‘Gravity’ Leads the 2013 BAFTA pack

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts have announced their nominations for the best of the year in cinema.  Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón’s space epic holds the distinction of the most nominations this year, closely followed by 12 Years a Slave, directed by the British filmmaker Steve McQueen, and the decidedly American American Hustle, both of which were selected as nominees for Best Film of the Year..  Captain Phillips, directed by another Brit, Paul Greengrass, and the very English Philomena held the remaining two slots.

First a little history, BAFTA maintains a membership of nearly 6,500 of professionals in the industry of film and television throughout the United Kingdom and the U.S.  The organization was initially called the British Film Academy and was founded in 1947 by a long list of luminary British filmmakers including David Lean, Carol Reed and Laurence Olivier.  The first ceremony was in 1949 when William Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives was honored as the years best film – it also won the Oscar for Best Picture.  However, the BAFTA rarely impacted the American-based Academy until 2002 when the ceremony started taking place before the Academy Awards. Now it’s a fairly accurate bellwether for the Oscars.  Every film since 2008 has earned top honors from both BAFTA and the Oscars, including last year’s Argo.

This years race appears to be in line with a few exceptions.  All of the films in the running for Best Film are near locks for Best Picture nominations at the Academy Awards (save for Philomena, which may still yet prove a surprise when Oscar nominations are announced on January 16th.)  However because BAFTA nominates just five selections as opposed to the five to ten slots available at the Oscars, films like Inside Llewyn Davis (recognized for writing and cinematography), The Wolf of Wall Street (recognized for directing, lead actor, writing and film editing), Nebraska (recognized for lead actor, writing and cinematography), Her (which was ineligible due to release date) and Dallas Buyers Club (snubbed entirely) weren’t invited to the party.

Michael Douglass (left) and Matt Damon in Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Behind the Candelabra’

Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra, which premiered on HBO last spring and swept the Emmy Awards, was released theatrically abroad and earned several technical nominations plus a writing nod and one for Matt Damon’s supporting performance.  The film, based on the latter life of Liberace, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last spring and appeared to make quite an impression on BAFTA voters. One assumes had other above the line categories not been so competitive, the film may have had a stronger turn-out, including a nod, perhaps, for Michael Douglas’ critically lauded performance.  Different voting structures within the foreign film and documentary categories will also reflect a different perspective than the Oscars will go.

The most contentious category on this years’ BAFTA slate may prove to be their Best British Film selections.  Each year, BAFTA singles-out the best homegrown cinematic offerings and this years’ line-up includes two very Hollywood productions in Gravity and Saving Mr. Banks, both of which may test the very confines of what makes up a British film.  Gravity has a prominent British producer in David Heyman and was shot in the U.K. for a period and Saving Mr. Banks has on the outset a very British (native Australian) protagonist, but both are iffy at best in being defined as British productions.  The BAFTA Awards will be handed out on February 16, 2014.

THE NOMINEES ARE:

BEST FILM

• 12 Years a Slave
• American Hustle
• Captain Phillips
• Gravity
• Philomena

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

• Gravity
• Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
• Philomena
• Rush
• Saving Mr. Banks
• The Selfish Giant

BEST DIRECTOR

• Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
• Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
• Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
• David O. Russell, American Hustle
• Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ACTOR

• Christian Bale, American Hustle
• Bruce Dern, Nebraska
• Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
• Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
• Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips

BEST ACTRESS

• Amy Adams, American Hustle
• Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
• Sandra Bullock, Gravity
• Judi Dench, Philomena
• Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
• Daniel Brühl, Rush
• Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
• Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra
• Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
• Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
• Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
• Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
• Oprah Winfrey, Lee Daniels’ The Butler

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• American Hustle– written by Eric Warren Singer & David O. Russell
• Blue Jasmine– written by Woody Allen
• Gravity– written by Alfonso Cuarón & Jonás Cuarón
• Inside Llewyn Davis– written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• Nebraska– written by Bob Nelson

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• 12 Years a Slave– written by John Ridley
• Behind the Candelabra– written by Richard LaGravenese
• Captain Phillips– written by Billy Ray
• Philomena– written by Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope
• The Wolf of Wall Street– written by Terence Winter

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• Despicable Me 2
• Frozen
• Monsters University

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

• The Act of Killing
• Blue is the Warmest Color
• The Great Beauty
• Metro Manila
• Wadjda

BEST DOCUMENTARY

• The Act of Killing
• The Armstrong Lie
• Blackfish
• Tim’s Vermeer
• We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wiki-Leaks

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• 12 Years a Slave– Sean Bobbit
• Captain Phillips– Barry Ackroyd
• Gravity– Emmanuel Lubezki
• Inside Llewyn Davis– Bruno Delbonnel
• Nebraska– Phedon Papamichael

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

• American Hustle– Michael Wilkinson
• Behind the Candelabra– Ellen Mirojnick
• The Great Gatsby– Catherine Martin
• The Invisible Woman– Michael O’Connor
• Saving Mr. Banks– Daniel Orlandi

BEST FILM EDITING

• 12 Years a Slave– Joe Walker
• Captain Phillips– Christopher Rouse
• Gravity– Alfonso Cuarón & Mark Sanger
• Rush– Dan Hanley & Mike Hill
• The Wolf of Wall Street– Thelma Schoonmaker

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

• 12 Years a Slave– Adam Stockhausen & Alice Baker
• American Hustle– Judy Becker & Heather Loeffler
• Behind the Candelabra– Howard Cummings
• Gravity– Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin & Joanne Woodlard
• The Great Gatsby– Catherine Martin & Beverley Dunn

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC

• 12 Years a Slave– Hans Zimmer
• The Book Thief– John Williams
• Captain Phillips– Henry Jackman
• Gravity– Steven Price
• Saving Mr. Banks– Thomas Newman

BEST MAKE-UP & HAIR

• American Hustle
• Behind the Candelabra
• Lee Daniels’ The Butler
• The Great Gatsby
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

BEST SOUND

• All is Lost
• Captain Phillips
• Gravity
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Rush

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

• Gravity
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• Iron Man 3
• Pacific Rim
• Star Trek Into Darkness

BEST BRITISH SHORT (ANIMATED)

• Everything I Can See From Here
• I Am Tom Moody
• Sleeping with the Fishes

BEST BRITISH SHORT FILM

• Island Queen
• Keeping Up with the Joneses
• Orbit Ever After
• Room 8
• Sea View

RISING STAR NOMINEES

• Dane DeHaan
• George MacKay
• Lupita Nyong’o
• Will Poulter
• Léa Seydoux

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

• Paul Wright (director/writer) & Polly Stokes (producer), For Those in Peril
• Colin Carberry & Glenn Patterson (writers), Good Vibrations
• Kieran Evans (director/writer), Kelly + Victor
• Kelly Marcel (writer), Saving Mr. Banks
• Scott Graham (director/writer), Shell