Despite having an industry filled to the brim with talent, the British Academy of Film and Television Awards regularly prefers American films these days and this year would be no exception but for the two behemoth Brit biopics that have been doing spectacularly well all season on the other side of the Atlantic: The Imitation Game (suspiciously deemed "American" for AFI) and The Theory of Everything. Unsurprisingly they're nominated for both of BAFTA's top prizes, "Film" and "British Film," the latter of which amounts to the kiddie table I suppose even though it shouldn't -- this being the British Academy -- since those films rarely score as many nominations at home as their American counterparts do. It's actually amusing in a perverse way when you consider the theory that AMPAS here at home is obsessed with British actors and considers anything they do "prestige."
BAFTA was notably stingy to Mike Leigh's Mr. Turner in all but the below line categories (no actor nomination for Spall or British film citation), but found room for our beloved Pride in a few places as well as the thrilling '71. The latter, starring Jack O'Connell who is dropped directly into the center of The Troubles for one violent night (that is not a spoiler -- that's just the very minimalist plot), hasn't opened in the States yet but it's an armrest gripper so be prepared.
In the final tallies the two nomination leaders were The Grand Budapest Hotel (11) and The Theory of Everything and Birdman tied for second (10). Titles that did pretty well considering how quiet their buzz is at home were Interstellar (4) and Big Eyes (2). Completely shut-out: Unbroken. What happened to: A Most Violent Year and Selma? They also received zero nominations but unless they received qualifying releases -- some believe Selma did and they got screeners but that's hard for me to believe until I see official BAFTA.ORG proof since Selma didn't even send screener to American guilds -- they would not have been eligible as they haven't yet opened in the UK.
A full list of nominations with comments is after the jump. You can check out if, in the words of Unbroken's Jack O'Connell, you fancy it.
Check them out if you fancy it.
FILM
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything
Which would possibly be our Oscar Best Picture list if there were only five. Seems crazy right? I don't dislike either of the pictures but I'm still baffled that Imitation Game and Theory have such devout fans.
BRITISH FILM
'71
The Imitation Game
Paddington
Pride
The Theory of Everything
Under the Skin
Despite a soul-crushing teaser trailer and some recasting trouble that hinted at problems, Paddington appears to be well liked. And not just by BAFTA. It opens next week here in the US. Happy for Under the Skin of course, given our fascination with it. And most thrilled about Pride which is one of my Best Picture nominees.
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Ida
Leviathan
The Lunchbox
Trash
Two Days One Night
Interesting that this is so different than what Oscar is considering since only two of these (Ida & Leviathan) are eligible this year for the corresponding Oscar prize. For what it's worth, Stephen Daldry (Trash) was at that Selma event I was telling you about and seems to be a popular person.
DIRECTOR
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Damian Chazelle, Whiplash
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
James Marsh, The Theory of Everything
I told you nobody would do as well as the Globes in their Director nominations this year! I wonder if Marsh, who we just interviewed, is a threat for DGA or Oscar?
LEADING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
"When in doubt, go with Amy Adams" - the mantra of all mainstream awards groups. But it's ridiculous that Two Days One Night is eligible for them (given its other nomination) and that they didn't find Cotillard's work worthy. It towards over half of these!
LEADING ACTOR
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jake Gyllenhall, Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
No Spall, eh? Remember when I started predicting Jake Gyllenhaal for the Oscar nod and you thought it was all wishful thinking on my part? I can't quite bear to predict Ralph Fiennes because I don't expect he'll be nominated but it will be so disappointing when he's not.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Imelda Staunton, Pride
Emma Stone, Birdman
Rene Russo, Nightcrawler
Streep stans will surely object but it's nice to see her step aside briefly -- she always gets so much media time -- since we haven't seen much of Imelda Staunton or Rene Russo yet this season. It'll be cool to see them on at least one more red carpet.
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Carell as supporting, eh? That's one way to avoid The Judge in this category that nobody ever seems to be enthused about.
RISING STAR
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Jack O'Connell
Margot Robbie
Miles Teller
Shailene Woodley
You can vote on this one. The public decides.
