Hudson, Mirren, Wallach, et al. Win National Board of Review Awards

Jennifer Hudson, Helen Mirren, and Eli Wallach are among the winners of the 2006 National Board of Review Awards, honoring the year’s best movies. The NBR is made up of a select group of film viewers, many of whom are lawyers, doctors, and other professionals. The awards will be presented at the group’s annual gala on January 9 in New York City.

Hudson received the Breakthrough Performance by an Actress Award for her role of Effie White in Dreamgirls. Stage veteran Mirren won the Best Actress Award for playing Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen. Wallach, a Tony Award winner, will receive the group’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Other big winners include Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima as Best Film, Martin Scorcese as Best Director for The Departed, Forest Whitaker as Best Actor for The Last King of Scotland, Djimon Honsou as Best Supporting Actor for Blood Diamond; Catherine O’Hara as Best Supporting Actress for For Your Consideration, Ryan Gosling as Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actor for Half Nelson, and Rinko Kokuchi, who was also cited for Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actress for Babel. (It has been typical of the NBR to spread its awards among many films.)

Other movies honored by the NBR this year include Volver as Best Foreign Film, An Inconvenient Truth as Best Documentary, and Cars as Best Animated Film. Jonathan Demme will receive the Billy Wilder Award for Excellence in Directing.

Among the group’s choices for the top 10 films of the year are The Devil Wears Prada, with Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Stanley Tucci; The History Boys, based on the Tony-winning Broadway play; and two soon-to-be-released films: Notes on a Scandal, starring Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett, written by playwright Patrick Marber, directed by Sir Richard Eyre; and The Painted Veil, which stars Edward Norton, Tony winner Liev Schreiber and his real-life companion, Naomi Watts.

For a complete list of winners, visit www.nbrmp.org.