BAFTA Nominations Announced

Nominations for the 68th Annual British Academy Film and Television Arts Awards were announced in London early Friday morning (or late Thursday night for us in the United States) offering many expected choices, a few surprises and yet another mention in the 2014 awards race.  BAFTA is typically a strong bellwether for the Academy Awards, especially since there’s a measurable crossover in both memberships.  That being said, BAFTA is not without their quirks, and their nominations (which always have a British flair to them) will have zero effect on the nominations for the Oscars (ballots for those were due about seven hours before BAFTA announced).  It was a good day for The Grand Budapest Hotel, as Wes Anderson’s frantic period comedy led the BAFTA list with 11 nominations, including Best Film and nods for director, screenwriting and one for Ralph Fiennes’ leading performance.  In fact, it was a great showing overall for distributor Fox Searchlight, with great show for The Grand Budapest Hotel and BAFTA’s second most nominated film of the year, Birdman, which earned 10 nods.  Alejandro González Iñárritu’s showbiz comedy also earned nods for Best Picture, directing, screenwriting and three acting mentions (usual suspects Michael Keaton, Edward Norton and Emma Stone.)

Also earning 10 nominations was James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything.  The very British Stephen Hawking bio had a little bit of an advantage as it placed in not only the Best Film category but also in BAFTA’s singular Best British Film category.  Also earning slots in both film proper and British film races was The Imitation Game, another top drawer British film that earned 9 nominations.  Somewhat surprising, Marsh earned a directing nomination, as Imitation‘s Morten Tyldum did not.  Other British films that earned nominations for Best British Film were the fact based ’71 starring Jack O’Connell, Pride, which tells the true story of the unlikely alliance between gay activists and striking coal miners in Thatcher-era England, Paddington, based on the classic children’s books, and the science fiction oddity Under the Skin.  Neither of those films will likely factor into the Oscar race however they are all eligible with the exception of ’71, which will open in the United States this spring.

Despite a fair amount of hometown pride gracing the BAFTA list, for the most part the nominations played mostly to the script already established in the awards season.  Films on the American indie stream like Boyhood, Whiplash and Nightcrawler all performed rather well– Whiplash earned a surprise Best Director nod for Damien Chazelle and Nightcrawler earned nods for screenwriting and the performances of Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo.  A few of these mentions may have actually come at the price of another British film that looked to contend well with BAFTA: Mr. Turner, Mike Leigh’s biography of famed British artist J.M.W. Turner earned four technical nods but missed out on bigger mentions like Timothy Spall’s acclaimed leading performance and even Best British Film.

Last year, 12 Years a Slave won the top award with the British Academy.  The BAFTAs will be held on February 8th in London.

BEST FILM

• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• The Theory of Everything

BEST BRITISH FILM

• ’71
• The Imitation Game
• Paddington
• Pride
• The Theory of Everything
• Under the Skin

BEST DIRECTOR

• Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
• Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Richard Linklater, Boyhood
• James Marsh, The Theory of Everything

BEST LEADING ACTOR

• Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
• Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
• Michael Keaton, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

BEST LEADING ACTRESS

• Amy Adams, Big Eyes
• Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
• Julianne Moore, Still Alice
• Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
• Reese Witherspooon, Wild

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
• Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
• Edward Norton, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
• J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
• Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
• Rene Russo, Nightcrawler
• Imelda Staunton, Pride
• Emma Stone, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)– Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo
• Boyhood– Richard Linklater
• The Grand Budapest Hotel– Wes Anderson
• Nightcrawler– Dan Gilroy
• Whiplash– Damien Chazelle

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• American Sniper– Jason Hall
• Gone Girl– Gillian Flynn
• The Imitation Game– Graham Moore
• Paddington– Paul King
• The Theory of Everything– Anthony McCarten

BEST DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

• ’71– Gregory Burke (writer), Yann Demange (director)
• Kajaki: The True Story– Paul Katis (director), Andrew De Lotbiniere (producer)
• Lilting– Hong Khaou (writer/director)
• Northern Soul– Elaine Constantine (writer/director)
• Pride– Stephen Beresford (writer), David Livingstone (producer)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• Big Hero 6
• The Boxtrolls
• The LEGO Movie

BEST DOCUMENTARY

• 20 Feet From Stardom
• 20,000 Days on Earth
• Citizenfour
• Finding Vivian Maier
• Virunga

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

• Ida
• Leviathan
• The Lunchbox
• Trash
• Two Days, One Night

BEST CINEMATGRAPHY

• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)– Emmanuel Lubezki
• The Grand Budapest Hotel– Robert Yeoman
• Ida– Lukasz Zal, Ryzsard Lenczewski
• Interstellar– Hoyte Van Hoytema
• Mr. Turner– Dick Pope

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

• The Grand Budapest Hotel– Milena Canonero
• The Imitation Game– Sammy Sheldon Differ
• Into the Woods– Colleen Atwood
• Mr. Turner– Jacqueline Durran
• The Theory of Everything– Steven Noble

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

• Big Eyes– Rick Heinrichs, Shane Vieau
• The Grand Budapest Hotel– Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
• The Imitation Game– Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana Macdonald
• Interstellar– Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
• Mr. Turner– Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts

BEST FILM EDITING

• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)– Douglas Crisse, Stephen Mirrione
• The Grand Budapest Hotel– Barney Pilling
• The Imitation Game– William Goldenberg
• Nightcrawler– John Gilroy
• The Theory of Everything– Jinx Godfrey
• Whiplash– Tom Cross

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC

• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)– Antonio Sanchez
• The Grand Budapest Hotel– Alexandre Desplat
• Interstellar– Hans Zimmer
• The Theory of Everything– Jóhann Jóhannson
• Under the Skin– Mica Levi

BEST MAKE-UP AND HAIR

• The Grand Budapest Hotel– Frances Hannon
• Guardians of the Galaxy– Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White
• Into the Woods– Peter Swords King, J. Roy Helland
• Mr. Turner– Christine Blundell, Lese Warrener
• The Theory of Everything– Jan Sewell

BEST SOUND

• American Sniper
• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• Whiplash

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Interstellar
• X-Men: Days of Future Past

BEST BRITISH SHORT FILM

• Boogaloo and Graham
• Emotional Fusebox
• The Kármán Line
• Slap
• Three Brothers

BEST BRITISH ANIMATED SHORT FILM

• The Bigger Picture
• Monkey Love Experiments
• My Dad

RISING STAR AWARD (voted on by the public)

• Gugu Mbatha-Raw
• Jack O’Connell
• Margot Robbie
• Miles Teller
• Shailenne Woodley