56th British Academy Film Awards

56th British Academy Film Awards
56th British Academy Film Awards
Date	23 February 2003
Site	Odeon Leicester Square
Hosted by	Stephen Fry
Highlights
Best Film	The Pianist
Best British Film	The Warrior
Best Actor	Daniel Day-Lewis ; Gangs of New York
Best Actress	Nicole Kidman ; The Hours
Most awards	Chicago , The Hours , The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers , The Pianist , Road to Perdition , and Talk to Her (2)
Most nominations	Chicago and Gangs of New York (12)
	← 55th ; BAFTA Awards ; 57th →;

Last updated March 11, 2025

The 56th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, took place on 23 February 2003 at the Odeon Leicester Square in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2002. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, accolades were handed out for the best feature-length film and documentaries of any nationality that were screened at British cinemas in 2002.^[1]

The Pianist won Best Film and Best Director for Roman Polanski. Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor for Gangs of New York and Nicole Kidman won Best Actress for The Hours .^[2] Christopher Walken won Best Supporting Actor for Catch Me If You Can and Catherine Zeta-Jones won Best Supporting Actress for Chicago . The Warrior , directed by Asif Kapadia, was voted Outstanding British Film of 2002.^[3]

Stephen Fry hosted the ceremony for the second consecutive year.

Winners and nominees

BAFTA Fellowship

Saul Zaentz

Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema

Michael Stevenson and David Tomblin

Awards

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.

Best Film The Pianist – Roman Polanski, Robert Benmusso and Alain Sarde Chicago – Martin Richards Gangs of New York – Alberto Grimaldi and Harvey Weinstein The Hours – Scott Rudin and Robert Fox The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Barrie M. Osborne, Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson	Best Direction Roman Polanski – The Pianist Martin Scorsese – Gangs of New York Peter Jackson – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Rob Marshall – Chicago Stephen Daldry – The Hours
Best Actor in a Leading Role *Daniel Day-Lewis – Gangs of New York* as William Cutting** Adrien Brody – The Pianist as Władysław Szpilman Jack Nicholson – About Schmidt as Warren Schmidt Michael Caine – The Quiet American as Thomas Fowler Nicolas Cage – Adaptation as Charlie Kaufman / Donald Kaufman	Best Actress in a Leading Role *Nicole Kidman – The Hours* as Virginia Woolf** Halle Berry – Monster's Ball as Leticia Musgrove Meryl Streep – The Hours as Clarissa Vaughan Renée Zellweger – Chicago as Roxie Hart Salma Hayek – Frida as Frida Kahlo
Best Actor in a Supporting Role *Christopher Walken – Catch Me If You Can* as Frank Abagnale Sr.** Alfred Molina – Frida as Diego Rivera Chris Cooper – Adaptation as John Laroche Ed Harris – The Hours as Richard Brown Paul Newman – Road to Perdition as John Rooney	Best Actress in a Supporting Role *Catherine Zeta-Jones – Chicago* as Velma Kelly** Julianne Moore – The Hours as Laura Brown Meryl Streep – Adaptation as Susan Orlean Queen Latifah – Chicago as Matron "Mama" Morton Toni Collette – About a Boy as Fiona Brewer
Best Original Screenplay Talk to Her – Pedro Almodóvar Dirty Pretty Things – Steven Knight Gangs of New York – Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian and Kenneth Lonergan The Magdalene Sisters – Peter Mullan Y tu mamá también – Carlos Cuarón and Alfonso Cuarón	Best Adapted Screenplay Adaptation – Charlie Kaufman About a Boy – Peter Hedges, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz Catch Me If You Can – Jeff Nathanson The Hours – David Hare The Pianist – Ronald Harwood
Best Cinematography Road to Perdition – Conrad Hall Chicago – Dion Beebe Gangs of New York – Michael Ballhaus The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Andrew Lesnie The Pianist – Paweł Edelman	Best Costume Design The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor Catch Me If You Can – Mary Zophres Chicago – Colleen Atwood Frida – Julie Weiss Gangs of New York – Sandy Powell
Best Editing City of God – Daniel Rezende Chicago – Martin Walsh Gangs of New York – Thelma Schoonmaker The Hours – Peter Boyle The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Michael J. Horton	Best Makeup and Hair Frida – Judy Chin, Beatrice De Alba, John E. Jackson and Regina Reyes Chicago – Jordan Samuel and Judi Cooper-Sealy Gangs of New York – Manlio Rocchetti and Aldo Signoretti The Hours – Ivana Primorac, Conor O'Sullivan and Jo Allen The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Peter Owen, Peter King and Richard Taylor
Best Original Music The Hours – Philip Glass Catch Me If You Can – John Williams Chicago – Danny Elfman, John Kander and Fred Ebb Gangs of New York – Howard Shore, Robbie Robertson and The Edge The Pianist – Wojciech Kilar	Best Production Design Road to Perdition – Dennis Gassner Chicago – John Myhre Gangs of New York – Dante Ferretti Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – Stuart Craig The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Grant Major
Best Sound Chicago – Michael Minkler, Dominick Tavella, David Lee and Maurice Schell Gangs of New York – Tom Fleischman, Ivan Sharrock, Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – Randy Thom, Dennis Leonard, John Midgley, Ray Merrin, Graham Daniel and Rick Kline The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Ethan Van der Ryn, David Farmer, Mike Hopkins, Hammond Peek, Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick and Michael Hedges The Pianist – Jean-Marie Blondel, Dean Humphreys and Gerard Hardy	Best Special Visual Effects The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke Gangs of New York – Bruce Steinheimer, Michael Owens, Ed Hirsh and Jon Alexander Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – Jim Mitchell, Nick Davis, John Richardson, Bill George and Nick Dudman Minority Report – Scott Farrar, Michael Lantieri, Nathan McGuinness and Henry LaBounta Spider-Man – John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier
Outstanding British Film The Warrior – Bertrand Faivre and Asif Kapadia Bend It Like Beckham – Deepak Nayar and Gurinder Chadha Dirty Pretty Things – Tracey Seaward, Robert Jones and Stephen Frears The Hours – Scott Rudin, Robert Fox and Stephen Daldry The Magdalene Sisters – Frances Higson and Peter Mullan	Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer The Warrior – Asif Kapadia (Writer/Director) AKA – Duncan Roy (Writer/Director) Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry – Simon Bent (Writer) Lost in La Mancha – Lucy Darwin (Producer)
Best Short Animation Fish Never Sleep – Gaëlle Denis The ChubbChubbs! – Jacquie Barnbrook, Eric Armstrong and Jeff Wolverton The Dog Who Was a Cat Inside – Andrew Ruhemann, Siân Rees and Siri Melchoir Sap – Lucie Wenigerová and Hyun-Joo Kim Wedding Espresso – Jonathan Bairstow, Sandra Ensby and Lesley Glaister	Best Short Film My Wrongs 8245–8249 & 117 – Mark Herbert and Chris Morris Bouncer – Natasha Carlish, Sophie Morgan, Michael Baig-Clifford and Geoff Thompson Candy Bar Kid – Benjamin Johns and Shan Khan Good Night – Yoav Factor and Sun-Young Chun The Most Beautiful Man in the World – Hugh Welchman and Alicia Duffy Rank – Andrew O'Connell, David Yates and Robbie McCallum
Best Film Not in the English Language Talk to Her – Agustín Almodóvar and Pedro Almodóvar City of God – Andrea Barata Ribeiro, Mauricio Andrade Ramos and Fernando Meirelles Devdas – Bharat Shah and Sanjay Leela Bhansali The Warrior – Bertrand Faivre and Asif Kapadia Y tu mamá también – Jorge Vergara and Alfonso Cuarón

