BAFTA Long List Losses
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 10:00AM 
I've said it before and I'm forced to say it again. I'm *so* glad that the American Academy does not publish a long list. i.e. the semi-finals. You see, It's so much more bearable / engaging when you can imagine that straight up great achievements or achievements you really responded to personally but you knew might have trouble rallying huge swaths of support were in 6th or 7th place or 10th place in voting. The way BAFTA does it, however, you are forced to understand that Oscar buzz is everything and Super Size Mediocrities will always triumph over critical darlings or more challenging Art.
Take the Best Picture categories for a prime example. Notice that Weekend for example, a very British and very acclaimed film is not one of their "outstanding" homegrown products (they might want to check the reviews again) and notice that auteurist films frequently called masterpieces by their fans (The Tree of Life and Melancholia) are also absent. Other films ignored because you have to have space for The Lukewarmly Reviewed Biopics About Lady Actresses and Lady Politicians are... no, no. It's too horrible to start listing them!
Best Film The Artist, The Descendants, Drive, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Help, Hugo, The Ides of March, The Iron Lady, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, My Week with Marilyn, Senna, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, War Horse, and We Need to Talk About Kevin
BAFTA voters went crazy 4 My Week With Marilyn, longlisted many many timesFilm Not in the English Language Abel, As If I Am Not There, The Boy Mir – Ten Years in Afghanistan, Calvet, Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries), Incendies, Little White Lies, Pina, Post Mortem, Potiche, Le Quattro Volte, A Separation, The Skin I Live In, Tomboy and The Troll Hunter
More long list looniness with commentary after the jump...
The other insanity that is the annual release of the BAFTA longlists is that they show you who is out front in early voting which seems... tacky. So leaders can fear that their support will crumble and other longlisters can feel despair. 'Oh, i'm so close. But it's not going to happen!' They don't tell you who is out front in the film categories but they do everywhere else.
Director and Actor lists follow with voter leaders in red.
Director Hazanavicus -The Artist, Payne -The Descendants, Refn - Drive, Fincher -The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , Taylor -The Help , Scorsese -Hugo, Clooney -The Ides of March, Lloyd - The Iron Lady, Eastwood - J. Edgar, Allen - Midnight in Paris, Miller - Moneyball , Curtis - My Week with Marilyn, Alfredson -Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Spielberg - War Horse, Ramsay - We Need to Talk About Kevin
Oscarables? I keep wanting to predict Nicolas Winding Refn in Best Director for Drive. But the director's branch within Oscar is so much less adventurous than they once were. Do you think they'll go for his hot genre skill?
More annoyingness: There's a certain someone who shows up in Best Director who doesn't show up in Best Film and we don't want to complain about him again. But an American icon on autopilot over British directors of BAFTA's favorite homegrown films? I mean, don't they care about their own industry. If there's one extra spot there why not the 'make the most of what you've got' invention of Joe Cornish from Attack the Block, the gutsy double-duty immediacy of Ralph Fiennes, the bravely bold long takes and weird fusion or operatic and minimalism from Steve McQueen from Shame or the actor's actor brutality of Paddy Considine for Tyrannosaur. what a world what a world. sigh.
Leading Actor Antonio Banderas – The Skin I Live In, Brad Pitt – Moneyball, Brendan Gleeson – The Guard, Daniel Craig – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Eddie Redmayne – My Week with Marilyn, Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, George Clooney – The Descendants, Jean Dujardin – The Artist, Leonardo DiCaprio – J. Edgar, Michael Fassbender (Brandon) – Shame, Owen Wilson - Midnight in Paris, Peter Mullan – Tyrannosaur, Ralph Fiennes - Coriolanus, Ryan Gosling – Drive, and Ryan Gosling – The Ides of March
Uh... Look, I like Eddie Redmayne a lot. I even think he made the most of that very limited role in My Week With Marilyn as I said in my review. But a longlist for BEST performances? Look, I love Daniel Craig. I was singing his praises long before James Bond ever made him globally famous. But how are these roles meaty enough to consider the work "best". Especially when you have to shun both Weekend boys (Tom Cullen and Chris New) to include them? It's just aggravating and lazy fame defaulting. But BAFTA has that problem each year.
