Friday
Jan082016
BAFTA Nominations: Bridge of Spies and Carol lead
Friday, January 8, 2016 at 3:33AM With the Oscar nominees less than a week away, the British Academy of Film and Television Awards, or BAFTA as they're more easily referred to, can often be a real indicator of where AMPAS might be headed come Thursday morning. It used to be that the British were quite idiosyncratic in their tastes, picking homegrown, grassroots produce like Fish Tank. Unfortunately recent years have seen even the Best British Film category taken a much more populist bent. Therefore, it's their taste in American films that can often be a huge indicator of what energy the British contingent might inject into their Oscar votes.
Eligibility rules can often cause an issue - Murtada gave a rundown of any possible hiccups the other day - but recent years have seen studios keen to align the two continents as much as possible, to avoid situations like Charlize Theron's Oscar-winning turn in Monster turning up a whole year later at BAFTA. So, never fear - Trumbo's still here!
Carol hearing the news she has to share the glory
TFE favourite Carol and - rather unexpectedly - Bridge of Spies lead the nominations with nine a-piece, with The Revenant also surprising with eight, and Mad Max: Fury Road landing seven, despite missing all of the top categories (alas). The Big Short had a big morning, and British production Ex Machina continued its recent surge. Take a jump to get the full roster of nominations.
The Big Short won't stopBest FilmThe Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Carol
The Revenant
Spotlight
The Big Short hitting this hard just reaffirms its growing juggernaut status - it's now a very viable challenge to Spotlight's grip on the big prize, even if it seems unlikely to win here at BAFTA. There's also a huge boost for Bridge of Spies and The Revenant, neither of which had been looking assured of a Best Picture nomination but both have very strong nomination counts at BAFTA today. At least we can luxuriate in the glory of Carol. Joint top in these nominees with Bridge of Spies, it's also on the up today.
Best British Film
45 Years
Amy
Brooklyn
The Danish Girl
Ex Machina
The Lobster
They had to balloon the category to six to include something vaguely unexpected, but The Lobster is exactly the kind of thing that should be here, as opposed to the creaky period ache of The Danish Girl. It's obviously great to see 45 Years here, but... oh, we'll get to that in a minute.
Best Director
Adam McKay, The Big Short
Steven Spielberg, Bridge of Spies
Todd Haynes, Carol
Ridley Scott, The Martian
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, The Revenant
Adam McKay showing up here is an immense show of strength. That it means George Miller misses for Mad Max is a huge shame, but BAFTA just didn't go for the film in the top categories like we hope and expect Oscar to. Spieleberg sticks his foot back in the door, and Carol lights up another category as Todd Haynes gets more glory. Hurrah.
Best Actor
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardio DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
Is this your Oscar line-up? If Ian McKellan or Tom Hanks (given Bridge of Spies' high nomination count) were going to make a move, you'd think it would've shown here. We can hope for Michael B. Jordan to pop up as a spoiler, but this lot are looking increasingly set in stone.
Could Dame Maggie be the British Oscar nominee after all?Best ActressCate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Maggie Smith, The Lady in the Van
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
DON'T EVEN TALK TO ME RIGHT NOW. British voters, you have let me down. Dame Maggie has her usual sharp comic timing and grumpy gravitas in the otherwise disposable Lady in the Van, but why, WHY, when Charlotte Rampling is right. there. would you go this way?
It doesn't necessarily spell doom for Rampling's Oscar hopes - she and Andrew Haigh have been blitzing the American press - but it's rather dispiriting. Meanwhile, Vikander and Mara continue to split the category fraud defiance, leaving everyone still bewildered about what might happen at Oscar, and Larson, Ronan and Blanchett cement their places, leaving two spots as anyone's guess.
Best Supporting ActressJennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
Julie Walters, Brooklyn
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Vikander really is the darling this year, isn't she? Could she pull off a double nom at the Oscars too? Ex Machina is a British production, but it's really come on strong in the guilds the past week as well, and showed a fine five nominations at BAFTA today. Walters is your annual patriotic nominee, but it's nice to see her inclusion somewhere this season.
