Bafta Film Awards: ‘Oppenheimer’ leads with 13 nominations

No comments

oppenheimer 2

Source: Universal

‘Oppenheimer’

Christopher Nolan’s historical drama Oppenheimer leads the nominations for the Bafta Film Awards 2024 with 13 nominations.

Nolan’s biopic of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer was selected in best film, director and adapted screenplay; as well as leading actor for Cillian Murphy, supporting actress for Emily Blunt, and supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr.

Scroll down for the full list of nominations

It continues an excellent awards season for the Universal film, which led the Golden Globes winners earlier this month with five awards, and is expected to prosper in next week’s Oscar nominations.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ Venice Golden Lion winner Poor Things followed up a strong opening weekend at the UK-Ireland box office with the second-most Bafta nominations. Its 11 nods included best film, outstanding British film, adapted screenplay and leading actress for Emma Stone.

Two Cannes 2023 titles, Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon and Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest, scored nine nominations each; while Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall had a good showing of seven, alongside Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers and Bradley Cooper’s Netflix title Maestro.

Barbie, the highest-grossing film of 2023, took five nominations including leading actress for Margot Robbie; although it missed out in a competitive best film category. Greta Gerwig is nominated for original screenplay (alongside Noah Baumbach); although Gerwig was not selected in best director, with Triet the only woman among six names in that category – the second year in a row at this level.

Traditional studios hit back

After Netflix led the way among distributors in last year’s nominations, Disney and Universal have come back this year, with 23 and 20 nominations respectively. Disney’s haul had 19 through its Searchlight Pictures label, including the six for Andrew Haigh’s All Of Us Strangers.

Films backed by Apple took 14 nominations, although 13 of those were distributed elsewhere (Killers Of The Flower Moon by Paramount, and Napoleon by Sony). Netflix took 12 nominations, with seven for Maestro supplemented by one each for American Symphony, Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget, Rustin, Society Of The Snow and Wham!.

Dogwoof scored four nods across three films and Mubi took three nominations for How To Have Sex; but most independent distributors were restricted to one each, including Picturehouse, Curzon, Modern Films, Elysian, We Are Parable, Black Bear and Conic.

It is a strong year for the UK’s Film4, which has a record 30 nominations across five films: Poor Things, The Zone Of Interest, All Of Us Strangers, How To Have Sex and Earth Mama.

Eleven of the 23 nominees in the performance categories have received their first Bafta nomination – a slight drop from 14 of 24 last year. First-timers include Sandra Huller – nominated in leading actress for Anatomy… and supporting for The Zone Of Interest – Murphy, The Holdovers supporting duo Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa, and Saltburn’s Jacob Elordi.

How To Have Sex, written and directed by Screen Star of Tomorrow 2021 Molly Manning Walker, received one of its three nominations in outstanding British film, where it was joined by Rye Lane and Scrapper from fellow Stars Raine Allen-Miller and Charlotte Regan.

A to Z

“I’m very happy. I’m really excited to see such a range of films among the 38 nominated – the mix of debuts and legends at work, films not in the English-language,” said Bafta film committee chair Anna Higgs. “Even in just outstanding British film – you literally have an A to Z from All Of Us Strangers to The Zone Of Interest, and through that you have How To Have Sex, Rye Lane and Wonka. It’s such a diverse mix of films and filmmakers.”

The box office succes of Barbie and Wonka have not translated riches into nominations – Barbie has five mentions out of a potential 15, and Wonka has one out eight.

“It’s an extremely competitive year,” said Higgs. “Our voters are watching more and more films than ever before. Because we’re encompassing films like Anatomy Of A Fall, films aren’t sweeping the board like perhaps they used to.”

Higgs confirmedhours viewed on portal Bafta View is up year-on-year, and members are watching “way more films than their allotted viewing group”.

Actor David Tennant will present this year’s ceremony; TV presenter Alison Hammond, who last year hosted ‘access-all-areas’ backstage footage, will not be back. While Higgs cannot confirm any details of who will take to the stage for musical performances, she assured, “We’ll be celebrating the best of British creativity.”

The ceremony will return to running ‘as live’ (aired with a slight delay from a live recording), after trialling in 2023 a fully live section at the end of the show. “For the audience in the room and the audience at home, the difference wasn’t discernible,” says Higgs.

Last year the ceremony was watched by four million people, an increase on 2022. A YouGov poll after 2023’s film awards revealed two thirds of audiences at home were encouraged to go to the cinema after watching the ceremony, and awards content had 20 million views across all digital platforms. “We’re really engaging with younger audiences,” said Higgs.

“The field this year is incredibly strong,” said Bafta CEO Jane Millichip. “More films were entered, making the selection process particularly tough for our voting members. The films and talented people nominated represent some of the most talked about films of the year, the most critically acclaimed, and films yet to be released and discovered by audiences.”

Actors Naomie Ackie and Kingsley Ben-Adir announced the nominations on a live broadcast today (January 18). The five nominees for the Rising Star award were announced on January 10, and included How To Have Sex lead Mia McKenna-Bruce.

The awards will take place on Sunday, February 18, hosted by David Tennant and broadcast as live on BBC1 and iPlayer.

