Rebel Wilson To Return As BAFTAs Host

The last time “Pitch Perfect” star Rebel Wilson hosted the BAFTAs, COVID-19 had yet to unleash its fury and Prince Andrew was still the Duke of York. Wilson will return to host the UK’s most prestigious awards ceremony in March and she will have no shortage of material to choose from.

In a statement, Wilson expressed excitement to return as host. “I am very honoured to be hosting the EE British Academy Film Awards in March, where Covid will no longer exist because it will clearly have been canceled by then,” she said. 

Wilson managed to poke fun at just about everyone when she hosted the BAFTAs in 2020. She had zingers for Prince Harry and Prince Andrew, along with jabs at the mysterious virus everyone was talking about. 

It looks like she’s already in prime form for 2022.

“It’s going to be so much fun!” Wilson continued in the statement. “I don’t wanna put any pressure on this - I know I’m not going to be funny because I am no longer fat. And besides, I’m not going to ‘sweat-it’ with nerves because I have a peculiar medical condition where I can’t sweat…or cause offense to people because of my adorable Australian accent.

“So basically I’ll just be there to hang out with Dame Judi Dench and together we’ll both try and bond with Daniel Craig. And yes, I do mean ‘bond.’ This show will be an anniversary celebration of some important British film franchises such as ‘Harry Potter’ and not such as ‘Cats.’ Everybody’s going to love it, I’m sure! See you guys in March!”

BAFTA chief executive Amanda Berry is happy to have Wilson back as the emcee. “We are delighted to welcome Rebel Wilson as this year’s host of the EE British Academy Film Awards,” she said. “Rebel has stolen the show at several previous Film Awards, and we’re hugely excited to see her bring her fantastic charisma and humour to the whole show as we celebrate the very best in film.”

BAFTA released its longlist of films that are in competition for nominations, but the nominations themselves won’t arrive until February 3. 

Some of the movies in early (possible) contention include “No Time To Die” and “West Side Story.” Netflix’s hit “Don’t Look Up” is also being discussed by insiders as a big contender. 

After the Golden Globes Awards were shunned by Hollywood, there’s no question that many celebrities are looking forward to a return to normalcy when it comes to awards ceremonies. The BAFTAs, like the Golden Globes, are seen as precursors to the Oscars and this year there will be more eyes on the BAFTAs than ever before as several actors and movies thought to be frontrunners seem to be overlooked by other awards. 

Thanks to the Omicron surge, the Critics Choice Awards will overlap with the BAFTA ceremony on Sunday, March 13, possibly leading to nominees having to choose between ceremonies. Then again, as Omicron surges it might be serendipitous to have two awards shows on different continents so that nominees can travel to the closest ceremony and not have to travel far.