Leading Actress Bérénice Bejo – The Artist, Carey Mulligan – Shame, Charlize Theron – Young Adult [our interview], Emma Stone – The Help, Helen Mirren – The Debt, Jodie Foster – Carnage, Kate Winslet – Carnage, Kristen Wiig – Bridesmaids, Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady, Mia Wasikowska – Jane Eyre, Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn, Olivia Colman – Tyrannosaur [our interview], Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin and Viola Davis – The Help
I fear if I look at this any longer I will notice someone amazing they left off and be sad sad sad. So I should look away quickly while it's still looking like a strong list. ARGH TOO LATE. Just noticed that Kirsten Dunst is missing from Melancholia. The earth is evil.
Supporting Actor Alan Rickman (Prof. Severus Snape) - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Albert Brooks (Bernie Rose) – Drive, Ben Kingsley (George Méliès) – Hugo, Benedict Cumberbatch (Peter Guillam) – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Christopher Plummer – Beginners , Colin Firth (Bill Haydon) - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Eddie Marsan– Tyrannosaur, Ezra Miller (Kevin Teenager) – We Need to Talk About Kevin, George Clooney (Mike Morris) – The Ides of March, Jim Broadbent (Denis Thatcher) – The Iron Lady, John Hurt (Control) – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Jonah Hill– Moneyball, Kenneth Branagh (Sir Laurence Olivier) – My Week with Marilyn, Paul Giamatti (Tom Duffy) – The Ides of March and Philip Seymour Hoffman– The Ides of March
They aren't fooling around with the men of The Ides of March and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. BAFTA's long list is definitely enamored of men in suits. Interesting that despite love for J Edgar in director and actor and a gajillion craft categories, Armie Hammer does not appear.
Oscarables: A long long time ago I thought Philip Seymour Hoffman would be a default nomination for screaming at Ryan Gosling in Ides of March in the Supporting Actor field. Will we see a resurgence of Ides and its players come Oscar nom morning?
Supporting Actress Alexandra Roach – The Iron Lady , Bryce Dallas Howard– The Help, Carey Mulligan – Drive , Emily Watson - War Horse , Evan Rachel Wood – The Ides of March, Jessica Chastain – The Help [our interview], Judi Dench– My Week with Marilyn , Kathy Bates – Midnight in Paris , Kathy Burke – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy , Marion Cotillard – Midnight in Paris , Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids , Octavia Spencer – The Help, Olivia Colman – The Iron Lady [our interview], Shailene Woodley – The Descendants, and Zoe Wanamaker – My Week with Marilyn.
All five of the THE HELP principles were longlisted and four of them were vote leaders in their categories!
I don't like to assume the worst but the longlists always make me fear that BAFTA voters are, by and large, dimwitted. And otherwise I always generically assume that British people are smart which I'm sure is a byproduct of decades of movie culture generally portraying Brits as more educated and cerebral than their American counterparts. Anyway... BAFTA is telling me that all 15 of these women (including Bryce Dallas Howard's cartoon and multiple Kathy cameos and and and and and and ) are superior to Vanessa Redgrave in Coriolanus. Which I will not have. Sorry BAFTA. You lose.
Just for fun let's look at one craft category since we virtually have no clue what Oscar might like in Costume Design.
