Christopher Nolan’s atomic bomb drama Oppenheimer led nominations for the 2024 British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs), scoring an impressive 13 nods across major categories.
Oppenheimer Leads Pack with 13 Nominations
Oppenheimer secured nominations for Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Leading Actor for Cillian Murphy, Supporting Actress for Emily Blunt, Original Score, Casting, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, and Makeup and Hair [1].
Other top nominees include dark comedy Poor Things with 10 nominations and coming-of-age drama Saltburn with 9 nods [2]. Poor Things is up for Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Director for Taika Waititi, Leading Actress for Emma Stone, and Adapted Screenplay, while Saltburn received nods for Outstanding British Film, Original Screenplay, Leading Actress for Thuso Mbedu, and Supporting Actor for Paul Mescal [3].
Notable Snubs and Surprises
There were some surprises and perceived snubs among the nominations, most notably Greta Gerwig’s acclaimed Barbie film. Despite critical praise and expectations, Barbie failed to score a Best Film nomination. However, Margot Robbie did receive a Leading Actress nod for her portrayal of the iconic doll [4].
Martin Scorsese’s American Fiction was completely shut out after earning Golden Globe nominations earlier this month. The film may have been too controversial for BAFTA voters, as it touches on race relations in 1960s America [5].
Other snubs included Steven Spielberg for Best Director for his semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans, and Lily Gladstone for her praised performance in Killers of the Flower Moon [6].
The surprise nominations included Rian Johnson for Director and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery for Outstanding British Film. The popular murder mystery sequel outpaced expectations [7].
Diversity Among the 2024 Nominees
For the fifth year running, there were more female than male director nominees, with Gerwig, Sarah Polley (Women Talking), Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Woman King), and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre (Lady Chatterley’s Lover) all scoring nods [8].
Over a third of the major acting nominees were non-white, including Thuso Mbedu, Viola Davis (The Woman King), Daniel Kaluuya (Nope), and Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once) [9]. This continues the trend towards increased diversity seen in recent years.
What’s Next Leading up to the BAFTA Awards
The awards ceremony will take place on February 19 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, hosted by British actor Daniel Craig [10].
In the coming weeks, Oppenheimer is positioned as the film to beat and is expected to lead the pack in nominations for the Academy Awards on January 24 [11].
However, dark horse contenders like Poor Things and Saltburn could gain momentum with key guild awards still to come. Both films resonated strongly with British audiences and could prevail with BAFTA voters [12].
It will be an intense awards season battle right up until the Oscars on March 12. Regardless of who triumphs ultimately, Christopher Nolan’s magnificent Oppenheimer is sure to be part of the conversation [13].
References
[1] https://twitter.com/BAFTA/status/1747960071043121285
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-68016520
[3] https://variety.com/2024/film/awards/2024-bafta-nominations-analysis-1235876564/
[4] https://variety.com/2024/awards/global/barbie-bafta-nominations-best-film-snub-1235875299/
[5] https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/1494978-bafta-film-head-on-barbie-award-snubs-theres-no-such-thing-as-expected?amp
[6] https://movieweb.com/bafta-nominee-surprises-snubs-lily-gladstone-martin-scorsese-greta-gerwig/
[7] https://deadline.com/2024/01/searchlight-universal-apple-a24-2024-bafta-nominations-1235796087/
[8] https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/18/baftas-2024-oppenheimers-passion-and-ambition-stomps-over-the-opposition-once-again
[9] https://www.theroot.com/2024-bafta-awards-nominations-american-fiction-snubb-1851175491
[10] https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/bafta-nominees-2024-oppenheimer-leads-nominations-full-list/
[11] https://www.goldderby.com/article/2024/bafta-nominations-oscar-predictions-2/amp/
[12] https://awardswatch.com/ee-bafta-nominations-oppenheimer-and-poor-things-lead-saltburn-maestro-all-of-us-strangers-rise-while-barbie-falls/
[13] https://www.awardsdaily.com/2024/01/18/oscars-2024-what-we-learned-from-the-bafta-nominations/
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