"When I was told I was going to receive a high British honor, for a few days I thought I was actually going to be knighted," said Ben Stiller (left) with Robert Downey Jr.
Todd Williamson/Getty Images for BAFTA Los AngelesSetting the tone for the prestigious but always irreverent BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards at the Beverly Hilton, honoree Helena Bonham Carter sauntered down the red carpet barefoot, carrying her heels. At the event, hosted by Alan Cumming, Bonham Carter received the British Artist of the Year honor while Warren Beatty received the Stanley Kubrick Award for Excellence in Film. After Robin Williams handed his Northern California neighbor John Lasseter the award for worldwide contribution to cinema, the Pixar head gave a nod to the late Steve Jobs, whose advice to him was always, “Make it great.” Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emily Watson and Rupert Grint sent video congrats to four-time Potter director David Yates for his award for excellence in directing. Robert Downey Jr. (who was inexplicably carrying a stuffed giraffe) presented the Charlie Chaplin Award to Ben Stiller, who confessed that he’d been gunning for the honor: “When I would hire a new agent, I’d say, ‘Show me the Chappy,'” Stiller joked. “They’d say, ‘Ben, we don’t control that,’ or ‘Ben, that’s a weirdly specific goal.’ But I just smiled because I knew it was going to happen.” — Elizabeth Snead
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It was a family affair at the premiere of FilmDistrict’s In the Land of Blood and Honey, with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt walking the carpet with Pitt’s parents, Jane and Bill, at New York’s School of Visual Arts. The film — a love story about two Bosnians on different sides of the country’s early-1990s ethnic conflict — was written, directed and produced by Jolie. The premiere was hosted by The Council for Foreign Relations and ABC’s Christiane Amanpour, who walked the carpet with fellow event host Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International. Jolie said she wrote the film because the war has not received the attention it should. — Lindsay Flans
