The 14th Empire Awards ceremony (officially known as the Jameson Empire Awards), presented by the British film magazine Empire, honored the best films of 2008 and took place on 29 March 2009 at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, England. During the ceremony, Empire presented Empire Awards in 12 categories as well as four honorary awards. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Empire magazine a special honorary award was presented, the Actor of our Lifetime and to mark the loss of Heath Ledger, he was awarded the special honorary Heath Ledger Tribute Award. The Sony Ericsson Soundtrack Award was renamed to "Best Soundtrack" and the Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy award was renamed this year only to "Best Sci-Fi/Superhero". The Best Newcomer and Best Soundtrack awards were presented for the last time. Irish comedian Dara Ó Briain hosted the show for the first time. The awards were sponsored by Jameson Irish Whiskey for the first time.
The Dark Knight won the most awards with three including Best Film and Best Director for Christopher Nolan. Other winners included Eden Lake, Mamma Mia!, Quantum of Solace, RocknRolla, Son of Rambow, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Wanted with one. Viggo Mortensen received the Empire Icon Award, Danny Boyle received the Outstanding Contribution to British Film award, Russell Crowe received the Actor of our Lifetime award and Heath Ledger received a special post-mortem tribute. Stephen Power and Conal O'Meara from the United Kingdom won the Done In 60 Seconds Award for their 60-second film version of Jerry Maguire.
Winners and nominees Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface. The shortlisted nominees were revealed on 2 March 2009 and finale voting ended on 12 March 2009.
The Dark Knight Iron Man No Country for Old Men There Will Be Blood WALL-E RocknRolla Eden Lake Hunger In Bruges Son of Rambow Christopher Nolan — The Dark Knight Andrew Stanton — WALL-E Joel and Ethan Coen — No Country for Old Men Paul Thomas Anderson — There Will Be Blood Tim Burton — Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Christian Bale — The Dark Knight Daniel Craig — Quantum of Solace Daniel Day-Lewis — There Will Be Blood Johnny Depp — Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Robert Downey Jr. — Iron Man Helena Bonham Carter — Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Angelina Jolie — Changeling Elliot Page — Juno Olga Kurylenko — Quantum of Solace Sally Hawkins — Happy-Go-Lucky Son of Rambow Burn After Reading Ghost Town In Bruges Tropic Thunder Eden Lake The Mist The Orphanage The Strangers Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Wanted Hellboy II: The Golden Army Iron Man The Dark Knight WALL-E Quantum of Solace Changeling Eagle Eye Gone Baby Gone No Country for Old Men Gemma Arterton Hayley Atwell Jim Sturgess Robert Pattinson Toby Kebbell Mamma Mia! Quantum of Solace RocknRolla Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street There Will Be Blood United Kingdom: Jerry Maguire by Stephen Power & Conal O'Meara Finalists: United Kingdom: Cloverfield by Ewan Smith United Kingdom: Pearl Harbor by Mark Wong United Kingdom: Se7en by Ewan Warburton United Kingdom: The Dark Knight by Steven Seller The other shortlisted films: United Kingdom: American Psycho by Mike Doxford United Kingdom: Forrest Gump by Unknown director United Kingdom: Requiem for a Dream by Charlie Lyne United Kingdom: Reservoir Dogs by Harry Lindley United Kingdom: Terminator 2: Judgment Minute (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) by Katie Child United Kingdom: The Fugitive by Martin Selby & Tom Marshall United Kingdom: WALL-E by Melanie Keyzor Empire Icon Award: Viggo Mortensen Outstanding Contribution to British Film: Danny Boyle Actor of our Lifetime: Russell Crowe Heath Ledger Tribute: A special tribute award was dedicated to acknowledge the outstanding work of Heath Ledger.
Multiple awards The following film received multiple awards:
Awards Film 3 The Dark Knight
Multiple nominations The following 12 films received multiple nominations:
Nominations Film 5 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 4 Quantum of Solace The Dark Knight There Will Be Blood 3 Iron Man No Country for Old Men WALL-E 2 Changeling Eden Lake In Bruges RocknRolla Son of Rambow
Done In 60 Seconds films
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