OUTSTANDING DEBUT, BRITISH WRITER or DIRECTOR or PRODUCER
Gregory Burke (writer) & Yann Demange (director), '71
Stephen Beresford (writer) & David Livingstone (producer), Pride
Elaine Constantine (writer/director), North Soul
Paula Katis (director) & Andrew De Lotbiniere (producer), Kajaki: The True Story
Hong Khaou (writer/director), Lilting
We interviewed Hong Khaou this year and that movie really sticks in the memory. Have any of you seen it yet? It was always like crickets when we brought it up. For what it's worth the director of Pride Matthew Warchus was not eligible for this award. He made one film prior to this many moon ago, as we discussed in our interview with him.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Sniper, Jason Hall
Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
The Imitation Game, Graham Moore
Paddington, Paul King
The Theory of Everything, Anthony McCarten
Surprise: Paddington. I feel bad for Wild.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman, Alejandor Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas, Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, and Armando Bo
Boyhood, Richard Linklater
Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson
Nightcrawler, Dan Gilroy
Whiplash, Damien Chazelle
I was going to say that this will be your Oscar list but haha I keep forgetting that Whiplash has gone Adapted. So what will take its spot: Selma, Foxcatcher, Ida, Mr Turner, A Most Violent Year? I'd like to dream of Pride but it seems that very few people in the US have seen it else more people would be shouting about how good it is.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman, Emmanuel Lubezki
Grand Budapest Hotel, Robert Yeoman
Ida, Lukasz Zal, Ryzsard Lenczewski
Interstellar, Hoyte Van Hoytema
Mr Turner, Dick Pope
I would not be at all surprised if this was the Oscar list. Though the ASC thought differently and preferred Imitation Game and Unbroken to Ida & Interstellar
COSTUME DESIGN
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
Solid list. Nice to see Jacqueline Durran show up since she wasn't on the CDG list.
MAKEUP AND HAIR
Grand Budapest Hotel, Frances Hannon
Guardians of the Galaxy, Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiu, David White
Into the Woods, Peter Swords King, J. Roy Helland
Mr Turner, Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener
The Theory of Everything, Jan Sewell
Different rules than Oscar obviously BUT again I repeat: why is the Oscar list only 3 wide? That's just wrong and punitive on the makeup artists and hair stylists since every film uses them.
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Big Eyes, Rick Heinrichs, Shane Vieau
Grand Budapest Hotel, Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
The Imitation Game, Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana McDonald
Interstellar, Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
Mr Turner, Suzie Davis, Charlotte Watts
I will say this about Big Eyes production design. I loved that crazy diagonal house and its weird colors during the period of the Keane's new money grandeur. Here are the choices from the American guild as well as my own ballot.
FILM EDITING
Birdman, Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione
Grand Budapest Hotel, Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game, William Goldenberg
Nightcrawler, John Gilroy
The Theory of Everything, Jinx Godfrey
Whiplash, Tom Cross
Six nominations so they obviously have no tie-breaker system (why is Oscar the only group that can figure those things out for consistency's sake from year to year?). The editing guild here in the US loved all of these films but for Theory of Everything.
VISUAL EFFECTS
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Interstellar
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Unlikely to be your Oscar list since the X-Men films are never chosen in this category.
ORIGINAL MUSIC
Birdman, Antonio Sanchez
Grand Budapest Hotel, Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar, Hans Zimmer
The Theory of Everything, Johann Johannson
Under the Skin, Mica Levi
MICA LEVI !!! That is all. Well also: nice to see Birdman continue to score recognition despite Oscar's ineligibility decision
SOUND
American Sniper
Birdman
Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash
If you missed it Teo Bugbee had a very astute piece about Grand Budapest Hotel's sound right here at The Film Experience - check it out.
ANIMATED FILM
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
The LEGO Movie
This is more like it. Animated features should not get 5 nominees. There just aren't enough of them made. If the Best Picture category had the same percentages we'd have like 80 to 90 Best Picture nominees a year.
DOCUMENTARY
20 Feet From Stardom
20,000 Days on Earth
Citizenfour
Finding Vivian Maier
Virunga
Last year's Oscar winner competing with some hopefuls this year. Plus: 20,000 Days on Earth.
BRITISH ANIMATED SHORT
The Bigger Picture
Monkey Love Experiments
My Dad
The Bigger Picture is the only one of these in the running for an Oscar nomination.
BRITISH SHORT
Emotional Fusebox
Boogaloo & Graham
The Karman Line
Slap
Three Brothers
Weird not to see that buzzy Sally Hawkins short The Phone Call miss here. Boogaloo and Graham is the only one of these in the running for an Oscar nomination.