How the Brits Do Oscars

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/12/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

What a surprise: Sunday night's Orange British Academy Film Awards (the BAFTAs) in London turned out to be, well, more erudite than Hollywood's Oscar ceremony, even when the Americans were talking, reports PEOPLE. Tom Hanks, nominated as best actor for "Cast Away" (though he lost to 14-year-old "Billy Elliot" star Jamie Bell, who didn't receive an Oscar nod), said of his film at the gathering, "What appealed to me was the distance we were going to go to tell the story. Normally you have a man alone on a desert island for 15 minutes, then one of the Spice Girls shows up with a pirate." "Gladiator" was named best film. Its best-actor nominated star, a bearded Russell Crowe, who wore slicked back hair so long that it fell over the back collar of his shirt, arrived 15 minutes late, but still took a couple of extra minutes to sign autographs for fans. Ever the good sport, he wished a rival luck, being quoted as saying, "I'd be happy if Jamie (Bell) won the best actor award tonight." When Bell did win, he accepted his award from Goldie Hawn, who kissed him. He needed time to recover. "With competition from the likes of Russell Crowe and Tom Hanks," Bell finally said, "I thought I'd not bother coming." Hugh Grant accepted the best actress award for "Erin Brockovich" star Julia Roberts (with whom he starred in "Notting Hill"), and Kate Winslet arguably wore the sexiest outfit of the evening. Asked about her low-cut black satin number by Dolce & Gabbana, the "Titanic" star told PEOPLE, "I've just been breast-feeding and still feel a bit full. So I thought, 'Why not?' "