BAFTA Winners

BAFTA came and went with the almost all of the Oscar frontrunners crowned. The only real surprise was Parasite taking Best Original Screenplay rather than a Tarantino victory though that shouldn't be a surprise given the Korean hits ingenious construction and terrific dialogue. After the jump the winners list in some speeches...

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BAFTA lacks diversity (in all sorts of ways) and goes all in on "Joker"

by Nathaniel R

I've made it no secret over the years that I think BAFTA is the worst of the major awards organizations. They always appear to have watched an extremely limited pool of films (even less than Oscar's tunnel vision screener stack) and they regularly ignore British fare unless it's tipped to be hot at the Oscars (like 1917). This year is no different. They threw all their weight behind Joker (an astounding 11 nominations) and three of the films which feel like possibilities to win the Oscar for Best Picture: The Irishman, Once Upon a Time..., and 1917 (their one UK-produced love). Those four movies handily dominated the nomination count.

We also have to call bulls*** on BAFTA executives blaming the film industry for their lack of diverse nominations this year. Their acting nominees are all white this year and their directing nominees all male. They've responded saying:

"We'd have liked to have seen more diversity in the nominations, it does continue to be an industry-wide issue. I think more films need to be made, and entered, giving people a chance to see them. We'd absolutely like to see more diversity, but I also don't want to take away from those celebrating today."

As you all know, since I've been chastised for it before, I'm not always happy about where the complaints about diversity are focused. In some years the Oscar voters have been (I feel) wrongly targeted when there just weren't a lot of options for them. This year however there is no excuse as there are multiple lauded actors of color from films like Us, Dolemite is My Name, Waves, The Farewell, Luce, Harriet, Hustlers, and Parasite. And it's also been a great year for female directors given Little Women, Hustlers, Atlantics,A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, and The Farewell.

The full list of nominations with commentary are after the jump...

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David Rubin elected President of AMPAS

Casting director David Rubin has been elected the new President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. It's a prestigious position but not without dozens upon dozens of high-profile headaches. Nobody is ever pleased with the Oscars which we've always taken as a sign of their continued relevance; people wouldn't constantly be complaining about the institution if they didn't care about it! 

This will mark the first time a Casting Director has ever served as AMPAS president. The news of Rubin's election came in the same 24 hours that BAFTA announced that they would be adding a Casting category to their awards which begs the following oft asked question... Is there ever going to be an Oscar category for Achievement in Casting?

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Interview: Screenwriter Deborah Davis on her 20 year passion project "The Favourite"

by Nathaniel R

Deborah Davis, first time screenwriter, is up for an Oscar this weekendDeborah Davis recently took home the BAFTA for her work on the screenplay to Yorgos Lanthimos's stunning tragicomedy and Best Picture hopeful The Favourite. Though Lanthimos has previously co-written his own features this time was attached to a project already in progress. Davis and cowriter Tony McNamara than retooled the screenplay to match Lanthimos's vision. The results were magic, as has long since become obvious.

Before the hardware started arriving we hopped on a cross Atlantic phone call with Deborah Davis briefly. We couldn't find much info about her at the time and were reeling from the realization that the dearth of info came from the fact that The Favourite was her very first movie. As it turns out she became a screenwriter specifically to tell this story. And what a story it is.

Our interview, edited for length and clarity follows...

NATHANIEL: I'm still gobsmacked that this is a first screenplay!

DEBORAH DAVIS: That’s correct, yes. By training I'm a lawyer, but I’ve done quite a lot of journalism. I started to research The Favourite 20 years ago, and I was actually convinced that this story about women in power and the female triangle would make a wonderful film, so I went and learned how to write a script...

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Red Carpet Lineup: The 20 Best BAFTA Looks

"Great gowns. Beautiful gowns
          -Aretha Franklin

Let's talk BAFTA glamour, the last major movie awards show prior to the Oscars. Who turned it out? We picked these 20, in roughly ascending order, as the best looks. What'cha think?

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