Robert Aramayo Won Two BAFTAs for I Swear — SkimNews
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- Robert Aramayo won the BAFTA Rising Star Award and leading actor on Feb. 22 for I Swear, the first person ever to take both in one night, over Timothée Chalamet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ethan Hawke, Michael B. Jordan and Jesse Plemons.
- I Swear earned five nominations at the 79th BAFTAs and opened in the U.K. last October before Sony Pictures Classics opened it stateside on April 24; the delayed U.S. calendar makes it eligible for this year’s Oscar lineup, where Aramayo is a dark-horse contender.
- John Davidson attended as an executive producer when his involuntary vocal tics, including a racial slur, were heard on the live broadcast as Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented; BAFTA apologized to the presenters, and Davidson left alone in the second half before later saying he felt “a wave of shame.”
- Robert Aramayo spent three months with Davidson before filming and says the real-life campaigner was the first person he saw after the envelope opened, waiting backstage for a “massive hug”; Aramayo now counts Davidson and his family as close friends.
- Robert Aramayo says Kirk Jones wanted the story to be about Davidson rather than Tourette’s itself; research into less visible tics, social isolation and chronic pain informs the device scene, where “Can I keep it?” tests appearing “normal” against retaining identity.
- Tourette Association of America figures cited by Aramayo place persistent tic disorder at one in 50 children in America and Tourette’s at one in 160; Aramayo cited them while urging viewers to research the condition after seeing the film.
- Robert Aramayo did not reject the interviewer’s suggestion that Marvel Studios keep his number for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine role in the MCU’s X-Men film, while naming Paul Thomas Anderson as the director he most wants to work with.
Why it matters: Aramayo’s Feb. 22 double BAFTA win—Rising Star and leading actor—gives him and I Swear added visibility after the film’s April 24 U.S. release. Aramayo uses the story to shift attention from a broadcast incident to identity, isolation and the desire to appear “normal,” supporting the source’s Oscar dark-horse framing.
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