BAFTA Wins & Open Thread
Sunday, February 8, 2015 at 1:30PM 
2:00 PM For those of you who have access to a live feed - I'm settling in for Dianne Wiest's new play - feel free to discuss. I'll chime in soon.
5:25 PM Here are the winners with some quick thoughts on what this means for Oscar.
THE WINNERS
BEST FILM BOYHOOD
BEST BRITISH FILM THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
LEADING ACTRESS JULIANNE MOORE Still Alice
LEADING ACTOR EDDIE REDMAYNE The Theory of Everything
SUPPORTING ACTRESS PATRICIA ARQUETTE Boyhood
SUPPORTING ACTOR J.K. SIMMONS Whiplash
DIRECTOR RICHARD LINKLATER, Boyhood
Same as it ever was. Despite the internet's total freak out earlier this weekend when Birdman added to its trophy haul with the prestigious DGA prize, the frontrunners remain the frontrunners. Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor are still competitive mind you, but I don't think they're as competitive as people think and I suspect these are all repeat wins at the Oscar.
EE RISING STAR Jack O’Connell
COSTUME DESIGN THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Milena Canonero
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Anthony McCarten
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IDA Pawel Pawlikowski, Eric Abraham, Piotr Dzieciol, Ewa Puszczynska
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Wes Anderson
Jack O'Connell didn't explode quite the way I expected him to in the US this year but I think that's because foreign films (yes even British ones) are given such flimsy releases in the States so Starred Up barely made a dent and '71 hasn't even come out yet. But at least Unbroken was big for him. One suspects his dance card is filling up until about December 2017 any second now (if it hasn't already)
While most pundits are shifting their predictions in the technical categories to Grand Budapest Hotel I remain terrified that Into the Woods might still take Best Costumes. Terrified because, as talented as Colleen Atwood is, her pieces there felt like inferior variations on things she'd already done.
Adapted and Original Screenplays might well be the most confusing categories right now as we move towards Oscar night. The Globes went for Birdman, The USC Scripter went to Imitation Game, and BAFTA split between Theory of Everything and Grand Budapest Hotel. Both categories don't seem to have a frontrunner and I don't think you can rule out Whiplash either. The WGA announces their prizes on Valentine's Day and that's our last clue.
I'd love to see who you think SHOULD win these categories -- vote on the charts.
OUTSTANDING BRITISH DEBUT STEPHEN BERESFORD (Writer), DAVID LIVINGSTONE (Producer)
Pride
CINEMATOGRAPHY BIRDMAN Emmanuel Lubezki
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS INTERSTELLAR Paul Franklin, Scott Fisher, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter
ANIMATED FILM THE LEGO MOVIE Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
SOUND WHIPLASH Thomas Curley, Ben Wilkins, Craig Mann
EDITING WHIPLASH Tom Cross
Though I predicted Whiplash's editing victory here I'm curious if it can really follow suit at the Oscars. Whiplash's editing is very strong -- maintaining the illusions of suspense in scenes that risk redundancy constantly. But will they really bypass 12 years of Boyhood in that category?
I had thought that the Sound Oscars were either going to Birdman or American Sniper but now that I see Whiplash as a winner it makes a lot of sense, ballotwise. Perhaps AMPAS members will also nod their heads to the percussive beat
Can Interstellar repeat this win at the Oscars or will Dawn of the Planet of the Apes find a way to remind voters that they didn't even get the Oscar the last time they deserved it in 2011 when the prize inexplicably went to Hugo instead.
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION THE BIGGER PICTURE Chris Hees, Daisy Jacobs, Jennifer Majka
BRITISH SHORT FILM BOOGALOO AND GRAHAM Brian J. Falconer, Michael Lennox, Ronan Blaney
PRODUCTION DESIGN THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
MAKE UP & HAIR THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Frances Hannon
DOCUMENTARY CITIZENFOUR Laura Poitras
ORIGINAL MUSIC THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Alexandre Desplat
I'm pleased that I predicted both Shorts winners. They're both up for Oscars too. Elsewhere, Original Score is not remotely a done deal, Oscar-wise. It's just as easy to picture Theory of Everything or The Imitation Game winning.
Reader Comments (68)
Read a few of the UK papers' predictions, and while they all seem to predict Julianne for the win, a few are really hoping for Pike's robotic turn to pull the upset. I do think she has a shot here, given it's her home turf. Hope not.
I think "Boyhood" takes back the mantle and Redmayne will cement frontrunner status.
Theory of Everything takes best British film.
Best Score--GBH
TGBH is winning a number of 'em - I would looove to see Ralph surprise!
