BAFTA only has eyes for "Oppenheimer, "Poor Things," and "The Zone of Interest"

by Nathaniel R

The Great Samantha Morton receives a BAFTA Fellowship

The last chance for "upsets" this awards season, is SAG next weekend. The BAFTAs came and went with the usual suspects taking just the prizes you'd expect them, too. Which is not to say there weren't any arguable surprises... albeit in lower profile categories. A complete list of winners and nominees are after the jump...

BEST FILM

• Anatomy of a Fall
• The Holdovers
• Killers of the Flower Moon
• ★ Oppenheimer
• Poor Things 

Chris Nolan's science thriller / biopic is a slam dunk to take the Oscar, too. It's hard enough to beat something that reeks of prestige and perfect timing for a lauded underawarded director but add in the blockbuster box office and you have a lock for the whole awards season.

BRITISH FILM

• All of Us Strangers
• How to Have Sex
• Napoleon
• The Old Oak
• Poor Things
• Rye Lane
• Saltburn
• Scrapper
• Wonka
• ★ The Zone of Interest

Despite Poor Things appearing on both lists, it lost this prize to The Zone of Interest -- a slight but not major surprise.

LEAD ACTRESS

• Fantasia Barrino - The Color Purple
• Sandra Hüller - Anatomy of a Fall
• Carey Mulligan - Maestro
• Vivian Oparah - Rye Lane
• Margot Robbie - Barbie
• ★ Emma Stone - Poor Things

It's surely between Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone for the Oscar. Since Lily was left out here Stone only had to fend off everyone's favourite dark horse this season, Sandra Hüller. 

LEAD ACTOR 

• Bradley Cooper - Maestro
• Colman Domingo - Rustin
• Paul Giamatti - The Holdovers
• Barry Keoghan - Saltburn
• ★ Cillian Murphy - Oppenheimer
• Teo Yoo - Past Lives 

Around Golden Globe time it looked like Paul Giamatti and Cillian Murphy were running neck-and-neck for the Oscar. Is that still the case or will Oscar revert to their time-honored statistic of loving to pair Best Picture with a Best Actor prize ?  

SUPPORTING ACTRESS 

• Emily Blunt - Oppenheimer
• Danielle Brooks - The Color Purple
• Claire Foy - All of Us Strangers
• Sandra Hüller - The Zone of Interest
• Rosamund Pike - Saltburn
• ★ Da'Vine Joy Randolph - The Holdovers

Da'Vine Joy has basically swept the season. She has a slightly different competitive set at the Oscars but it won't matter. People love the person AND, as we've seen all throughout Oscar history, the supporting categories are a place voters often reward films that they really love that have little chance of winning elsewhere.

SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Robert De Niro - Killers of the Flower Moon
• ★ Robert Downey Jr - Oppenheimer
• Jacob Elordi - Saltburn
• Ryan Gosling - Barbie
• Paul Mescal - All of Us Strangers
• Dominic Sessa - The Holdovers 

Someday, ten years from now, people might wonder why Robert Downey Jr had such an easy cakewalk to the Oscar ... but award seasons are like that, aren't they?

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH, WRITER, DIRECTOR, OR PRODUCER

• Blue Bag Life -Lisa Selby (Director), Rebecca Lloyd-Evans (Director, Producer), Alex Fry (Producer)
• Bobi Wine: The People's President - Christopher Sharp (Director)
• ★  Earth Mama -Savanah Leaf (Writer, Director, Producer), Shirley O'Connor (Producer), Medb Riordan (Producer)
• How to Have Sex - Molly Manning Walker (Writer, Director)
• Is There Anybody Out There? - Ella Glendining (Director) 

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 

• 20 Days in Mariupol
• Anatomy of a Fall
• Past Lives
• Society of the Snow
• ★ The Zone of Interest

The Zone of Interest pulls off a double win for British Film and Film Not in the English Language. 

DOCUMENTARY

• ★ 20 Days in Mariupol
• American Symphony
• Beyond Utopia
• Still: A MIchael J Fox Movie
• Wham!

Only one of these is also nominated at the Oscars, and that's the winner. 

ANIMATED FILM 

• ★ The Boy and the Heron
• Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
• Elemental
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Miyazaki is headed for his second Oscar. That did not seem a foregone conclusion much earlier in the year when people still thought Across the Spider-Verse could appear in Best Picture. Remember that? The wind totally went out of those sails but this is fine. The original Spider-Verse already took the Oscar and the BAFTA and there's still a third installment coming. 

