All hail Queen Olivia Colman. The “Favourite” star is set to receive the British Film Institute’s (BFI) highest honor, a BFI Fellowship. Set to accept the honor at the BFI Chairman’s dinner March 6 in London, Colman is being recognized for her “very special contribution to television and film” and her “distinctive and prodigious acting talents and the huge impact she has on audiences all over the world.” A press release announced the news.
“I’m absolutely bowled over,” said the Oscar nominee. “The BFI is a wonderful organization and that I will soon be in a Fellowship with so many of my heroes is an honor that is hard to compute. Thank you a thousand times, I really am thrilled. THANK YOU!”
BFI Chair Josh Berger added, “I am thrilled the BFI is giving its highest honor, the BFI Fellowship, to Olivia Colman, at such an exciting point in her career. Olivia is a brilliant comic actor and one of the industry’s finest dramatic performers. Her ability to be relatable in such a diverse range of roles generates incredible warmth and admiration from audiences. ‘The Favourite’ is firmly up there as one of the best films of recent years and showcases Olivia’s extraordinary and nuanced performance, which is fittingly being acknowledged by critics and audiences all over the world.”
“The Night Manager,” “Broadchurch,” and “Fleabag” are among Colman’s TV credits. She’ll reprise her role in the latter when the Phoebe Waller-Bridge-starrer returns for a second season this spring. Her film credits include “The Lobster,” “The Iron Lady,” and “Tyrannosaur.”
Colman is up for her first Oscar for her role in “The Favourite.” Set in the early 18th century, the dark comedy sees Colman playing a fragile queen at the center of a battle between two subjects (Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone) vying for her affection and influence.
You can catch Colman playing another royal, Queen Elizabeth II, in the upcoming third season of Netflix’s “The Crown.” She has a supporting role in Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage’s “Them That Follow,” a drama about a group of snake handlers whose church services involve worshiping with the reptiles. The pic just premiered at Sundance, where it was snagged by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions.
Previous recipients of the BFI Fellowship include Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, and Vanessa Redgrave.