Full list of nominations

Best Film

Anatomy Of A Fall - Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
The Holdovers - Mark Johnson
Killers Of The Flower Moon - Dan Friedkin, Daniel Lupi, Martin Scorsese, Bradley Thomas
Oppenheimer - Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas
Poor Things - Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone

Outstanding British Film

All Of Us Strangers - Andrew Haigh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
How To Have Sex - Molly Manning Walker, Emily Leo, Ivana Mackinnon, Konstantinos Kontovrakis
Napoleon - Ridley Scott, Mark Huffam, Kevin J. Walsh, David Scarpa
The Old Oak - Ken Loach, Rebecca O’brien, Paul Laverty
Poor Things - Yorgos Lanthimos, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone, Tony Mcnamara
Rye Lane - Raine Allen-Miller, Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo, Damian Jones, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia
Saltburn - Emerald Fennell, Josey Mcnamara, Margot Robbie
Scrapper - Charlotte Regan, Theo Barrowclough
Wonka - Paul King, Alexandra Derbyshire, David Heyman, Simon Farnaby
The Zone Of Interest - Jonathan Glazer, James Wilson, Ewa Puszczyńska

Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer

Blue Bag Life - Lisa Selby (Director), Rebecca Lloyd-Evans (Director, Producer), Alex Fry (Producer)
Bobi Wine: The People’s President - Christopher Sharp (Director) [Also Directed Moses Bwayo]
Earth Mama - Savanah Leaf (Writer, Director, Producer), Shirley O’connor (Producer), Medb Riordan (Producer)
How To Have Sex - Molly Manning Walker (Writer, Director)
Is There Anybody Out There? - Ella Glendining (Director)

Film Not In The English Language

20 Days In Mariupol - Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath
Anatomy Of A Fall - Justine Triet, Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
Past Lives - Celine Song, David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
Society Of The Snow - J.A. Bayona, Belen Atienza
The Zone Of Interest - Jonathan Glazer

Documentary

20 Days In Mariupol - Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath
American Symphony - Matthew Heineman, Lauren Domino, Joedan Okun
Beyond Utopia - Madeleine Gavin, Rachel Cohen, Jana Edelbaum
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie - Davis Guggenheim, Jonathan King, Annetta Marion
Wham!, Chris Smith

Animated Film

The Boy And The Heron - Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki
Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget - Sam Fell, Leyla Hobart, Steve Pegram
Elemental - Peter Sohn, Denise Ream
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse - Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Avi Arad, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Amy Pascal, Christina Steinberg

Director

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

Original Screenplay

Anatomy Of A Fall - Justine Triet, Arthur Harari
Barbie - Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach
The Holdovers - David Hemingson
Maestro - Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer
Past Lives - Celine Song

Adapted Screenplay

All Of Us Strangers - Andrew Haigh
American Fiction - Cord Jefferson
Oppenheimer - Christopher Nolan
Poor Things - Tony Mcnamara
The Zone Of Interest - Jonathan Glazer

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

Original Score

Killers Of The Flower Moon - Robbie Robertson
Oppenheimer - Ludwig Göransson
Poor Things - Jerskin Fendrix
Saltburn - Anthony Willis
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse - Daniel Pemberton

Casting

All Of Us Strangers - Kahleen Crawford
Anatomy Of A Fall - Cynthia Arra
The Holdovers - Susan Shopmaker
How To Have Sex - Isabella Odoffin
Killers Of The Flower Moon - Ellen Lewis, Rene Haynes

Cinematography

Killers Of The Flower Moon - Rodrigo Prieto
Maestro - Matthew Libatique
Oppenheimer - Hoyte Van Hoytema
Poor Things - Robbie Ryan
The Zone Of Interest - Łukasz Żal

Editing

Anatomy Of A Fall - Laurent Sénéchal
Killers Of The Flower Moon - Thelma Schoonmaker
Oppenheimer - Jennifer Lame
Poor Things - Yorgos Mavropsaridis
The Zone Of Interest - Paul Watts

Production Design

Barbie - Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
Killers Of The Flower Moon - Jack Fisk, Adam Willis
Oppenheimer - Ruth De Jong, Claire Kaufman
Poor Things - Shona Heath, James Price, Zsuzsa Mihalek
The Zone Of Interest - Chris Oddy, Joanna Maria Kuś, Katarzyna Sikora

Costume Design

Barbie - Jacqueline Durran
Killers Of The Flower Moon - Jacqueline West
Napoleon - Dave Crossman, Janty Yates
Oppenheimer - Ellen Mirojnick
Poor Things - Holly Waddington

Make Up & Hair

Killers Of The Flower Moon - Kay Georgiou, Thomas Nellen
Maestro - Sian Grigg, Kay Georgiou, Kazu Hiro, Lori Mccoy-Bell
Napoleon - Jana Carboni, Francesco Pegoretti, Satinder Chumber, Julia Vernon
Oppenheimer - Luisa Abel, Jaime Leigh Mcintosh, Jason Hamer, Ahou Mofid
Poor Things - Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, Josh Weston

Sound

Ferrari - Angelo Bonanni, Tony Lamberti, Andy Nelson, Lee Orloff, Bernard Weiser
Maestro - Richard King, Steve Morrow, Tom Ozanich, Jason Ruder, Dean Zupancic
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One - Chris Burdon, James H. Mather, Chris Munro, Mark Taylor
Oppenheimer - Willie Burton, Richard King, Kevin O’connell, Gary A. Rizzo
The Zone Of Interest - Johnnie Burn, Tarn Willers

Special Visual Effects

The Creator - Jonathan Bullock, Charmaine Chan, Ian Comley, Jay Cooper
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 - Theo Bialek, Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One - Neil Corbould, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland, Alex Wuttke
Napoleon - Henry Badgett, Neil Corbould, Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet
Poor Things - