Tuesday 30 October 2007

And the Fido goes to...


Stephen Frears' hugely successful film The Queen has won more than its fair share of top awards, so perhaps it should come as no surprise that even the dogs featured as the monarch's faithful companions have picked up a gong. The five corgis, who played the Queen's pets, were the main winners at the inaugural Fido Film Awards – part of the British Film Institute's 51st London Film Festival, which has decided to emulate the Palm Dog Awards, a popular fixture at Cannes for the last seven years.
And the winners are.... Alice, Poppy, Megan, Anna and Oliver.
At the world's first international awards for canine film stars, given out at a ceremony at the London Film Festival on sunday, the corgis were named as the Best Historical Hounds as well as picking up a Best in the World prize.
The awards are the brainchild of Toby Rose, the creator of the Palm Dog Award, which is part of the Cannes Film Festival.
"Dogs are key, pivotal characters on the big screen, but they never get any recognition for their work," he explained.
The corgis, standing in for the Queen's pets in the film, also won praise from Dame Helen Mirren. She said they were a joy to work with. Their owner and trainer, Liz Smith from Suffolk told reporters that there was a lot of work involved in their performance and further said: "No one was allowed to make a fuss of them because we had to make sure they had no distractions," she said. Despite all the work, however, the corgis enjoyed their stint on camera. According to Smith, the dogs "got on very well" with their on-screen queen, Mirren.

9 comments:

Flowerpot said...

I heard a short piece about this on the BBC news but good to hear the details. thanks, ED!

LITTLE BROWN DOG said...

Hi eurodog, and thanks for popping in to my blog - it's nice to see another dog on the block. We have a lot in common - Burma is a cause close to my heart (I've just signed the avaaz petition) and I'm also a big Tin Tin (and, of course Milou) fan. But I'm afraid I don't get Tarantino, and Sainsbury's magazine? (although I was in it once, strangely).

V much enjoyed your piece about the corgis - I was glad to hear they got some recognition, they were indeed excellent. Looking forward to reading more (especially if you're thinking of writing a piece on how to stop spaniels barking).

LBD

Whispering Walls said...

What's their prize: a year's supply of dog biscuits?

Eurodog said...

Thank you for visiting, LBD.
I like Tarantion because he is so over the top. Loved the bit for instance in Kill Bill when Bill's brother who lives in a trailer in the middle of nowhere crushes ice cubes in a blender and serves drinks in jam jars. I think he is off the wall and slightly too much.
Sainsbury's magazine: I like their recipes; that's the only reason I buy it.
Stop dogs barking. Difficult one. A lot can be said about it but give me some details and I'll have a think. My e-mail address is in my profile.
Have a wonderful day.

Eurodog said...

WW, good question. I'll have to look into it.
You too have a wonderful day. ED

jmb said...

What a nice thing to do. Some recognition for dogs like that is wonderful to hear. I'd like to know what the prize was too.

Anonymous said...

I always admire how dogs are trained for important roles in films.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Quite right, too, for the dogs to get these awards!

Unknown said...

Glad to see the corgis get their due.