The 14th Empire Awards ceremony (officially known as the Jameson Empire Awards), presented by the British

film magazine Film periodicals combine discussion of individual films, genres and directors with in-depth considerations of the medium and the conditions of its production and reception. Their articles contrast with film reviewing in newspapers and magazines whi ...

''Empire'', honored the best films of 2008 and took place on 29 March 2009 at the

Grosvenor House Hotel ] JW Marriott Grosvenor House London, originally named the Grosvenor House Hotel, is a luxury hotel that opened in 1929 in the Mayfair area of London, England. The hotel is managed by JW Marriott Hotels, which is a brand of Marriott Internat ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. During the ceremony, ''Empire'' presented

Empire Awards The Empire Awards was an annual British awards ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the local and global film industry. Winners were awarded the Empire Award statuette. The awards, first presented in 1996, were presented by the British f ...

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 Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian actor and music video director. After playing roles in several Australian television and film productions during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to ...

, 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 Dara Ó Briain ( , ; born 4 February 1972) is an Irish comedian and television presenter based in the United Kingdom. He is noted for performing stand-up comedy shows all over the world and for hosting topical panel shows such as ''Mock the W ...

hosted the show for the first time. The awards were sponsored by

Jameson Irish Whiskey Jameson ( or ) is a blended Irish whiskey produced by the Irish Distillers subsidiary of Pernod Ricard. Originally one of the six main Dublin Whiskeys at the Jameson Distillery Bow St., Jameson is now distilled at the New Midleton Distiller ...

for the first time. ''

The Dark Knight ''The Dark Knight'' is a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Jonathan Nolan, Jonathan. Based on the DC Comics superhero, Batman, it is the sequel to ''Batman Begins'' (2005) and t ...

'' won the most awards with three including

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

and

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

for

Christopher Nolan Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. His films have grossed $5&nb ...

. Other winners included ''

Eden Lake ''Eden Lake'' is a 2008 British horror thriller film written and directed by James Watkins and starring Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender and Jack O'Connell. The film was nominated for the Empire Award for Best British Film. It is among a gr ...

'', '' Mamma Mia!'', '' Quantum of Solace'', ''

RocknRolla ''RocknRolla'' is a 2008 action crime film written and directed by Guy Ritchie, featuring an ensemble cast that includes Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandiwe Newton, Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Toby Kebbell, Jeremy Piven, and Chri ...

'', ''

Son of Rambow ''Son of Rambow'' is a 2007 comedy film written and directed by Garth Jennings and inspired by '' First Blood''. The film premiered on 22 January 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival. It was later shown at the Newport Beach Film Festival, Sea ...

'', '' Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' and '' Wanted'' with one.

Viggo Mortensen Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. R (; born October 20, 1958) is an American actor, writer, director, producer, musician, and multimedia artist. Born and raised in the State of New York to a Danish father and American mother, he also lived in Argent ...

received the

Empire Icon Award The Empire Icon Award is an honorary Empire Award presented by the British film magazine ''Empire''. The Empire Icon Award was first introduced at the 11th Empire Awards ceremony in 2006 with Brian Cox receiving the award. The award was absent f ...

Danny Boyle Daniel Francis Boyle (born 20 October 1956) is an English director and producer. He is known for his work on films including '' Shallow Grave'', '' Trainspotting'' and its sequel '' T2 Trainspotting'', '' The Beach'', ''28 Days Later'', '' S ...

received the Outstanding Contribution to British Film award, Russell Crowe received the Actor of our Lifetime award and

received a special post-mortem

tribute A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of land which the state conqu ...

. 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 ''Jerry Maguire'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama sports film written, produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe; it stars Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, and Regina King. Produced in part by James L. Brooks, it was ins ...

''.

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.

Multiple awards

The following film received multiple awards:

Multiple nominations

The following 12 films received multiple nominations:

Done In 60 Seconds films

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Empire Awards, 14 Empire Award ceremonies 2008 film awards 2009 in London 2009 in British cinema March 2009 events in the United Kingdom 2000s in the City of Westminster