DIRECTOR 

• Bradley Cooper - Maestro
• Jonathan Glazer - The Zone of Interest
• Andrew Haigh - All of Us Strangers
• ★ Chris Nolan - Oppenheimer
• Alexander Payne - The Holdovers
• Justine Triet - Anatomy of a Fall

It's easy to believe that Chris Nolan had not suffered the same fate in his home country as he had at the Oscars previously. But he had. This is his first win at BAFTA though he's been nominated for his direction ever so slightly more at the BAFTAs than at the Oscars (thrice versus twice). 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• ★  Anatomy of a Fall
• Barbie
• The Holdovers
• Maestro
• Past Lives

Anatomy of a Fall just keeps winning screenplay prizes. Is Oscar next for Justine Triet or will The Holdovers or Past Lives manage an upset? 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• All of Us Strangers
• ★ American Fiction
• Oppenheimer
• Poor Things
• The Zone of Interest

In an interesting twist -- the only major twist at the BAFTAs -- they gave this prize to American Fiction even though they otherwise didn't love the film (this was its only nomination) and their three favourites Oppenheimer (seven prizes), Poor Things (five prizes) and The Zone of Interest (three prizes) were all on the ballot)

CASTING 

• All of Us Strangers - Kahleen Crawford
• Anatomy of a Fall - Cynthia Arra
• ★ The Holdovers - Susan Shopmaker
• How to Have Sex - Isabella Odoffin
• Killers of the Flower Moon - Ellen Lewis, Rene Haynes

Even though we're absolutely certain the Academy would have terrible nominations in a Casting category, it's silly that they don't have one. 

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Killers of the Flower Moon - Rodrigo Prieto
• Maestro - Matthew Libatique
• ★ Oppenheimer - Hoyte Van Hoytema
• Poor Things - Robbie Ryan
• The Zone of Interest - Lukasz Zal 

It's the ASC list with the exception of The Zone of Interest taking the 'art film' slot that went to El Conde in the Guild's parallel let. I could see BAFTA's list easily translating to Oscar but you never know and there are definitely several worthy candidates. 

EDITING

• Anatomy of a Fall - Laurent Senechal
• Killers of the Flower Moon - Thelma Schoonmaker
• ★  Oppenheimer - Jennifer Lame
• Poor Things - Yogros Mavropsaridis
• The Zone of Interest - Paul Watts

COSTUME DESIGN 

• Barbie -Jacqueline Durran
• Killers of the Flower Moon - Jacqueline West
• Napoleon - Dave Crossman, Janty Yates
• Oppenheimer - Ellen Mirojnick
• ★  Poor Things - Holly Waddington

We suspected Barbie would be weak at the BAFTAs given its relatively low nomination count but this does make us wonder if it could lose the Oscars everyone expected it to win (Costume / Production Design) on Oscar night.

MAKEUP AND HAIR 

• Killers of the Flower Moon
• Maestro
• Napoleon
• Oppenheimer
• ★ Poor Things

ORIGINAL SCORE 

• Killers of the Flower Moon
• ★ Oppenheimer
• Poor Things
• Saltburn
• Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse

PRODUCTION DESIGN 

• Barbie - Sarah Greenwood & Katie Spencer
• Killers of the Flower Moon - Jack Fisk & Adam WIllis
• Oppenheimer - Ruth De Jong & Claire Kaufman
• ★ Poor Things - Shona Heath, James Prices, Zsuzsa Mihalek
• The Zone of Interest - Chris Oddy, Joanna Maria Kus, Katarzyna Sikora

SOUND

• Ferrari
• Maestro
• Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
• Oppenheimer
• ★  The Zone of Interest 

We couldn't be happier about this win. It's so unusual for Sound Design rather than Flashy Soundscape to win prizes. 

VISUAL EFFECTS

• The Creator
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3
• Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
• Napoleon
• ★ Poor Things 

They really loved Poor Things! 

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION

• ★ Crab Day
• Visible Mending
• Wild Summon

BRITISH SHORT FILM

• Festival of Slaps
• Gorka
• ★  Jellyfish and Lobster
• Such a Lovely Day
• Yellow 

EE RISING STAR AWARD 

• Phoebe Dynevor
• Ayo Edebiri
• Jacob Elordi
• ★  Mia McKenna-Bruce
• Sophie Wilde

The actor we're least familiar with here won in this public voting prize. How to Have Sex has yet to open in the US. 

Did you watch BAFTA this year? It's the only major awards show we routinely skip since tape-delay feels so antithetical to the very essence of awards shows. But there's always the speeches to enjoy and one-offs like this performance of 'Murder on the Dancefloor' -- the Aughts hit is having a mini-revival via Saltburn. 

Comments

[cal roth]

"Someday, ten years from now, people might wonder why Robert Downey Jr had such an easy cakewalk to the Oscar ... but award seasons are like that, aren't they?""

He's loved. He had in the bag the moment a nomination for a respectable film happened (Tropic Thunder doesn't count). Think John Goodman, for example, in the future, or Alison Janney, in the past.

(I loathe the performance, by the way)

[Wae Mest]

Go figure, the year when the Oscar-baity biopic performance actually deserves to win, it doesn't (Cooper). Sad.

OPPENHEIMER will be the fourth-ever Best Picture winner with a Best Actor/Supporting Actor duo, and the first since BEN-HUR. Wow!

[Wae Mest]

Best Supporting Actor: RDJ
Best Supporting Actress: DJR

LOL!

[Lucky]

"Someday, ten years from now, people might wonder why Robert Downey Jr had such an easy cakewalk to the Oscar ... but award seasons are like that, aren't they?"

I don't think we'll have to wait that long.

[Richter Scale]

"Someday, ten years from now, people might wonder why Robert Downey Jr had such an easy cakewalk to the Oscar ... but award seasons are like that, aren't they?"

