Now in its 16th year, the Awards are voted for entirely by British film fans. The nominations are chosen by readers of Empire Magazine who cast their votes via the magazine's website.
O Briain, delighted to be hosting the evening's festivities again, remarked, "It's a great privilege to be presenting these awards for the third time and to be in the same room as so many enormously talented filmmakers, to whom I can pass my script about an Irish comedian who solves murders."
Matthew Vaughn's controversial yet celebrated comic book adaptation Kick-Ass leads the way in this year's Awards with six nominations. Academy Award-nominated dramas proved favourable with Empire's readers, as the multi-BAFTA Award-winning The King's Speech receives five nominations and Inception receives four nominations, whilst The Social Network goes up against 127 Hours with three nominations each.
In the running for the much-coveted position of Best Film (presented by Kiran Ichiban) are Kick-Ass, Christopher Nolan's mind-bending Inception, David Fincher's Facebook-inspired The Social Network, Edgar Wright's witty gamer-geek comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Tom Hooper's critically acclaimed drama The King's Speech.
Inception and Kick-Ass also both feature in the Jameson Best Actor category with nominations for Leonardo DiCaprio and Aaron Johnson respectively. They are joined by three Academy Award-nominated performances by James Franco for 127 Hours, Colin Firth for The King's Speech and Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network.
The past year has also given film fans an exceptional range of performances by a diverse group of leading ladies. Nominated in the category of Best Actress (presented by Citroën) are Natalie Portman in the role of lifetime as a prima ballerina in Black Swan, Noomi Rapace as hacker Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Olivia Williams as the embittered wife of a former British Prime Minister in the thriller The Ghost. They are joined by Emma Watson as the super-smart Hermione Granger in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Helena Bonham Carter as the witty and forward thinking Queen Mum to be in The King's Speech.
In acknowledgement of their brilliance and creativity, nominated for the coveted title of Best Director are David Fincher for The Social Network, Christopher Nolan for Inception and Edgar Wright for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, alongside Tom Hooper for The King's Speech and Matthew Vaughn for Kick-Ass.
British filmmaking continues to make its mark as reflected by the quality and scope of the nominees in this category. This year's nominees for Best British Film include Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, Tom Hooper's The King's Speech, Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass, Christopher Morris' Four Lions and Gareth Edwards' Monsters.
The Jameson Empire Awards continues to celebrate the development of new talent with the nominees for Best Newcomer: Gareth Edwards for his feature directorial debut of his acclaimed sci-fi thriller Monsters, Chloe Moretz for her dual roles in Kick-Ass and Let Me In, Jaden Smith in the title role of The Karate Kid, Jennifer Lawrence in her stunning Academy-Award nominated performance in Winter's Bone and Mia Wasikowska as the ethereal Alice in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.
Moviegoers were treated to a variety of comedic delights, from the satirical Four Lions to the outrageous Get Him To The Greek, cop farce The Other Guys, refreshing teen comedy Easy A and the latest antics from Buzz, Woody and friends in Toy Story 3 - all of which are nominated for the Best Comedy Award.
Meanwhile, the Best Horror nominees that gave audiences a fantastic fright comprise of Matt Reeves' Let Me In, the reimagining of the classic A Nightmare On Elm Street, chillingly scary The Last Exorcism, the ever-frightening Paranormal Activity 2 and lively toxic outbreak shocker, The Crazies.
The Best Thriller category includes a line-up of distinctly varied titles such as the BAFTA Award-winning The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island alongside Ben Affleck's heist drama The Town, Darren Aronofsky's darkly twisted Black Swan and Danny Boyle's suspenseful 127 Hours.
Graphic novel and comic book adaptations go up against wizards, Wonderland and dream invasion as the following films compete for the Award for Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy: Inception, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1, Kick-Ass and Alice In Wonderland.
Awards for the Empire Inspiration (presented by HMV) and Empire Icon (presented by Jameson Irish Whiskey) are soon to be announced. This year, the Jameson Empire Awards are pleased to declare as their charity recipient The Prince's Foundation for Children & The Arts.
This year's Awards will again welcome the return of the hugely popular amateur filmmaking competition Done In 60 Seconds. Entries have been submitted and the public are now voting for their favourite Done in 60 Seconds film. Voting will close on 24 February and then the UK's top five finalists will join 19 international finalists to be judged by a super-panel including Empire Editor Mark Dinning, comedian Chris O'Dowd, Oscar nominated Director Jim Sheridan and The King's Speech director Tom Hooper. The resulting top five will then be invited to the Awards itself, but only one can win the coveted prize. The public can vote for their favourite UK Done In 60 Seconds video by visiting the website: www.empireonline.com/awards2011.
Empire’s Mark Dinning said: "The past year has produced a truly incredible spread of movies and, as ever, the Empire readers have done us proud in their choices for this year's shortlist. Unlike other awards ceremonies, the Empire Academy - the tens of thousands of enthusiastic and smart voters who have contributed to this unique and savvy list - have once again rewarded the right movies, resulting in a diverse selection that reflects what cinemagoers have really taken to their hearts this past 12 months. I am delighted with their choices and we can't wait to award the winners at this year's Jameson Empire Awards."
Catherine O'Grady, Sponsorship, PR and Events Director/Irish Distillers said: "The Jameson Best Actor category is one of the strongest years yet and we are delighted to be surrounded by such an immense array of talent and award-winning actors. Undoubtedly it will be a tight competition but we wish everyone luck and hope the best actor wins!"
The Jameson Empire Awards 2011 will be held at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Sunday March 27 at 4.30pm.
