Jane Campion Wins Big, Says Some Things; Filmmaker Killed in Ukraine; BAFTA Winners

Jane Campion mocks Sam Elliott’s The Power of the Dog criticisms, but catches criticism for a remark to Venus and Serena Williams; BAFTA winners include Dune and The Power of the Dog; an American documentarian has been killed in Ukraine. And R.I.P. William Hurt, who passed over the weekend. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.

American Journalist Killed in Ukraine: Brent Renaud, a U.S. documentary filmmaker and journalist who had reported in the past for The New York Times, HBO and NBC, was killed on Sunday while reporting in a suburb of Kyiv, Ukraine, according to The Times. He was on assignment for TIME Studios working on a project about the global refugee crisis, according to a statement from TIME executives. Renaud often worked with his brother, Craig Renaud, and together they won a Peabody award for their VICE documentary Last Chance High.

BAFTA Awards: The Power of the Dog won big on Sunday at the British Academy Film Awards, winning best picture and scoring director Jane Campion the prize for best director. She is only the third woman to win the award in seven decades of the BAFTAs, according to the The Associated Press. Dune also had a big night, taking home five different prizes, including best original score, special visual effects, and cinematography. Will Smith won best leading actor for King Richard and Joanna Scanlan won best leading actress for After Love. Troy Kotsur became the first Deaf actor to win best supporting actor for his role in CODA. Read the full list of BAFTA winners here, via CNN.

DGA Awards: Jane Campion also won the Theatrical Feature Film prize at the 74th annual Directors Guild of America Awards, part of a weekend that was a bit of a roller coaster weekend. First the good news: Deadline contends that the win “solidifies her as the front-runner for Best Director at the Academy Awards on March 27.”

Continuing the Good News: Campion also had a great night at the 27th Annual Critics Choice Awards, where Power of the Dog won best picture, and Campion won best director. Here’s the full list of winners.

More Momentum: The Power of the Dog director also responded to Sam Elliott’s criticism of her film. (On Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, he questioned why Campion, a New Zealand director, made a movie about the American West. He also called the film “a piece of shit” and complained about its “allusions of homosexuality.”) Campion told Deadline at the DGA Awards: “I think it’s really unfortunate and sad for him because he’s really hit the trifecta of misogyny and xenophobia and homophobia. I don’t like that. I think he was being a little bit of a b-i-t-c-h. Plus he’s not a cowboy, he’s an actor.”

What Can’t Jane Campion Do? Just one thing, apparently: pay a compliment to tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams without also downplaying their accomplishments, and offending many people in the process. She caught lots of criticism on Twitter over a remark she made during her Critics Choice Awards acceptance speech the Williams sisters, who looked on from the audience. “Venus and Serena, you’re marvels, but you don’t have to compete against the men like I do,” Campion said.

Update: Campion has since apologized to the Williams sisters. “I made a thoughtless comment equating what I do in the film world with all that Serena Williams and Venus Williams have achieved. I did not intend to devalue these two legendary Black women and world class athletes. The fact is the Williams sisters have, actually, squared off against men on the court (and off), and they have both raised the bar and opened doors for what is possible for women in this world. The last thing I would ever want to do is minimize remarkable women. I love Serena and Venus. Their accomplishments are titanic and inspiring. Serena and Venus, I apologize and completely celebrate you,” she said in a statement to MovieMaker on Monday.

R.I.P. William Hurt: The actor known for roles in Body Heat, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Children of a Lesser God, A History of Violence, The Big Chill, and Broadcast News has died at the age of 71. His cause of death has not yet been announced, but he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018, according to CNN. Hurt won the Oscar for best actor in 1986 for his role as an imprisoned, trans window dresser in Kiss of the Spider Woman.

SBIFF Award-Winning Films: Irish-language film Róise and Frank (Mo ghrá buan), directed by Rachael Moriarty and Peter Murphy, took home the audience award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Saturday. Jon-Sesrie Goff’s After Sherman won best documentary and Shawkat Amin Korki’s The Exam (Ezmûn) won the Jeffrey C. Barbakow Award for best international feature film. Read the full list of winners, via Deadline.

Congrats Millie Bobby Brown: And her red-carpet official boyfriend, Jake Bongiovi, who is, you guessed it, the son of ’80s pop icon Jon Bon Jovi. Here’s hoping the Stranger Things star’s new relationship will have as much staying power as that of Jake’s parents, who are high school sweethearts and have been married for 33 years. Don’t give love a bad name, guys.

Main Image: Benedict Cumberbatch in BAFTA award-winning film The Power of the Dog. Photo credit: Kirsty Griffin/Netflix