BAFTA's 2017 Rising Star Nominees
Friday, January 5, 2018 at 8:00AM Chris here. This year has had so many breakthrough performances that you'd be hard pressed to whittle it down to five performers, but such is the pain of awards season. And yet one of the season's biggest prizes for new talents, BAFTA's Rising Star award, has just announced its five contenders for 2017 honors: Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth), Josh O'Connor (God's Own Country), Tessa Thompson (Thor Ragnarok), and Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird).
This makes for a stellar lineup of headliners of Best Picture contenders in Chalamet and Kaluuya, indie darlings with Pugh and O'Connor, and the big budget superhero badassery of Thompson. The latter actress is a bit of a headscratcher here considering she's been a ferocious talent for years (and in lead roles!) in the likes of Dear White People and Creed, but we love her so much that we'll accept her placement if only to see her getting the love she deserves. This prize has been a boys club of late so my money is rooting for Pugh, such an emergent and invigorating new talent in the taxing Lady Macbeth.
Now you'd have to go back to Kristen Stewart's 2010 win to find a non-Brit winner of this prize, so consider this a statistical leg up for Pugh, O'Connor, and Kaluuya. But the past two winners (Tom Holland and John Boyega) also had the visibility of franchise weight behind them - could that spell some strong chances for Thor's Thompson? Or is this just another in a string of breakthrough prizes for Chalamet?
The full BAFTA nominees will be announced on Jan. 9!
Reader Comments (19)
She won't win because this award is reserved mostly to British actors, but Tessa Thompson would be a worthy winner. Daniel Kaluuya will win and he's a solid actor so it would be deserving.
Funny, it seems to me like Chalamet would be the slam-dunk winner.
This is one of my favorite awards because it is a Bafta that recognizes those actors and actresses who see as having a great future in the world of acting. Although I am not very in agreement with which the winner is chosen by votes of the public since usually this benefits the one that is in the most popular movie.
In case anyone is interested here are the winners with the nominees in this category in previous years (it was awarded for the first time in 2006)
2006: James McAvoy
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Gael García Bernal, Rachel McAdams, Michelle Williams
2007: Eva Green
Emily Blunt, Naomie Harris, Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw
2008: Shia LaBeouf
Sienna Miller, Ellen Page, Sam Riley, Tang Wei
2009: Noel Clarke
Michael Cera, Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Hall, Toby Kebbell
2010: Kristen Stewart
Jesse Eisenberg, Nicholas Hoult, Carey Mulligan, Tahar Rahim
2011: Tom Hardy
Gemma Arterton, Andrew Garfield, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Stone
2012: Adam Deacon
Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Chris O'Dowd, Eddie Redmayne
2013: Juno Temple
Elizabeth Olsen, Andrea Riseborough, Suraj Sharma, Alicia Vikander
2014: Will Poulter
Dane DeHaan, George MacKay, Lupita Nyong'o, Léa Seydoux
2015: Jack O'Connell
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Margot Robbie, Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley
2016: John Boyega
Taron Egerton, Dakota Johnson, Brie Larson, Bel Powley
2017: Tom Holland
Laia Costa, Lucas Hedges,Ruth Negga, Anya Taylor-Joy
Sad tt Harris DIckinson fr Beach Rats missed the cut...He's a fellow Brit no less!!
If Pugh get nom in Bafta Best Actress (which seems likely), she might win this as a conso (McDormand or Ronan shld be taking best actress at Bafta), but then Kuluuya n Chalamet look like likely best actor nominees too...
I wld said its a 3-way race between these three...dunno how the UK public (the voters) takes to each o them
Kaluuya Love is a head scratcher. I LOVED Get Out but did not remember loving him as much as other cast members (Betty woulda been a worthy nominee here, no?).
I have to rewatch though
Tessa Thompson?! She’s been on my radar since 2010’s For Colored Girls.
@Huh - I think the love for Kaluuya is because he can cry (and he's good in the movie - but I agree that it isn't a revelation). Dudes who can cry (see, for example, George Clooney in The Descendants) get some love. The poster, the tears, the Hitchcock references, the box office, the marketing. It's all there for some love.
Thompson feels like a stretch here-she's been in films for a while, and felt like a "name" at least by Creed & Selma. Substitute her for Dickinson, who had a true breakthrough, and this is a pretty much perfect list, and arguably a better one than most awards groups will come up with in any lineup.
This award is voted by the public. With that in mind, I think it's Kaluuya's. The most well known amongst the nominees in Britain, having started his career in Skins, which was massive here.
If it wasn't awarded by the public, it would be Chalamet's, as a make up BAFTA for Oldman winning Best Actor.
Boyega's win is so undeserved. If anyone needed to be nominated for The Force Awakens, it had to be Daisy Ridley, not him.
Who on earth are noel clarke and adam deacon? Lmao
This is Kaluuya's to lose, his only deserving nom of the year imo.
I guess my actressexuality is coming out, because I am so rooting for Florence Pugh! She deserves to be more in the Best Actress conversation for her brilliant turn in Lady Macbeth, even if she did win a well-deserved BIFA!
Kaluuya and Chalamet are great, but they have been so much more in the thick of awards season this year (especially Chalamet).
I love Tessa Thompson but her inclusion is ridiculous - she's already established -- already risen!
Noel Clarke and Adam Deacon are both actors who started in British television, hence them being well known and winning. This is Kaluuya's.
Florence Pugh pleaaaaaseeee!!!! I still dream about her getting a surprise Oscar nom for Lady Macbeth... just like I said it was a dream. Some dreams just come true, so... xD
Kaluuya pretty much carried get out. His crying scene was great, but that wasn't the only great thing about him in that movie.
That being said he and chalamet don't need this award as they're getting recognition. Tessa being in this category is lol. Basically this category feels eh at best at the moment
All five would be worthy winners and will likely have strong careers. Great category.
Re-watched Get Out the other day, and Kaluuya is brilliant perfection in it. Every jitter, every guarded smile, every sarcastic, wary glance that's shared with the audience without breaking the fourth wall, and then, of course, that wide-eyed stare that instantly made him into a horror icon. I can't imagine Get Out being effective as it is without him. He also lends moments of genuine pathos.
Am really surprised that Barry Keoghan from Dunkirk and Killing of a Sacred Deer didn't get in, however.