Oscar and Emmy Hopefuls Collide, Caffeinate at Annual BAFTA Tea Party

The stars turned out for their tea on Saturday at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ buzzy annual event, which this year was packed with Oscar and Emmy hopefuls alike sipping beverages and swapping award season stories.

Frontrunners Jeffrey Wright and Paul Giamatti mingled with cast members from Ted Lasso and Succession, while The Color Purple’s Danielle Brooks marked yet another run-in with her “award season friends,” Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson and The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri.

“Every time we see each other, we grab hands and hug,” Brooks told Vanity Fair about her new pals, who she sees at every event. “I am trying to meditate, drink my water, but the sleep has left this station,” she added, saying that her brain has been buzzing since she started doing promotion for Purple. “You’re always on the high, thinking about all of the cool experiences that you’re having, so you’re reflecting. And then you’re thinking about the next day, going to things like the BAFTA tea party. Your brain just doesn’t shut off.”

One of the event’s most in-demand stars, for both catch-up conversation and photos, was Saltburn’s Rosamund Pike, who joked that she might be disappointing her well-wishers. 

“I think they want to talk to [my character] Elspeth, or are waiting for me to drop a cutting remark and then they’re disappointed,” Pike said with a laugh, adding that she’s been thrilled with the response to the film and her character. “Elspeth was just so wonderful to play. She got to drape herself over everything. She’s aiming to look relaxed, but everything is studied. Nothing is really relaxed. I didn’t want [filming Saltburn] to end. We all became very, very close and still communicate on our WhatsApp chat.”

Pike later spent time chatting with Giamatti, while Succession’s Brian Cox and J. Smith-Cameron held court nearby. Loki’s Tom Hiddleston and wife Zawe Ashton had a sweet catchup with The Crown’s Elizabeth Debicki, who starred with Hiddleston in The Night Manager. In addition to the actors, several directors and showrunners mingled throughout the event, like American Fiction’s Cord Jefferson, Fargo’s Noah Hawley, Past Lives’ Celine Song, and Flamin’ Hot’s Eva Longoria.

Longoria and Song are also recent friends after running into each other at multiple events.

“We just gravitated toward each other,” Longoria recalled. “And we both are first-time feature directors, so it was this similar journey.”

Song added that she’s enjoyed observing one of her film’s main themes while connecting with other filmmakers and creatives this year. 

“In our movie there’s a concept called ‘inyeon,’ and I feel like that’s a very real thing,” she said. “It’s like, well, it was a part of me going around all these things and then meeting all people and I’m like, I’m seeing them over and over again in the same room, connecting.”

Song shared that she received a memorable endorsement from fellow director Steven Spielberg at the AFI luncheon on Friday, who asked to take a photo with her and revealed repeat viewings of her film: “He says he saw it three times! I can’t believe it.”

The BAFTA tea party is the last official event held ahead of that group’s nominations announcement on Jan. 18—a key momentum indicator given the British Academy’s considerable overlap with the Oscars’ voting body. After the release of their longlist last week, Barbie, Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon received the most mentions, plus 11 for Saltburn. The BAFTA awards ceremony takes place February 18 in London.

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