(Cover) - EN Movies - Ralph Fiennes said he was “chuffed” to be honoured at the British Independent Film Awards.
The actor received the Richard Harris award for outstanding contribution to film by an actor last night at the event in London.
The award was extra special to Ralph because it was named after a British actor who he greatly admired.
“Richard Harris was such an extraordinary beacon, force as an actor, to carry an award named after him and given by his family, it means a great deal,” he told Cover Media. “And also the other recipients of this award have been great actors and have inspired me. So I’m chuffed. Well chuffed.”
The 48-year-old was also nominated for best directorial debut for his new film Coriolanus.
The star enjoyed getting involved in every element of filmmaking.
“There were moments when it was challenging and so many unknowns, things I haven’t done before,” he explained.
“But I loved the process of working with other people and sharing in and working with their skills, whether their cinematographers or costume designers as well as, of course working with the actors. What I loved was the collaborative nature of it.”
As well as directing, Ralph also played the lead character in the Shakespearian drama.
He admitted that it was a huge task to be in front of and behind the camera.
“Well it was hard,” he confessed. “I knew I set myself a crazy task and it was probably quite a silly thing to do to take it on but it was what I wanted to do and I felt it very strongly.”
Kenneth Branagh was also honoured at the event.
The star was awarded the Variety prize for helping to "focus the international spotlight on the UK".
The actor-and-director was eager to thank all those that have helped his career in the past thirty years.
“It’s a great honour to be here tonight,” he gushed. “It’s full of people I like and know and whose work I respect, to be in their company is a great thrill and to pick up something that has the word ‘independence’ and the word ‘variety’ in it is great, because I’ve tried to do that in my career and to surprise people and myself.
“I also want to say thank you to all the people I’ve worked with in the past thirty years. I feel like I’m picking up a prize for half the British film industry.”
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