Richard E. Grant Brings Enthusiasm as BAFTA Film Awards Host

Richard E. Grant poses for photographers upon arrival at the BAFTA Film Awards after party in London on Feb. 2, 2020. (AP)
Richard E. Grant poses for photographers upon arrival at the BAFTA Film Awards after party in London on Feb. 2, 2020. (AP)
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Richard E. Grant Brings Enthusiasm as BAFTA Film Awards Host

Richard E. Grant poses for photographers upon arrival at the BAFTA Film Awards after party in London on Feb. 2, 2020. (AP)
Richard E. Grant poses for photographers upon arrival at the BAFTA Film Awards after party in London on Feb. 2, 2020. (AP)

There is no bigger cheerleader of awards season than Richard E. Grant.

He brings joy to the red carpet, snapping selfies with stars and posting congratulations to nominees on social media.

Now this enthusiasm has been tapped to host the EE BAFTA Film Awards on February 19 at the Royal Festival Hall.

“I’m an unabashed fan of movies and of talent and always have been. I’ve never been disingenuous or, you know, blasé about that,” he says.

“I probably have to restrain myself from permanently taking selfies with every nominee and winner coming up on the stage.”

“From that point of view, I am the right fit for the job, hopefully,” he says.

Grant also knows how it feels to participate in awards season and sit, nervously, waiting for that career changing envelope to be opened. He was nominated as supporting actor at both the BAFTAs and Oscars in 2019 for “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”

And he’s aware that, as a working actor, hosting has its challenges.

“Traditionally if you’re a comedian, your role is very clear to roast the audience. Whereas I’m an actor and, you know, even though I’m the vast vintage that I am now, I still want to work and collaborate with directors and actors and writers for the remainder of my breathing days. So roasting them is not really an option and not something that I want to do.”

When asked if there will be any humor in the ceremony — Grant has jokes.

“No, it’s going to be very, very serious. There’ll be no jokes and it will be … it’ll be brutally earnest,” he says, laughing.

Rebel Wilson got mixed reviews for her joke heavy turn as the BAFTA ceremony emcee last March, which at one point involved a cake of Benedict Cumberbatch’s face.

This year, “All Quiet on the Western Front” leads the nominees with 14. “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” both have 10 nominations.

As you’d expect, Grant knows quite a few of the nominees, having worked with EE Rising Star nominees Naomi Ackie and Daryl McCormack, plus Bill Nighy, Cate Blanchett and most of the “Banshees” cast.

But there will be big changes at the BAFTA Film Awards ceremony this year.

After six years of walking up the red carpeted steps into the Royal Albert Hall, nominees will be attending an event held beside the River Thames on London’s Southbank at the Royal Festival Hall.

Also, for the first time, the last 30 minutes of the show will be broadcast live on BBC One, as BAFTA moves towards the idea of a fully live ceremony.

“In an age where everything can be paused or fast forwarded or, you know, watched on at a later time, the thing of it being live gives it a kind of frisson and excitement and also the possibility that something can go fantastically well or really badly. And that’s always a good thing,” Grant says.

British rapper Lil Simz will be performing at the ceremony and both the prince and princess of Wales will be in the audience, as he is president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Grant, currently working with script writers on what he’ll be saying on stage, claims he’s more excited than nervous, adding he’ll probably be “levitating” on the big day.

“It is absolutely genuine,” he says of his boundless enthusiasm, “and it’s to the annoyance of some people.”

“Just surviving in show-business because it is, you know — for what it looks like from the outside — it is a profession that is has an enormous amount of rejection in built into it. So when people are recognized or succeed at what they’re doing and do it so brilliantly — I’m a great champion of that.”



Where's Marty McFly's Guitar? Search Is on for ‘Back to the Future’ Prop 4 Decades Later 

Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
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Where's Marty McFly's Guitar? Search Is on for ‘Back to the Future’ Prop 4 Decades Later 

Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 

Marty McFly grabbed a guitar in “Back to the Future” and rocked out with the band at a 1950s high school dance, helping him narrowly avoid blinking out of existence before time-traveling back to the 1980s.

The guitar, in real life, wasn't as lucky.

Filmmakers went looking for the instrument while making the movie's 1989 sequel, but even now it's nowhere to be found. Four decades after the blockbuster film debuted, the guitar's creator has launched a search for the iconic Cherry Red Gibson ES-345.

Gibson, which is based in Nashville, is asking the public for help tracking it down as the movie turns 40 and as the company produces a new documentary about the search and the film, “Lost to the Future.”

In a video by Gibson, with the movie's theme song playing in the background, “Back to the Future” stars such as Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Harry Waters Jr. make a cinematic plea. There's also a surprise appearance by Huey Lewis, whose band Huey Lewis and the News performed the soundtrack's headliner song, “The Power of Love.”

Lloyd, in the cadence of Doc Brown, says in the video that the guitar has been “lost to the future.”

“It's somewhere lost in the space-time continuum,” says Fox, who played McFly. “Or it's in some Teamster's garage.”

In the film, McFly steps in for an injured band member at the 1955 school dance with the theme “Enchantment under the Sea,” playing the guitar as students slow dance to “Earth Angel.” He then leads Marvin Barry and the Starlighters in a rendition of “Johnny B. Goode,” calling it an oldie where he comes from even though the 1958 song doesn't exist yet for his audience.

Fox said he wanted McFly to riff through his favorite guitarists' signature styles — Jimi Hendrix behind the head, Pete Townshend's windmill and the Eddie Van Halen hammer. After digging and dancing to “Johnny B. Goode,” the students at the dance fall into an awkward silence as McFly's riffs turn increasingly wild.

“I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet,” McFly says. “But your kids are gonna love it.”