The BAFTA nods have arrived offering us a few mild surprises. Or rather, let's be fair, enough mild surprises that their lineups may well end the season feeling slightly unique to them this year which is its own reward in a way given how predictable the winners are this year. Plus, it's nice when a film has been honored everywhere to see the continually snubbed finally get an opportunity to walk the red carpet as a nominee; Congratulations Julianne Moore and Barbara Hershey!
They've also gotten solidly behind 127 Hours which has been struggling buzz-wise and with the American guilds.
BEST FILM
BLACK SWAN - Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin
INCEPTION - Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan
THE KING’S SPEECH - Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin
THE SOCIAL NETWORK - Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Céan Chaffin
TRUE GRIT - Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
127 HOURS - Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy, Christian Colson, John Smithson
ANOTHER YEAR - Mike Leigh, Georgina Lowe
FOUR LIONS - Chris Morris, Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Mark Herbert, Derrin Schlesinger
THE KING’S SPEECH - Tom Hooper, David Seidler, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin
MADE IN DAGENHAM - Nigel Cole, William Ivory, Elizabeth Karlsen, Stephen Woolley
It'll win something. Since The King's Speech is in both categories, you can assume it's going to win British Film, freeing them up to be Oscar predictive in the other. Has a film ever won both prizes from BAFTA? I'm too busy to check. *CHECK THE COMMENTS FOR VALUABLE NOTES ON THIS. Perhaps The King's Speech will obviously lose.
Surprise? Maybe you don't think True Grit is a surprise as one of only 5 nominated "best films" but I do. The Western is such an American genre
FULL LIST OF NOMINEES with commentary after the jump
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
THE ARBOR - Director, Producer - Clio Barnard, Tracy O’Riordan
EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP - Director, Producer – Banksy, Jaimie D’Cruz
FOUR LIONS - Director/Writer - Chris Morris
MONSTERS - Director/Writer – Gareth Edwards
SKELETONS - Director/Writer – Nick Whitfield
DIRECTOR
127 HOURS - Danny Boyle
BLACK SWAN - Darren Aronofsky
INCEPTION - Christopher Nolan
THE KING’S SPEECH - Tom Hooper
THE SOCIAL NETWORK - David Fincher
Surprise? Danny Boyle muscles out The Coen Bros (if you're viewing Best Film and Best Picture and Not Outstanding British Film as Best Picture. So the British snub here is the perennial wonder of Mike Leigh, one of the most important filmmakers in the world. I haven't logged any time in London but maybe he's in a Spain/Almodóvar situation wherein they feel he gets enough attention elsewhere?
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
BLACK SWAN - Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz, John McLaughlin
THE FIGHTER - Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson
INCEPTION - Christopher Nolan
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT - Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg
THE KING’S SPEECH - David Seidler
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 HOURS - Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO - Rasmus Heisterberg, Nikolaj Arcel
THE SOCIAL NETWORK - Aaron Sorkin
TOY STORY 3 - Michael Arndt
TRUE GRIT - Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
No Longer a Surprise but I have to admit continued shock that Black Swan has sailed through to Screenplay nominations left and right. I've been as obsessed as anyone and I've actually met one of the screenwriters (nice guy) but it never struck me as a "writer's film" in any of the ways in which films are sometimes regarded as such. So I remain bewildered at how nothing more typically writerly -- like Another Year or Blue Valentine or in BAFTA's particular case Four Lions has been able to muscle it out. Will it really be Oscar nominated here despite being such a plainly auteurist work? Don't they usually prefer the auteurist films in screenplay when it's a the auteur in question did the writing?
As Horrifying As Serial Killings Um... The Dragon Tattoo screenplay over Winter's Bone and Rabbit Hole? Nathaniel wept.