Production design--GBH
Makeup & Hair--GBH
Henry, your first comment is good news for... somebody. They've only given Best Film and Best British Film to the same production eight times in the 30 or so years it was possible to do so. The last time was (wait for it) The King's Speech.
Editing-Whiplash
Whiplash for Editing. My prediction is looking a little less crazy now...
Doc-Citizenfour
Sound-Whiplash
Lego-animated
FX--Interstellar
Supporting Actor--Simmons
Whiplash has won everything it has been nominated for so far.
Supporting Actress--Arquette
Supporting Actress--Arquette (my feed is eating posts, sorry if this is a repeat)
Of course, they didn't nominate Whiplash for Best Picture.
Cinematography--Birdman (I really thought DIck Poop would win this)
Damn, Luke Evans is hot.
Don't get distracted, Henry. ;-)
Outstanding debut of British Writer--Pride-Stephen Beresford
Paul Outlaw: One of the feeds I am following keeps posting pictures of him at the ceremony. He is melting twitter......
My favorite tweet so far:
@Brendan_Surrey What the hell is Jeremy Irons wearing? #EEBAFTAs He walked past me earlier and smelt of chloroform and mould
Original Screenplay--GBH
Film not in English--Ida
I didn't know Carson from Downton was married to Vera Drake.
Adapted Screenplay--Theory of Everything.
Costumes--GBH
Rising Star--Jack O'Connell
Director--Linklater-Boyhood
It's eating posts again. Only 3 left.
Best Actor--Redmayne
so far I am happiest about all of the GBH production wins, below the line awards piling up, but Birdman gets the cinematography bafta.
I am pleased to report (at the risk of being superficial) that Keira Knightley, Rosamund Pike, and Julianne Moore are looking good.
I am watching on bbc and will update on the telecast later.
Best Actress--Moore
Ok, I finally think Julianne has the Oscar locked up now.
LadyEdith: I think the red carpet is very good. I don't really see a miss step anywhere. Adams, Jones, Moore and KK all stand out as winners.
Film--Boyhood
BY THE NUMBERS
5 - The Grand Budapest Hotel
3 - The Theory of Everything
3 - Whiplash
3 - Boyhood
1 - Birdman
1 - Ida
1 - Interstellar
1 - The Lego Movie
1 - Still Alice
1 - Pride
Fairly sure (~85%) that Boyhood wins BP. I'd call Director a toss-up between Linklater and Inarritu, but slight leaning towards the former.
0 - The Imitation Game
Oops.
The suspense continues.
color me surprised at how well i did on my predictions :) and I'm glad I didn't fall for the "BIRDMAN has Best Pic wrapped up" sky is falling panic that other pundits fell for yesterday. I still think Best Pic goes to Boyhood.
although there are justifiable complaints about the Baftas being too much of a carbon copy of Oscars there are some really nice exceptions. The award to BBC Films for best contibution was well earned and well received. The montage included so many films that I have loved.
Then Pride won for an outstanding debut in screenplay. Best supporting actress included both Rene Russo and Imelda Staunton. It's very refreshing to see a few different faces.
I was really moved by Patricia Arquettes acceptance speech, no glasses, no paper, she really spoke from the heart.
And it was wonderful to see Kristin Scott Thomas looking slick and elegant as always.
The presentation of a lifetime achievement award to Mike Leigh by Imelda Staunton and Sally Hawkins was the high point of my evening. He didn't get bitter about Mr. Turner being overlooked and was very witty about the skinflints and boneheads who wouldn't put up money for his films.
And the best line of the night coming from Ralph Fiennes to Stephen Fry, “I wish I could have had you as my lobby boy,” I love Fiennes.
Why Eddie Redmayne over Keaton?! Have all these voters lost their minds??
Tell us about the play with the sublime Dianne Wiest.
Trickiest Oscar categories to predict for me are:
both Sound categories -- no firm idea here
Score -- will Desplat cancel himself out and give it to the deserving Zimmer?
Editing -- do people see Boyhood as "edited"? is this where Sniper or Whiplash shine?
Actor -- I go back and forth on this one
I suppose I have some doubts about Adapted Screenplay but I'm digging in for Imitation Game as my prediction -- I imagine that Whiplash and Sniper might split votes.
Redmayne is British. He always had the BAFTA locked up. Hopefully, he doesn't repeat at Oscar.
Julianne didn't need this award. It should have been Rosamund.
I voted on you charts. I'm quite surprised by the fact that Nightcrawler is not the favorite screenplay.
Keaton seemed like a shoo-in for a good while, even as it looked like Boyhood was the favourite for Best Picture. It's weird to now be thinking about Birdman winning Picture whilst Keaton loses.