Baftas 2023: Stars talk getting war ready for Hollywood

Director Edward Berger (left) and star Felix Kammerer (centre) looked a lot smarter at the ceremony than on set

The Baftas red carpet is where Hollywood stars get to show off their designer dresses, suits and expensive jewellery.

This year, World War One epic All Quiet on the Western Front dominated at the awards - taking home seven, including the all important best film.

But the Netflix film's set was about as far as you can get from the glitz and glamour of an A-list awards season.

Director Edward Berger wanted the gruelling shoot to capture the conditions endured by troops at the time.

And speaking to BBC Newsbeat on the Baftas red carpet, the film's star Felix Kammerer said it was pretty hard work.

"I trained a lot in advance," the 27-year-old said.

"And I think it really added to the realistic feeling of the movie, because we were really running and we had 90lbs of equipment on us in the mud, in the coldness.

"So I think it just helped us."

In one of his many acceptance speeches, Berger - who scooped the best director gong - paid tribute to those fighting in Ukraine.

The film was Austrian actor Felix's first time on screen and he also thinks its themes are even more relevant and poignant because of Russia's invasion.

"I think it just shows us again and again and again that war does not stop," he said.

"And we are responsible to stop it. And we are obviously not getting any more clever.

"So maybe we should think about ourselves and not what's wrong with war, but what's wrong with us?"

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Sheila Atim went for warrior chic on the red carpet

Newsbeat also caught up with rising star nominee Sheila Atim, who plays a warrior in The Woman King which stars Viola Davis.

The film is about a group of all-female warriors protecting the African kingdom of Dahomey - which meant a lot of hard work for Sheila while filming.

"Training... lots of training, gym every day, stunt training every day," she said.

"And mentally as well, like you have to be really wanting to do it. Anyone who's done a HIIT workout will know there's a huge part of it as mental.

"It was about staying in the game and supporting each other as well through what was a pretty gruelling process."

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And how did it feel to play a warrior in a film full of other fierce female characters?

"I mean we might not want to do the training but we all want to play a warrior," Sheila said.

"The opportunity to do that and knowing some of the history and reading the scripts and the action was so well detailed in the script.

"So I could see the fight scenes I could see the vision as well as our have to be a part of this."

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