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
BIUTIFUL - Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jon Kilik, Fernando Bovaira
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO - Søren Stærmose, Niels Arden Oplev
I AM LOVE - Luca Guadagnino, Francesco Melzi D’Eril, Marco Morabito, Massimiliano Violante
OF GODS AND MEN - Xavier Beauvois
THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES - Mariela Besuievsky, Juan José Campanella
Well... Go I Am Love! Not that I'm under any delusion that it can win given the global phenomenon of those Scandinavian serial killer novels or the possibility that they may want to predict the Oscar (i.e. Mexico vs. France)
ANIMATED FILM
DESPICABLE ME - Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON - Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois
TOY STORY 3 - Lee Unkrich
Woe is Her. Yet another snub.Surprise I'm starting to get really worried that Despicable Me is going to be the third nominee at the Oscars. We just keep hearing the title intoned. I think those minions are as cute as anyone does but I am more concerned with whole films being honored in best film categories. I really am hoping The Illusionist or Tangled (which also got the PGA snub here ) can pull it off. Despicable is amusing but it's a little bit confusing as something that could pull #1 votes.
Or maybe you feel differently?
LEADING ACTOR
JAVIER BARDEM - Biutiful
JEFF BRIDGES - True Grit
JESSE EISENBERG - The Social Network
COLIN FIRTH - The King’s Speech
JAMES FRANCO - 127 Hours
Javier Bardem has been struggling to get traction. Does he finally have it? The Oscar actor race still feels surprisingly volatile. Will it be Duvall, Gosling or Bardem in that fifth spot?
LEADING ACTRESS
ANNETTE BENING - The Kids Are All Right
JULIANNE MOORE - The Kids Are All Right
NATALIE PORTMAN - Black Swan
NOOMI RAPACE - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
HAILEE STEINFELD - True Grit
In both actress categories the results are presumably far different than Oscar's shortlist will be. Frontrunners Portman and Bening are still there but otherwise it's a list of 5th slot hopefuls for Oscar's eventual shortlist in the form of Rapace, Steinfeld & Moore any of whom could make it IF Michelle Williams is not as strong as we presume, Manville's category confusion and lack of precursor attention doesn't signal doom, and -- this is the part we worry about -- if Nicole Kidman is snubbed for a film that just doesn't seem to be catching on despite real quality.
Time for a Poll? Methinks so, yes.
SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTIAN BALE - The Fighter
ANDREW GARFIELD - The Social Network
PETE POSTLETHWAITE - The Town
MARK RUFFALO - The Kids Are All Right
GEOFFREY RUSH - The King’s Speech
Here we see the recently departed Pete Postlethwaite (RIP) taking The Town spot usually reserved for Jeremy Renner. Bale probably has this sewn up being both British AND the Oscar frontrunner unless they want to reward Aussie Rush for shepherding The King's Speech into the world.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
AMY ADAMS - The Fighter
HELENA BONHAM CARTER - The King’s Speech
BARBARA HERSHEY - Black Swan
LESLEY MANVILLE - Another Year
MIRANDA RICHARDSON - Made in Dagenham
This is getting dangerous! All this thinking for themselves. I kid, I kid. I would have preferred to see Rosamund Pike here than Richardson for the sadly undervalued Made in Dagenham (it's really quite entertaining and the actresses are bliss) but why complain. Especially when Barbara Hershey is finally in the mix for hand feeding Natalie Portman.
Snubbed: Oscar frontrunner Melissa Leo is nowhere in evidence.
ORIGINAL MUSIC
127 HOURS - AR Rahman
ALICE IN WONDERLAND - Danny Elfman
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON - John Powell
INCEPTION - Hans Zimmer
THE KING’S SPEECH - Alexandre Desplat
Look, Danny Elfman has given us a lot of joy over the years in darkened movie houses. So much joy that we hate to diss him. People pay him homage (rip him off depending on your point of view) all the time -- hear the Catwoman theme in Dexter's gorgeously creepy main titles? -- with good reason. But ANYONE responsible for that soul-crushing (the cinema is dead!) 'funderwhacking' dance moment in Earsore in Wonderland (i.e. Burton, Elfman + Depp's dance double) should immediately be disqualified from awardage.