Queen Elizabeth always sends the hearts of Costume Designers aflutterCostume Design Lisy Christl - Anonymous* , Mark Bridges - The Artist* , Bojana Nikitovic - Coriolanus , Denise Cronenberg - A Dangerous Method , Trish Summerville - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 , Sharen Davis - The Help , Sandy Powell - Hugo* , Consolate Boyle - The Iron Lady , Deborah Hooper - J. Edgar , Michael O'Connor - Jane Eyre* , Sonia Grande - Midnight in Paris , Jill Taylor - My Week with Marilyn* , Jacqueline Durran - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Joanna Johnston - War Horse
You know, when I first say Anonymous I thought 'costume design nomination' but then I backed away because I thought maybe the film would be too shrugged off the consciousness straightaway. Perhaps I should've followed the first instinct?
Complete Long List in all categories.
HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT BAFTA'S LONG-LISTING: What would you trade in and out?
Reader Comments (53)
Nevermind about anything else - Midnight in Paris better go on to win the visual effects BAFTA! It's about time for a film without any to win that one.
I'm shocked they completely ignored "Coriolanus" and VANESSA REDGRAVE!!! Curiously, although they gave Redgrave their Lifetime Achievement prize two years ago, BAFTA voters never seemed to care for one of England's greatest treasures... Vanessa was nominated only two times for her film-performances: in 1966 for "Morgan" (Best British Actress) and in 1987 for "Prick Up Your Ears" (Best Supporting Actress), while she was snubbed for performances like "Mary Stuart", "The Devils", "The Bostonians", "Howards End" or "Atonement". She wasn't even nominated for her Oscar-winning performance in BAFTA Best Picture winner "Julia" in 1977... what's wrong with BAFTA Awards?!?
Throwing dirt on the grave of Harry Potter, how sad to treat a film that employed half your industry for a decade.
Vanessa has never received enough recognition by Bafta. Only two nominations in over 54 years of career! It's an embarresement.
Jan --but they made Paris look so rainy!
AJ -- but they longlisted for best british film?
Stefano -- weirdness.
All the snubs you mentioned especially The Weekend snubs are awful, but I'm okay with them seemingly falling in love with My Week with Marilyn. I enjoyed the film and the ensemble. :shrugs:
Anyway, I expected them to be a little more Harry Potter crazy at least at this stage. Wonder what happened with that film this awards season.
Ryan T -- i never thought it was going to be a biggie (as so many did) but I will admit i did expect it to be more of a contender than it's turned out to be.... i mean if supporting people from Mamma Mia! can make the longlist in their year than why not the Harry Potter actors beyond Rickman -- especially if you're throwing out hte geniuses like Vanessa Redgrave?!
Maybe people are just ready to move on from Potter? The 10 billion+ revenue stream and the theme parks and all of that are surely reward enough.
Why people hate MWWM? Why? Its a great film and noms are deserved (except in BSA category). TIL love is terrible...
Jan-that is the funniest thing I've read in eons-well done, well done.
Ugh.
I think a lot of the problems with these lists stem from the fact that the BAFTAs are trying really hard to be an Oscar precursor. It makes them so unrepresentative of the year in British cinema. They also seem to have the same eligibility timeframe as the Oscars which I think is even more stupid for a UK based award. As far as I can see the only film on the Best Picture longlist that was released in the UK before October is Senna (and this is probably one of the few points of difference with the Oscars) and several of the films have not yet opened in the UK at all (The Descendents, War Horse, Shame, Coriolanus, A Dangerous Method are not yet released with The Artist and The Iron Lady just opening today).
I wish they'd grow a personality of their own!
Troll Hunter for film not in the English language? Well, if you insist, BAFTAS. Just don't forget Attack the Block for British film and we'll be cool.
Robert G -- eh. don't get your hopes up. If they consider Eastwood's sleepwalking superior to Cornish's direction. yikes. They just don't love it enough.
SVG -- yeah the release thing is crazy. They're becoming more shameless than the BFCAs which is really really really really hard to do. And I say that as a BFCA member who wishes they'd stop trying to predict and just start voting on "best"
I assume "Albert Nobbs" and "Martha Marcy May Marlene" were ineligible, right?
