WRITER-DIRECTOR Chris Morris's comic movie about a gang of hapless Jihadis, Four Lions, was celebrated at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards on Sunday (13).
The former TV-writer and comedy presenter was given the award for an outstanding debut by a British writer/director/producer.
But there was disappointment for The King's Speech editor Tariq Anwar who lost out to The Social Network and AR Rahman, who was nominated for best original score in the Danny Boyle movie, 127 Hours.
Four Lions depicts the journey of four young Asian men who decide to become suicide bombers – sometimes with hilarious consequences.
The night however was dominated by The King's Speech, picking up seven gongs ahead of the Oscars in just two weeks.
Colin Firth took the best actor award
The royal biopic, which won awards for best film, best actor and best support actor and actress, also leads the field at the Academy Awards in two weeks with 12 nominations.
It had been nominated for 14 BAFTAs, ahead of ballet drama "Black Swan" and "Inception", starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Firth picked up his second BAFTA best actor award in two years after winning the prize for "A Single Man" last year.
"This thing has run away with us all, we're all astonished," Firth told reporters.
Firth has already won best actor at the Screen Actors Guild awards, the Golden Globes and the Critics' Choice Movie Awards for his portrayal of the current British monarch's father. He is nominated for best actor at the Feb. 27 Oscars.
Firth's co-stars in The King's Speech — Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush — won the best supporting actress and actor respectively. The film also won the award for outstanding British film, music and scriptwriter David Seidler picked up the best original screenplay prize.
"Inception" picked up three awards including sound and special visual effects.
David Fincher won the best director award for "The Social Network," which tells the tale of the founding of the Facebook website. The film, which has been one of the most tipped for Oscar glory, also won the award for best adapted screenplay.
Harry Potter awarded
The BAFTAs tend to lean towards British talent more than the Oscars, and they are a far-from-perfect barometer of what happens at the Academy Awards.
But the scale of the success of "The King's Speech" has been noted by the industry as well as the media.
Natalie Portman won the best actress award for Black Swan. The film's director Darren Aronofsky picked up the award for the pregnant actress who did not attend the awards ceremony.
Inception actor Tom Hardy won the Orange Rising Star prize, which is decided by the British public unlike the other awards. The best foreign film went to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" whose Swedish version is an adaptation of Stieg Larsson's best-selling novel.
The Harry Potter films picked up the award for outstanding British contribution.
"It's very strange to look back after seven films and remember how wary I was of letting anyone put Harry on the big screen," Harry Potter author JK Rowling said.
"…Being involved in these films has been one of the best experiences of my life."
Christopher Lee, best known for his role in horror classics, received an Academy Fellowship in honour of a career spanning six decades. The fellowship is BAFTA's highest honour. Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Sean Connery, Elizabeth Taylor and Vanessa Redgrave are among the previous recipients.