THAT IS WHAT YOU'RE VOTING FOR, MUSIC BRANCH. Don't force this crime upon the Oscar history books!
CINEMATOGRAPHY
127 HOURS - Anthony Dod Mantle, Enrique Chediak
BLACK SWAN - Matthew Libatique
INCEPTION - Wally Pfister
THE KING’S SPEECH - Danny Cohen
TRUE GRIT - Roger Deakins
It's the same list as the ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) but for 127 Hours shoving The Social Network out of the running. This worries me. Only one Fincher movie has ever been nominated for Best Cinematography (Benjamin Button) despite almost all of them being rich in visual language and light (or darkness as is more often the case)
EDITING
127 HOURS - Jon Harris
BLACK SWAN - Andrew Weisblum
INCEPTION - Lee Smith
THE KING’S SPEECH - Tariq Anwar
THE SOCIAL NETWORK - Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter
It's the same list as the ACE drama editing awards but for 127 Hours shoving The Fighter out. Are we sensing a pattern?
PRODUCTION DESIGN
ALICE IN WONDERLAND - Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara
BLACK SWAN - Thérèse DePrez, Tora Peterson
INCEPTION - Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Doug Mowat
THE KING’S SPEECH - Eve Stewart, Judy Farr
TRUE GRIT - Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh
COSTUME DESIGN
ALICE IN WONDERLAND - Colleen Atwood
BLACK SWAN - Amy Westcott
THE KING’S SPEECH - Jenny Beavan
MADE IN DAGENHAM - Louise Stjernsward
TRUE GRIT - Mary Zophres
Made in Dagenham. Costumes by Louise Stjernsward
I'm so hoping Made in Dagenham can pull out an Oscar nomination here but I'm worried. You never know with the costume branch, particularly when it comes to designers who haven't ever been nominated before in films that aren't gaining traction elsewhere.
SOUND
127 HOURS - Glenn Freemantle, Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Steven C Laneri, Douglas Cameron
BLACK SWAN - Ken Ishii, Craig Henighan, Dominick Tavella
INCEPTION - Richard King, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A Rizzo, Ed Novick
THE KING’S SPEECH - John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Paul Hamblin
TRUE GRIT - Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, Peter F Kurland, Douglas Axtell
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
ALICE IN WONDERLAND - Nominees TBC
BLACK SWAN - Dan Schrecker
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1 - Tim Burke, John Richardson, Nicolas Ait'Hadi, Christian Manz
INCEPTION - Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Peter Bebb
TOY STORY 3 - Nominees TBC
MAKE UP & HAIR
ALICE IN WONDERLAND - Nominees TBC
BLACK SWAN - Judy Chin, Geordie Sheffer
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1 - Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
THE KING’S SPEECH - Frances Hannon
MADE IN DAGENHAM - Lizzie Yianni Georgiou
This is the one category in which I often prefer BAFTA to Oscar. They do tend to vote on Makeup AND hair, which is technically how it should work (even under Oscar's rules --- provided wigs are involved). Note that Black Swan is here as well it should be. Oscar didn't even deem it worthy of a finalist spot.
SHORT ANIMATION
THE EAGLEMAN STAG - Michael Please
MATTER FISHER - David Prosser
THURSDAY - Matthias Hoegg
SHORT FILM
CONNECT - Samuel Abrahams, Beau Gordon
LIN - Piers Thompson, Simon Hessel
RITE - Michael Pearce, Ross McKenzie, Paul Welch
TURNING - Karni Arieli, Saul Freed, Alison Sterling, Kat Armour-Brown
UNTIL THE RIVER RUNS RED - Paul Wright, Poss Kondeatis
ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING AWARD
GEMMA ARTERTON
ANDREW GARFIELD
TOM HARDY
AARON JOHNSON
EMMA STONE
Arterton, Garfield, Hardy, Johnson, Stone
That's a pretty group of new stars there but the public gets to vote on this award which we don't really condone (that's what box office is for and you see weekly how badly the citizens of the world screw that up! But anyway: WHO WOULD YOU VOTE FOR?