Barbie might have won the battle of the box office, but Oppenheimer leads the BAFTAs race – picking up 13 nods for this year’s awards.
British filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s epic, which explores the true story of the first atomic bomb, is shortlisted for gongs including best film and best director, as well as acting awards for stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr.
It is followed by the critically acclaimed Poor Things, which has 11 BAFTAnominations. Star Emma Stone, who plays a young woman resurrected from the dead with the mind of an infant, is nominated for best actress – like Murphy, she is fresh from a Golden Globe win – while the film is also in the running for best film and outstanding British film.
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Barbie, the biggest film of 2023, has five nominations, including best actress for Margot Robbie and supporting actor for Ryan Gosling, but is notably missing from the best film and director categories for filmmaker Greta Gerwig, who surprised the world with her feminist take on the world’s most famous doll when the film was released in the summer.
She receives a nod instead for best original screenplay, while the film is also shortlisted for best costume design and best production design.
Anatomy Of A Fall (seven nods), The Holdovers (seven nods) and Killers Of The Flower Moon (nine nods) make up the rest of the nominees in the best film category, while acting nominees also include Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan, for Maestro, and Robert De Niro for Killers Of The Flower Moon.
Image: Saltburn explores class, power and sex and is something of a modern take on Brideshead Revisited. Pic: MGM/Amazon Studios
British films, including All Of Us Strangers and Saltburn, have fared well, with six and five nods respectively. Saltburn has acting nods for Irish star Barry Keoghan and British actress Rosamund Pike, while Paul Mescal and Claire Foy are in the running for their performances in All Of Us Strangers.
Films shortlisted alongside Poor Things for outstanding British film include How To Have Sex, Napoleon, Wonka and Rye Lane.
First and second ever nominations for one actress
Image: Sandra Huller is nominated in two acting categories. Pic: Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP
In the acting categories, German actress Sandra Huller receives both her first and second ever nods – for best actress for Anatomy Of A Fall and best supporting actress for Zone Of Interest. She is one of 11 nominees, from 23 in total, to be shortlisted for the first time – along with Murphy for Oppenheimer.
Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple), Colman Domingo (Rustin), Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers), Jacob Elordi (Saltburn), Vivian Oparah (Rye Lane) and Teo Yoo (Past Lives) are also first-time nominees.
In the directing category, four of the six are first-time director nominees: Jonathan Glazer (The Zone Of Interest), Andrew Haigh (All Of Us Strangers), Alexander Payne (The Holdovers), and Justine Triet (Anatomy Of A Fall). They are up against Nolan and Cooper, who directed and starred in Maestro – meaning five of the six nominees are male.
‘The most talked about films of the year’
Image: Leonardo DiCaprio missed out on a nod for his performance in Killers Of The Flower Moon, but the film is up for several other awards. Pic: AppleTV+
The nominations for the Rising Star Award, which recognises up-and-coming talent and is voted for by the public, were announced ahead of the full shortlist – and feature Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor, Saltburn’s Elordi, The Bear actress Ayo Edebiri, and Mia McKenna-Bruce and Sophie Wilde – stars of the films How To Have Sex and Talk To Me respectively.
Barbie misses out – and other stars also notable by their absence
Six months after their joint release date created the Barbenheimer phenomenon and gave the box office a boost, Barbie and Oppenheimer have continued to be talked about in the same breath as nominees and winners throughout the start of awards season.
But that’s changed with today’s BAFTA nominations – Oppenheimer, about the creator of the atomic bomb, has received more than double the nods given to the smash hit about the beloved children’s toy.
But perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. There has long been a gap between the taste of cinema-goers and industry awards voters.
Barbie’s Golden Globes wins earlier this month were for best song for Billie Eilish and Finneas’s What Was I Made For?, and for cinematic and box office achievement – two categories not even recognised by BAFTA.
And Barbie won’t be the only one feeling somewhat snubbed by today’s shortlist. Killers Of The Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone, predicted to be a frontrunner for best actress at the Oscars, didn’t make the cut with BAFTA – and co-star Leonardo DiCaprio was also notable by his absence.
But the good news is that despite a tricky year for the film business, with cinema chains struggling and strikes shutting production down for months, today’s nominations showcase a range of quality films – the industry may be down, but it’s certainly not out.
BAFTA chief executive Jane Millichip said the “films and talented people nominated represent some of the most talked about films of the year, the most critically acclaimed, and films yet to be released and discovered by audiences”.
‘Our mad, special film got recognition’: Stars react to nominations
Oppenheimer star Murphy said he “couldn’t be happier” to see so many of his collaborators recognised, Nolan in particular. “Working on the film was an experience I’ll never forget,” he said.
Colman Domingo, who is nominated opposite Murphy for the best actor prize for Rustin, about the man who helped Martin Luther King Jr and others organise the 1963 March on Washington, said he was in “tremendous company”.
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Saltburn star Pike, who plays the mother of a wealthy Oxford student who invites a less privileged friend back to his family estate for the summer, said there was “something uniquely special” about a BAFTA nomination.
“It happened once before,” she said, referring to her nomination for best actress in 2015, for her performance in Gone Girl. “I thought realistically it might never happen again.”
She continued: “I am proud to be nominated in this group of varied and powerful supporting actresses. And overjoyed that Jacob and Barry and our mad, special film got recognition. Bliss Bliss Bliss.”
Molly Manning Walker, writer and director of How To Have Sex, said it was “nothing short of a dream” to be shortlisted.
Image: Mia McKenna-Bruce stars in How To Have Sex. Pic: MUBI
The film, her directorial debut, tells the story of three British teenage girls on a rites-of-passage holiday in Malia, where they find themselves navigating the complexities of sex, consent and self-discovery. “It’s hard to imagine that a year ago, when editing the film, it would take us on this incredible journey,” she said.
Poor Things star Stone, who is also a producer, released a statement along with director Yorgos Lanthimos and their fellow producers Ed Lowe and Andrew Guiney, saying they were delighted by the nominations.
“It’s particularly gratifying that BAFTA has recognised the work of our many talented UK-based heads of department across cinematography, costume design, make-up and hair, original score, production design and special visual effects,” they said.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, nominated for best supporting actress for her performance in The Holdovers, said her career started in London’s West End so to be BAFTA nominated was “truly dreamlike”.
Danielle Brooks, nominated in the same category for The Color Purple, a new musical film version of Alice Walker’s 1982 novel, said she was grateful that the story had brought her “this amazing moment”.
The winners will be announced at the BAFTAs ceremony on 18 February, with David Tennant hosting this year.
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