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