Oppenheimer eclipsing Barbie, Poor Things on the rise, and some notable snubs. Here's everything you need to know about this year's BAFTA nominations.
ADVERTISEMENTThe nominations for the 77th BAFTAs (British Academy Film Awards) have been announced today – scroll down to read the full list of nominees.
This year’s ceremony will be hosted by David Tennant for the first time, and is set to take place at London’s Royal Festival Hall in the Southbank Centre on 18 February.
Here are the five key takeaways.
Oppenheimer eclipses Barbie
Remember when it was Barbenheimer? It might have to be Oppenheimie from now on, as awards season so far has not been too favourable to Barbie compared to its portmanteau partner.
While Barbie might have won the battle of the box office, the BAFTAs once again confirm the trend of Christopher Nolan’s three-hour epic making a break for it, and positioning itself as the Oscar frontrunner to beat come March.
Oppenheimer is the most nominated film, with 13 nods, including Best Film and Best Director – two categories that Barbie missed out on.
Barbie lags behind, as the film tallies only 5 nominations (alongside the cult-film-in-the-making Saltburn), including Leading Actress for Margot Robbie, and Supporting Actor for Ryan Gosling.
Nolan, 53, has been nominated eight times for previous films, including Inception and Dunkirk, but has yet to win a BAFTA. Or an Oscar, for that matter.
Considering Oppenheimer has already won eight Critics Choice Awards and five Golden Globes, you can bet 2024 will be his year – and that the Academy Award shortlists, announced next Tuesday, will see the film lead across the pond.
Nolan’s film also scored nominations for Best Actor (Cillian Murphy), Supporting Actress (Emily Blunt), Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr), Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography.
Poor Things on the rise
Whereas the Barbie buzz has slowed down, Yorgos Lanthimos’ brilliant Poor Things is gaining momentum and came in second place for BAFTA noms.
The gothic / steampunk fantasia, which won the Golden Lion at last year’s Venice Film Festival, scored 11 nominations, including Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Adapted Screenplay and Leading Actress – a category for which Emma Stone is the clear frontrunner.
The film won seven Golden Globes earlier this month, including Stone’s win for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical – and it’s one of this young year’s unmissable films.
Shame about Stone’s co-stars Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe, who were not mentioned, but it’s hard to be upset about 11 nods.
Elsewhere, Killers of the Flower Moon and The Zone of Interest both have nine nods, with Jonathan Glazer’s harrowing Holocaust drama also nominated for Outstanding British film and Film Not In The English Language.
The German-language film follows the life of a Nazi commandant who lives with his family on the other side of the Auschwitz concentration camp wall. Glazer’s radically experimental drama is one of our favourites and deserves not to go home empty handed like it did at the Golden Globes.
Stay tuned for our full review, as The Zone of Interest is our Film of the Week this week – and has already made its mark on our Top European Films of the 21st Century.
Anatomy of a win?
Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winning film, Anatomy of a Fall, did well, securing not only seven nominations but a coveted spot in the Best Director category.
ADVERTISEMENTIndeed, while Barbie ’s Greta Gerwig or Past Lives ' Celine Song failed to make the shortlist for Best Director, Triet is the only female inclusion.
Last year, only one woman was among the director nominees, down from three in 2022 and four in 2021 – the first year after Bafta introduced radical backstage changes to try to improve inclusivity in the wake of the #BaftasSoWhite backlash of 2020.
Triet is nominated alongside Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers), Alexander Payne (The Holdovers), Bradley Cooper (Maestro), Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer) and Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest) in the directing category.
Speaking of directors...
Hooray for the first-timers
In the directing category, four of the six are first-time director nominees: Andrew Haigh, Alexander Payne, Jonathan Glazer, and Justine Triet. So that’s refreshing.
ADVERTISEMENTAnother notable first-timer is German actress Sandra Hüller, the undisputed European star of 2023, who has received both her first and second ever BAFTA nods – for Leading Actress (Anatomy Of A Fall) and Supporting Actress (The Zone Of Interest).
She is one of 11 nominees, from 23 in total, to be shortlisted for the first time – the most surprising being Cillian Murphy.
Check out our interview with Sandra Hüller, who talked to Euronews Culture about both her roles in Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest - as well as the possibility of adding further awards to her cabinet chest.
Snubs
There are a few notable absences in this year's nominations, primarily for Killers of the Flower Moon.
Even if the film received nine nominations, director Martin Scorsese, lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio and lead actress Lily Gladstone failed to make the cut. Gladstone previously won the Golden Globe for Best Actress, making her the first indigenous actress to win the award.