Also, and not really BAFTA relatetd: does anyone else think that Michelle Yeoh would have been so much more of a contender in weaker years for actresses? Not that her performance blew my mind, but she really does an amazing job in impersonating - and all those Academys usually love that!
I love reading your blog and respect you very much, but BFCA pretty much lost any credibility as "critics award" when they awarded Sangra Bullock...
I know Albert Nobbs was ineligible. And Yeoh would have been more of a contender, yes.
I really, truely wish BAFTA would remove its head from Hollywood's arse, grow a pair, and celebrate the achievements of its own film industry.
vlad -- agreed. ;) not that they were ever trying to be anything other than a precursor. which is what's sad. To Bfca & Bafta -- get your own identity. The Oscars are the Oscars are the Oscars. There is no being them. No point in trying.
KL -- well said.
Granted these voters didn’t see Tree of Life and Take Shelter.
Is the resurrection of The Ides of March really happening?
The also missed Ext Loud and Inc Close, which brings to the question have Nat reviewed this movie or I just missed it somewhere?
My Week With Marilyn was released in theatres I think 2-3 weeks ago , its everywhere at the moment, I think that has a lot to do with the love, people must have just seen it. Shame is not out yet in general release, neither is Coriolanus. The Help was released late in the year as well which may explain the love, plus I really loved Bryce's performance so I don't mind her being shortlisted. The Weekend snub is very strange indeed but its probably 'too gay' for their liking.
I actually don’t mind Bryce Dallas Howard in The Help. At least she made more of an impression than Emma Stone in that movie, which is odd. And I kind of pity her for landing not only this largely one-note role, but the horrible girlfriend character in 50/50. People used to kind of like her, right?
I mean released in the UK re my above post. BAFTA nominated Freida Pinto once, clearly their nominations can be bizarre at times.
So Redgrave is out. McCarthy missed Globe only (and she didn't have a press conference with them so that's not exactly a shock). The category bump for Bejo is interesting, but I don't think it will ultimately affect anything.
Bejo/Chastain/McCarthy/Spencer/Woodley. Woodley goes if McTeer gets in.
The nomination list doesn't always correlate with the top 5 on the long list, I remember last year there was a few changes.
I really don't understand...at all why they even do this. Speaking as one of those kids who often made the first cut but not the second for sports tryouts, this seems unnecessarily cruel to the prospective nominees. Maybe "cruel" is a strong words. I doubt there are a lot people biting their nails as they await the BAFTA nominations. I know many people, including myself, often fantasize about knowing the nuts and bolts of the voting in any given Academy year, but I think that I'm ultimately glad that the AMPAS doesn't do things like this. It's pointless to publish this information. What purpose does it serve other than to highlight how myopic they are? I think the way the AMPAS does it--releasing an official document with the long alphabetical list of eligible films for the year--works much better. That films, following this longlist, are eligible in certain categories but not others is such nonsense. List the eligible films and let people vote for them in whatever categories they want and determine the nominations from that. Just my two cents.
Ultimately, I don't think that BAFTA matters that much. Therefore, little things like the Weekend snub, which was the first thing that jumped out at me, I take with a grain of salt. They're interesting only in that they do show what another country has to say about the awards race and it's usually at least slightly off-center from what Oscar is doing that year. But they are, in a lot of ways, even more insular and even more myopic than Oscar just in terms of the types of movies they nominate. As evidenced by their sodding longlist.
They publish the vote leaders? That IS tacky. (I guess I have the same problem as you Nat "The brits are smarter and classier culturally than Americans" thanks to Masterpiece Theater, I suppose.)
Other than Fassbender and Mulligan getting in (but not McQueen? WTF?), this is rather disappointing list. I rather wish that these organizations would remove the word "Best"..which is impossible to measure anyway in an objective sensel it's really "What we like best/what we just saw last week/who is a personal friend or at least hasn't pissed us off," etc.