Also let us just take a moment to be thankful Helen Mirren isn't here.
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Benicio del Toro, Sicario
Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Benicio del Toro is a wonderful curveball in a category that still won't settle itself down into any predictable shape - beyond Rylance, of course. Bale and Elba are also looking good, and BAFTA have just flung Spotlight's hopes of a male actor nomination back into the fray.
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Big Short - Adam McKay, Charles Randolph
Brooklyn - Nick Hornby
Carol - Phyllis Nagy
Room - Emma Donoghue
Steve Jobs - Aaron Sorkin
Best Original Screenplay
Bridge of Spies - Matthew Charman, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Ex Machina - Alex Garland
The Hateful Eight - Quentin Tarantino
Inside Out - Josh Cooley, Pete Doctor, Meg LeFauve
Spotlight - Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
Alex Garland (Director), Ex Machina
Debbie Tucker Green (Writer/Director), Second Coming
Naji Abu Nowar (Writer/Director), Rupert Lloyd (Producer), Theeb
Sean McAllister (Director/Producer), Elhum Shakerifar (Producer), A Syrian Love Story
Stephen Fingleton (Writer/Director), The Survivalist
Best Film Not In The English Language
The Assassin, Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Force Majeure, Ruben Östlund
Theeb, Naji Abu Nowar, Rupert Lloyd
Timbuktu, Abderrahmane Sissako
Wild Tales, Damián Szifron
Oscar frontunner Son of Saul and TFE fave Mustang are both ineligible here, as they're not released until later in the year. Theeb is the only contender here also eligible for Oscar's prize, so maybe move that one up in your predictions.
Best Documentary
Amy
Cartel Land
He Named Me Malala
Listen To Me Marlon
Sherpa
Best Animated Film
Inside Out
Minions
Shaun the Sheep Movie
Best Original Music
Bridge of Spies - Thomas Newman
The Hateful Eight - Ennio Morricone
The Revenant - Ryuichi Sakamoto, Carsten Nicolai
Sicario - Jóhann Jóhannsson
Star Wars: The Force Awakens - John Williams
Best Cinematography
Bridge of Spies - Janusz Kamiński
Carol - Ed Lachman
Mad Max: Fury Road - John Seale
The Revenant - Emmanuel Lubezki
Sicario - Roger Deakins
Best Editing
The Big Short - Hank Corwin
Bridge of Spies - Michael Kahn
Mad Max: Fury Road - Margaret Sixel
The Martian - Pietro Scalia
The Revenant - Stephen Mirrione
Best Production Design
Bridge of Spies - Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo
Carol - Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
Mad Max: Fury Road - Colin Gibson, Lisa Thompson
The Martian - Arthur Max, Celia Bobak
Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Rick Carter, Darren Gilford, Lee Sandales
Best Costume Design
Brooklyn - Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Carol - Sandy Powell
Cinderella - Sandy Powell
The Danish Girl - Paco Delgado
Mad Max: Fury Road - Jenny Beavan
Best Make Up & Hair
Brooklyn
Carol
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Best Sound
Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Special Visual Effects
Ant-Man
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best British Short Animation
Edmond - Nina Gantz, Emilie Jouffroy
Manoman - Simon Cartwright, Kamilla Kristiane Hodol
Prologue - Richard Williams, Imogen Sutton
Best British Short Film
Elephant - Nick Helm, Alex Moody, Esther Smith
Mining Poems or Odes - Callum Rice, Jack Cocker
Operator - Caroline Bartleet, Rebecca Morgan
Over - Jörn Threlfall, Jeremy Bannister
Samuel-613 - Billy Lumby, Cheyenne Conway
The EE Rising Star Award
Bel Powley
Brie Larson
Dakota Johson
John Boyega
Taron Egerton
Reader Comments (70)
OH I TOLD YA'LL NOT TO TRUST THESE SNAKES.
Carol co-leads the pack, sure, but they couldn't manage to give it correct co-lead nominations. Or Score. Or Editing.
Charlotte Rampling, an acclaimed underrated British vet, gets snubbed because BAFTA.
George Miller, of all people who got behind a camera in 2015, missed Best Director because BAFTA.