ADVERTISEMENTAnother snub came in the shape of the British film One Life, which stars Sir Anthony Hopkins as a stockbroker who helped save 669 children from the Nazis in World War Two. The film failed to be nominated, even if many thought that it was a shoo-in.
Meanwhile, the Leading Actor and Supporting Actor categories feature no male British actors this year, a first since 1976 - which can’t feel too great. Still, at least the Irish are there to show the Brits how it’s done, as Cillian Murphy and Barry Keoghan have been nominated for Leading Actor in Oppenheimer and Saltburn respectively.
Lastly, May December, Todd Haynes’ multilayered drama starring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman, surprisingly failed to secure a single nomination. It really should have.
The 2024 nominees are:
Best film
- Anatomy of a Fall
- The Holdovers
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Oppenheimer
- Poor Things
Outstanding British film
ADVERTISEMENT- All of Us Strangers
- How To Have Sex
- Napoleon
- The Old Oak
- Poor Things
- Rye Lane
- Saltburn
- Scrapper
- Wonka
- The Zone of Interest
Leading actress
- Fantasia Barrino - The Color Purple
- Sandra Hüller - Anatomy of a Fall
- Carey Mulligan - Maestro
- Vivian Oparah - Rye Lane
- Margot Robbie - Barbie
- Emma Stone - Poor Things
Leading actor
- Bradley Cooper - Maestro
- Colman Domingo - Rustin
- Paul Giamatti - The Holdovers
- Barry Keoghan - Saltburn
- Cillian Murphy - Oppenheimer
- Teo Yoo - Past Lives
Supporting actress
- Emily Blunt - Oppenheimer
- Danielle Brooks - The Color Purple
- Claire Foy - All of Us Strangers
- Sandra Hüller - The Zone of Interest
- Rosamund Pike - Saltburn
- Da'Vine Joy Randolph - The Holdovers
Supporting actor
- Robert De Niro - Killers of the Flower Moon
- Robert Downey Jr - Oppenheimer
- Jacob Elordi - Saltburn
- Ryan Gosling - Barbie
- Paul Mescal - All of Us Strangers
- Dominic Sessa - The Holdovers
Director
ADVERTISEMENT- All of Us Strangers - Andrew Haigh
- Anatomy of a Fall - Justine Triet
- The Holdovers - Alexander Payne
- Maestro - Bradley Cooper
- Oppenheimer - Christopher Nolan
- The Zone of Interest - Jonathan Glazer
Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
- Blue Bag Life
- Bobi Wine: The People's President
- Earth Mama
- How To Have Sex
- Is There Anybody Out There?
Film not in the English language
- 20 Days In Mariupol
- Anatomy of a Fall
- Past Lives
- Society of the Snow
- The Zone of Interest
Documentary
- 20 Days In Mariupol
- American Symphony
- Beyond Utopia
- Still: A Michael J Fox Movie
- Wham!
Animated film
- The Boy and the Heron
- Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
- Elemental
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Original screenplay
ADVERTISEMENT- Anatomy of a Fall
- Barbie
- The Holdovers
- Maestro
- Past Lives
Adapted screenplay
- All of Us Strangers
- American Fiction
- Oppenheimer
- Poor Things
- The Zone of Interest
EE Bafta rising star award (voted for by the public)
- Phoebe Dynevor
- Ayo Edebiri
- Jacob Elordi
- Mia Mckenna-Bruce
- Sophie Wilde
Original score
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Oppenheimer
- Poor Things
- Saltburn
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Casting
- All of Us Strangers
- Anatomy of a Fall
- The Holdovers
- How To Have Sex
- Killers of the Flower Moon
Cinematography
ADVERTISEMENT- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Maestro
- Oppenheimer
- Poor Things
- The Zone of Interest
Costume design
- Barbie
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Napoleon
- Oppenheimer
- Poor Things
Editing
- Anatomy of a Fall
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Oppenheimer
- Poor Things
- The Zone of Interest
Production design
- Barbie
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Oppenheimer
- Poor Things
- The Zone of Interest
Make-up and hair
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Maestro
- Napoleon
- Oppenheimer
- Poor Things
Sound
ADVERTISEMENT- Ferrari
- Maestro
- Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
- Oppenheimer
- The Zone of Interest
Special visual effects
- The Creator
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3
- Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
- Napoleon
- Poor Things
British short film
- Festival of Slaps
- Gorka
- Jellyfish and Lobster
- Such a Lovely Day
- Yellow
British short animation
- Crab Day
- Visible Mending
- Wild Summon
The 20214 BAFTAs will take place at the Southbank Centre in London on 18 February. The Oscars follow three weeks later, on 10 March.
