The Britannia Awards began with a sign that this wouldn’t be a staid British awards show despite the fact that the annual event is a production of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Los Angeles.
Actor Samuel L. Jackson appeared in a series of taped messages encouraging guests to take their seats so the show could start — and after two mild appeals, Jackson’s third appearance featured the actor startling many in the ballroom of the Beverly Hilton by shouting at full volume, “SIT THE F— DOWN!”
In a way, that set the tone for an entertaining night that included honoree Amy Schumer going into an extended riff on anal sex, Meryl Streep calling out the Britannias themselves, Steven Spielberg teasing a new Indiana Jones movie and emcee Jack Whitehall introducing presenter Bryan Cranston by mentioning the range he’d shown in moving from playing the dad on “Malcolm in the Middle” to the meth-dealing Walter White on “Breaking Bad.”