot Robbie; Steve Coogan; Jonathan
Ross; Emma Thompson; The Inbetweeners cast; Sarah Harding; Stephen Fry; Edith
Bowman; Brian Cox; Richard E Grant; Will Poulter; Douglas Booth; Mark Gatiss;
Paul Greengrass; Celia Imrie; Sally Hawkins; James McAvoy; Armando Iannucci;
Hayley Atwell; Logan Lerman and Professor Brian Cox.
Editor-In-Chief of
Empire magazine, Mark Dinning, commented:
“Appropriately, given that this year
marks Empire’s 25th Anniversary, this year’s Jameson Empire Awards were the
best ever, for a number of reasons. Not only were we able to give some of our
all-time favourite movie heroes some very special awards, but we were also
absolutely thrilled that the Empire readers voted in bigger numbers this year
than ever before. This is down to both their unbridled enthusiasm for movies
and for Empire, but is also the direct result of this year being the most
sensational in ages for quality movies from all sides of the cinematic
spectrum. Our readers have rewarded those movies in absolute style.”
The 19th annual
Jameson Empire Awards were once again held at Grosvenor House, a JW Marriott
Hotel, in Park Lane in the heart of London’s Mayfair.