Of course Maggie Smith scores. Shocked as hell Helen Mirren didn't.
You know which film TOTALLY deserved a His + Hers pair of nominations? The Danish Girl.
Let's slobber some more over Alicia Vikander next time, please? If we're to trust these award bodies, she's practically the new Jessica Chastain~*
Never. Trust. BAFTA.
How curious. Two of last year's Best Foreign Language Film nominees at the Oscars are nominated here (Timbuktu and Wild Tales), plus another entry that was included in the 9 pre-candidates (Force Majeure).
If I hear Lawrence instead of Rampling or Mirren instead of Stewart on nomination day, I will be depressed for months! :'-(
Would it be shocking if Winslet & Blanchett won 2nd Oscars.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
The more I think about it, the more infuriated I am by this slate:
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight (nice for her, but that movie)
Rooney Mara, Carol (lead)
Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina (lead)
Julie Walters, Brooklyn (true supporting and great...but compare to HBC in Sufragette)
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs (true supporting and great**...and compare to Sarah Paulson in Carol)
**I have to subtract points for that accent issue, even if it wasn't her fault, i.e., different choices were made after they wrapped Act 1 (does anyone know if the acts were shot in sequence?) . I just watched this last night for the first time and I found her accent consistent within the acts, but there is no logical reason for her Polish accent being the least pronounced in Act 1, most in Act 2 and somewhere in between in Act 3.
THE BIG SHORT:
I liked this movie. A lot. But I'm not surprised that it's taking so many hits from commenters here, especially in this Year of the Sausagefest. If Black Mass were also in the race, I doubt there would be this much hate for TBS. As others have said, I don't think it's the "Best Picture" of the year, but I'd be hard pressed to say what I think is at this point. Son of Saul? Quite possibly. Straight Outta Compton? Hm. Carol? Needs a rewatch. Steve Jobs? Impressive. Spotlight? Verging on meh. Mad Max Fury Road? Um...don't rush me...
suzanne and rick and richter and rami -- while the blog has necessarily evolved (you have to evolve to survive) i HIGHLY doubt we're suddenly not a friendly place because i still hear from people constantly that this place is more civil than most places on the net. and i hardly think we've been "attacking" THE BIG SHORT. or that we "hate" it. I reread this article (which David wrote since he's in London and was awake when this happened) to check and he does not say one negative word about that movie.
These are strong words "attacking" "hate" "mob mentality". I don't even think it's a bad movie. just not really a great one and when things get "best" honors people (including yes me) get more critical of them.
the only movie i could really be truthfully accused of "attacking" this season is THE HATEFUL EIGHT. I'm totally guilty of that yes but i felt attacked by the movie it was so offensive. I can see why people like The Big Short and I think it's going to do well on nomination morning. I even thought on our podcast we were pretty straightforward about what our personal issues were with it versus acknowledging things that were good or interesting about it.
if anything it's what Paul stated. In a year that was so rich for women's films it just feels a little defeating that at the end of the day more manly man lots of men movies rush in to take the glory (The Big Short / The Revenant / maybe Hateful Eight)
But when i do hear things like this i feel bad and apologize if we've ever felt unwelcoming to different points of view. we try to keep an open mind and when it closes, it's best to remember to open it again.
mark - agreed and learned - never trust BAFTA.
anyone - does anyone know if LOVE & MERCY and JOY were eligible?
hayden that's a good idea. if i can find the time to research. or maybe you should, you know write it.
claran i wouldn't worry about oscar voters taking cues from BAFTA. the nominations close today so very few ballots will probably be "heavily" influenced by this since a huge chunk of ballots are already in. However i do think maybe it signals some problems... like people not really caring that Mara is fraudulently campaigned. I mean BAFTA not corrected that is weird given their history as you say.
This season is as close to a free-for-all I can recall. The number of surefire nominees in each category is diminished by crazy precursor results, category fraud, and lack of consensus. Rampling could win the Oscar or not get nominated at all. Only Leo looks close to a lock to win in the major categories.