And also, the costume branch tends to be fine with flops (An Affair of the Necklace, anyone) if the costumes are big enough.
For the record, I'd rather be the BFCA giving an award to Sandra Bullock than the BAFTA even nominating Freida Pinto.
So has Dunst already lost a chance at being nominated?After being nominated by london critics?Please explain me because I don't know how this longlist works.
BAFTA is is the version of the satellite awards.
As ridiculous as the long list may seem, BAFTA does have some inspired nominations from time to time. But then so does the Academy.
BAFTA seems to like "The IronLady"//!!!!
The odd thing about 'Weekend' is that even though it's British, I haven't heard anything about it here in England. I wouldn't know it existed if it wasn't for you, Nat. It just hasn't got any buzz or anyone talking over here. When I first heard of it here I assumed it was Canadian or something. I'm not surprised at all that it has been left off the longlists.
"Just for fun let's look at one craft category since we virtually have no clue what Oscar might like in Costume Design."
Nat, seems like Anonymous (one of the only pre-20th century period piece obvious contenders), The Help, The Artist and Hugo would be shoo-ins for Oscar nods in Costume Design, with War Horse, Jane Eyre, A Dangerous Method, W.E. and Midnight in Paris vying for the fifth spot.
Okay, not a great list in terms of quality, but I do like that it seems the precursors are keeping things interesting by varying it a bit. There are enough boom or bust films (Ides, Help, Tree of Life, and even Drive and Bridesmaids) to raise high the vote splitting that I'm counting on a surprise or two on Oscar morning.
The biggest "problem" I see with the BAFTA process is the fact that the longlists are determined by the ENTIRE VOTING MEMBERSHIP for every category. Larger groups will make more conservative choices, which I think is why we see so many middle-of-the-road inclusions. Addtionally, we have people determining the longlists in fields with which they are not experts. I'd like to think that the actors, left on their own, would have had a bit of a more discerning eye for inclusions/exclusions; same goes for the writers/directors/everyone pretty much. I can't see a group of VFX voters deciding on their own to include "Midnight in Paris," for example, but it makes more sense when the general membership really loves a film and indiscriminately votes for it in all eligible categories. Am I making my point?
Basically, the system is designed to achieve maximum laziness on the voters' part. Instead of nominating in only 1-4 categories, where they can think longer/in more depth for each category, as Oscar voters do, they are responsible for filling out an ENTIRE BALLOT just for the pre-nominations round... I hate to say it, but it seems logical that a sound editor or a costume designer would care more/spend more time nominating in their respective categories, and then just list the films they really loved/liked in the others (the personally "less important"). When every branch is doing this in every category, it makes sense that the final longlists would settle on more "boring" picks.
All that said, this sticks out as a particularly offensive list, at least compared to recent years, with a number of egregious snubs (and inclusions). What is going on with this awards season???
This is just so bad. So so so bad. What the fuck.
This is why I wouldn't mind the Oscars being held at the beginning of the year in 2013, it will throw everyone for a loop. At this point the only thing these award shows want to do is be precursors they've almost invalidated themselves. In fact I think precursor awards are what hurt more deserving performances because everyone just follows the crowd.
Bryce Dallas Howard??? I mean, it's not really her fault, but that character was completely one dimensional. No redeeming qualities. No. No, no.
I hope ACTRESS turns out like this
Viola
Michelle
Meryl
^ Those are guarantees
And I would be so happy if Charlize and Kristen got in. :) But I know that won't happen.
UGH, they couldn't even LONG LIST Kirsten Dunst or Charlotte Gainsbourg?
As for Supporting Actress I want:
Melissa McCarthy
Octavia Spencer
Jessica Chastain
Evan Rachel Wood (just because I love her)
and Vanessa Redgrave.... oh wait
re The Weekend, it wasn't exactly under the radar here, Claudia Winkleman was banging on about it on BBC Film 2011, it got 4 and 5 star reviews pretty much in every publication and it made headlines with getting high grosses per screen in some publications, so I really can't imagine people in the industry didn't know about the film. It's one of the best British films ever made and for it to be totally ignored like this is really frustrating.
