An absent Jane Fonda apologised for not being at the annual BAFTA Britannia Awards in person on Friday to collect her award because she had been “getting arrested.”
The 81-year-old Oscar-winning actor and activist was honoured with the Stanley Kubrick Award for Excellence in Film, but did not make the ceremony as she was taking part in her weekly climate protests in Washington D.C..
Fonda told the audience that she had moved to the US capital for four months “to heighten the sense of urgency” about the global “crisis”.
“That’s why I’m not with you tonight but it’s for a good cause, and my heart is with you and I’m so grateful,” she said in a video which also showed footage of her being arrested and led away, while thanking BAFTA.
“Fleabag” star and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge stole the show at the awards in Beverly Hills, where the British actress and writer received the Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year.
“This has been the most extraordinary year of my life,” Waller-Bridge said, thanking one woman in particular who has “been with me every step of the way”: producer Jenny Robbins of the multi-award-winning TV show.
Waller-Bridge also thanked co-producers Amazon in the States for allowing her creative control and not trying to “remake” the series for an American audience.
BAFTA’s Britannia Awards celebrate the relationship between British cinema and Hollywood and this year honoured action superstar Jackie Chan and Steven Coogan, among others.