OR... maybe other people see something in that performance that you don't see and in ten years it will make sense to them that he won the Oscar...

[par]

you'd really think da'vine would've had enough practice collecting prizes by now she could ditch the notes

[Mr Ripley79]

Actor i'd say Murphy edged out in front by a margin,his other advantage you didn't mention is he's playing a famous person,real usually wins over original but not always.

I feel now Stone is winning her 2nd,the heat around KOTFM has died and Bafta showed us what films are liked across the board.

I have viewed RDJ's scenes again to see what he was really up to and I have to say apart from the overplayed scene near the end the Oscar clip scene he's very good elsewhere though as per me I kept thinking of Edward Norton in the role.

Da'Vine wins in cakewalk unless Ferrara or Blunt give us a Binoche type shock though I wish Pike was nominated and winning,Foster's my pick out of Oscars 5.

[Michael R]

RDJ ought to refrain from calling his work in Oppenheimer "restrained "...

[Michael R]

Let's hope for some surprises at SAG. Maybe a shocking win for Foster or Cooper.

[Frank Zappa]

you'd really think da'vine would've had enough practice collecting prizes by now she could ditch the notes

For real. Maybe she's superstotious, but it's tiresome at this point. Write something and memorize it over the next three weeks, please!

[charlea]

It’s almost nauseating that we are heading towards 3 of 4 acting winners winning ALL the televised awards (and the 4th one nearly sweeping). It makes no sense. None of them are anywhere NEAR “one of the greatest performances ever” that justifies rubber stamping. I admit Emma Stone is close though because that is a brave performance. But as good as RDJ is, this isn’t an all timer performance. And Da’Vine is just…not good. If we rank the performances that won all the televised awards, Da’Vine should probably be ranked down at the bottom in between both of Renee Zellweger’s gross sweeps. Why are we celebrating mediocrity??

[Amy Camus]

"Someday, ten years from now, people might wonder why Da'Vine Joy Randolph had such an easy cakewalk to the Oscar ... but award seasons are like that, aren't they?"

There. Fixed it.

[Fabio Dantas Flappers]

"Let's hope for some surprises at SAG. Maybe a shocking win for Foster or Cooper."

Michael R,
Cooper and Bening would be the best surprises at SAG.
And I REALLY believe it's possible.

[lemonzestysour1]

Over this season lol

Can we just carry on with the film bitch awards! 😂

[Tony L]

I second lemonzestysour1!!! Haha 😆

[Gallavich]

I know that probably nobody care about this category but I would talk about best animated picture. The Boy and The heron is my favorite movie of the year and of course I'm happy for the honors it's receiving. But I also think that Miyazaki doesn't care at all about all this, so maybe it would be right to give the Oscar to someone else at this point? Someone who really would care to win?

I don't understand the complaining about Robert Downey Jr. He is wonderful in Oppenheimer. What's wrong? After years of Iron Man finally we had back the great actor that is.

[ScottC]

Oh, Samantha Morton. So good in so many different types of things - Sweet and Lowdown, Morvern Callar, Synechdoche, Cosmopolis - I know she's been busy on tv for much of the last decade, but I wish she'd get a notable film lead.

RDJ wouldn't get my vote, but I understand it being his moment now. I don't think we need to wait 10 years to understand that.

Crossing my fingers for Murphy to win, but that really interesting bit of Ben Hur trivia has me concerned.

[DK]

As a millennial, it blows my mind that my generation is likely (more likely than not) to produce a two-time Best Actress winner this year. We’re getting old!

[Philip H.]

ScottC -- What Ben Hur trivia?

[Robert G]

I'm greedy. I want to see American Fiction win SOMETHING at the Oscars so the film isn't forgotten. It's so good, but it's so easy for writers writing about writing films to get lost to time.

[Joe G.]

I love that Samantha Morton won the fellowship. She's such a great talent. Her recent turn in She Said was Oscar-worthy, and made me miss the academy of the 70s that would nominate one or two scene wonders (Jane Alexander and Beatrice Straight).

I'm really happy Cillian won here. I might be wrong, but I just don't see a path for him to win the Oscar. It would be an odd win for the category. The category typically goes for veterans, A-listers, and up and comers. Occasionally they'll go for a beloved character actor. But Murphy isn't really any of those. His win would be more like Dujardin's, but even then I think the Artist had a more aggressive campaign with the lead actor as the only winner.

[Bimboy Rose]

Is Samantha Morton the youngest BAFTA Fellowship recipient? She's only 46

[Bimboy Rose]

So Steven Spielberg was only 39 when he received his BAFTA Fellowship in 1986.

[Ad_Mil]

I watched the BAFTAs. Good choices overall, but darn was it a tiresome ceremony. An hour was devoted to two fellowships, the musical performance and the in memoriam section, so then they had to cram all the awards speeches into another hour, skipping all the crafts.

I hope Poor Things repeats in every category at the Oscars plus Adapted Screenplay and Paul Giamatti wins his very deserved award.

[charlea]

Thank God Ariana Debose was kept far far away from this year’s ceremony.