MICHAEL G WILSON: Well, a big thanks to BAFTA. This is a first for the Bond films. And a big thanks to Daniel and Sam, the writers, Neil, John and Rob, and the whole cast and crew of Skyfall. And at MGM, Gary, Roger and Jonathan. At Sony, Amy and her team, Jeff Blake, Peter Taylor’s team in the UK, who broke the all time box office record for the UK.
Skyfall was conceived 60 years ago when Ian Fleming wrote the first James Bond novel. It was born 50 years ago, when Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman produced the first film. Since then it has been nurtured by a whole host of directors, actors and crew, so that today James Bond is loved throughout the world. It is on behalf of those film makers that Barbara and I accept this award. Thank you.
SAM MENDES: 1292 people worked on this movie, and I stand here on behalf of all of them. We all had very high expectations for the film, and I think it is fair to say all of them have been exceeded and this really is the icing on the cake, so thank you very much, BAFTA.
There are two people I want to say a special thank you to. I want to say thank you to the person around whom we built this movie and without whom the movie could not happen, and that of course is Daniel Craig. For his bravery and his brilliance and his friendship and his sheer bloody mindedness.
And last, but by no means least, I want to say thank you to someone who’s not here, to the great Ian Fleming who, 60 years ago, almost to the day, sat down and wrote:
“He was a secret agent and still alive, thanks to his exact attention to the detail of his profession.”
Here’s to the next 50 years, thank you very much.