Is this the final nail in the coffin for Vanessa Redgrave? So, so sad and utterly bizarre that they left off one of their greats in a tour-de-force, Shakespearean performance. I remember watching an interview with Redgrave a few years ago about her time in the theater, her career, etc. (it was right when she was doing The Year of Magical Thinking for a special benefit in England, right after Natasha died), and the man interviewing her asked her if her politics--particularly her involvement with the Workers Revolutionary Party and her communist affiliation--hurt her in securing roles in American film productions and immediately corrected him in saying that BRITISH producers didn't want to hire her and thank god that the she was still being offered jobs in America...so, it makes me think that the British contingency may not be as warm to her (still) as they are to some of her peers (Dench, Smith, Mirren, etc.), because it's absolutely absurd that she only has 2 BAFTA nominations to her credit. Just so strange.
How great is it to see Midnight in Paris and the Ides of March get some BAFTA love?
The production design and costumes in Midnight in Paris were now jaw dropping, but worked beautifully. Same with cinematography for The Ides of March, which I think has more traction, what with some truly iconic scenes, than Oscar watches are giving it.
Nathaniel:
I just noticed the non asterisk next to Harry Potter and didn't realize that they didn't have an asterisk on anything.
Janice:
It does look tacky on the surface but I think it's a good decision to reveal the leaders. The entire membership nominates the final five from these lists and say Mrs. Old Actress has NO idea what to award for sound she can just choose the leaders because that's what the individual branch wants. Of course she can just vote for her favorite films but revealing the leaders helps to prevent that problem.
So upset that Tom Cullen wasn't even longlisted for Weekend for Best Actor - he was magnificent. How is it not up for Best British film? Answer - the sexuality of the protagonists.
I always feel so embarrassed to be British when the BAFTA longlist comes out and it's no change this year... from the depressing amount of love for The Iron Lady to the inclusion of sturdy-but-unmemorable performances like Emma Stone in The Help over the brave work of Kirsten Dunst and Anna Paquin.
As SVG points out, BAFTA is terrible for skewing towards year-end releases and there are always films nominated that no paying cinemgoer will be able to see until weeks into the new year (The Descendents doesn't open anywhere in the UK until end of January and there'll be no public screenings of Young Adult until February).
Each year the BAFTAs compete more desperately to remain relevant on the awards circuit that leads to Oscar and each year they sacrifice more of their own identity and integrity. Grr!
no Vanessa Redgrave. seriously, that is FUCKED!
while i understand the love for Tom Cullen, i still think Chris New had the more challenging role and still managed an indelible characterization. the fact that neither of them were longlisted (not even WEEKEND's screenplay?!?) is criminal.
I agree with the post about Redgrave's politics hurting her chances, I am sure it has for past performances, I mean these things can be as much a popularity contest as anything else, hence the constant love for Judi Dench whenever she gives a half-decent performance in something.
I can't believe The Tree of Life only got one nomination (in Cinematography, which was undoubtedly amazing). I'm also surprised for the same reasons you are (Brits are smarter than Americans, blah blah); I guess I'm giving them too much credit.
so i think we're looking at
IN THE FIGHT
Hugo
my week with marilyn
the iron lady
the artist
jane eyre
the help
captain america
w.e.
tinker tailor soldier spy
anonymous
LONGSHOTS
war horse
midnight in paris
water for elephants
a dangerous method
j edgar
sherlock holmes
albert nobbs
I love it when the BAFTAs go and promote a typically seen as supporting performance to lead. Eg, Kim Basinger - L.A. Confidential, Shirley MacLaine - Postcards From The Edge, Kate Hudson - Almost Famous