I do not feel the words were that strong ( I only read Suzanne ) compared to some of the
Bloggers,,, I always think you are fair even in sometimes when I don't agree
I have never attacked you .. I have only attacked one person and so have many others.. I
Do not think you will respond to me But I needed to react.
But let's be really honest about category fraud here, last year did you really consider Patricia Arquette's role in "Boyhood" to be a supporting role???
As much as I liked Arquette, it did seem that she was in a bit of an unfair battle with her other nominees.
@Paul Outlaw - On reflection Vikander is more of a lead in "Ex Machina". I do wish she would have the guts to go after a lead performance spot for either TDG or EM and let the chips fall where they may. After all, Felicity Jones did so last year. And the same goes for Rooney Mara.
I do think her performance in Ex Machina is the better of the two.
My other problem, besides the category fraud, is that while her performances are very good, I don't think they are necessarily so much better than her colleagues.
If we were to look at true supporting performances, HBC (Suffragette) and Elizabeth Banks for Love & Mercy should have been getting the attention they deserve. Vikander and Mara have successfully gamed the system. And we are all poorer for the result.
This Charlotte Rampling snub really hurts. She should win that goddamn Oscar. I truly, TRULY am against category fraud in all its incarnations. But I would gladly throw Mara to the wolves in supporting if it gets Charlotte that golden naked man she so deserves.
LadyEdith, Banks gave the best supporting performance of the year and now I fear she will be snubbed. Oscar season can be so nerve-wracking. Thank goodness we have a history of surprises in the Best Supporting Actress category.
Brookesboy - You are preaching to the choir- Elizabeth Banks should have been a lock. Also, I feel Paul Dano for Supporting Actor has also been very unfairly overlooked.
Don't you agree? I mean Christian Bale is picking up nominations here and there and Paul Dano has a Golden globe nomination but no SAG, and probably no Oscar. For shame.
Baffled at the Rampling snub, but....I can take solstice in the Mirren snub. That stemmed the bleeding a little.
LadyEdith, I was previously allergic to Dano. But his performance completely captivated me. I'm still pissed at Bale from two years for committing Grand Theft Oscar. That slot belonged to Hanks, Isaac, Jordan or Redford. Don't know why, but Bale appears to reach back into that bag of ticks whenever Oscar bait is in the air. Big Short indeed. Sigh.
No, no, no, Brookesboy! (RE: Bale)
But otherwise I agree with you & LadyEdith of course ;-) particularly RE: Arquette and Rampling. Although I don't think it's Maggie Smith who nabbed her BAFTA place, but rather Vikander.
Hayden, except I think the trump in Siaorse's hand is that she's already a nominee. They've seen her already, they've nominated her already. They know it's not just a fluke. I think that gives her the edge.
If I am guilty of attacking THE BIG SHORT it's because I don't like it. I think it's bad filmmaking. That it's suddenly appeared as an Oscar frontrunner is just typical, really, but I would've been equally scornful of the film if it wasn't being nominated.
WHERE IS CHARLOTTE RAMPLING?!!
Why did The Lobster only get one nom?
What happens to Youth?
Brookesboy - 100% agreed on Bale. He went from being this incredible actor they ignored to an impressive but less creative/tic filled actor they can't get enough. Absolutely did not deserve that 2013 nomination - especially considering the men that had to step aside for him
Amid all the shock & anger, at least there was some yes-es....Julie Walters, Benicio Del Toro & CAROL CAROL CAROL!!!! Lol
I cant help but feel tt BAFTA is very "Hollywoodized" now, many o its choices were v similar to Oscar, Golden Globes & SAG. It used to give preferential treatment to their own talents over the Hollywood darlings. If it was ten yrs ago, I;m sure Rampling, Muligan, McKellen, Caine, Mirren, Bonham-Carter will all get in
But I guess its a trade-off, Guess they are "fairer" in their selection criteria now?
The last time Best Actress went to someone who wasn't a previous nominee was Bullock in 2009. The last time Best Actress went to someone who wasn't a previous nominee or a box office star was Cotillard in 2007. That trend would put Ronan ahead of Larson.
Nat
Thanks for responding!! ?