Statistics

Films that received multiple nominations
Nominations	Film
12	Chicago
12	Gangs of New York
11	The Hours
9	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
7	The Pianist
4	Adaptation
	Catch Me If You Can
	Frida
3	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
	Road to Perdition
	The Warrior
2	About a Boy
	City of God
	Dirty Pretty Things
	The Magdalene Sisters
	Talk to Her
	Y tu mamá también

Films that received multiple awards
Awards	Film
2	Chicago
	The Hours
	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
	The Pianist
	Road to Perdition
	Talk to Her
	The Warrior

References

↑ "Stars arrive for Baftas". BBC News. 23 February 2003. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
↑ "Britain's big Bafta night as The Hours has the edge on Hollywood blockbusters". The Guardian. 24 February 2003. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
↑ "'Pianist,' Kidman win BAFTAs". CNN International. 24 February 2003. Retrieved 11 February 2024.

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[1] "Stars arrive for Baftas". BBC News. 23 February 2003. Retrieved 11 February 2024.

[2] "Britain's big Bafta night as The Hours has the edge on Hollywood blockbusters". The Guardian. 24 February 2003. Retrieved 11 February 2024.

[3] "'Pianist,' Kidman win BAFTAs". CNN International. 24 February 2003. Retrieved 11 February 2024.

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v t e British Academy Film Awards
Current awards	Actor Actress Animated Feature British Film Casting Children's & Family Film Cinematography Costume Design Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer Director Documentary Editing Film Film Not in the English Language Makeup and Hair Music Production Design Rising Star Screenplay: Adapted Screenplay: Original Short Animation Short Film Sound Supporting Actor Supporting Actress Visual Effects
Special awards	Fellowship Award Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award
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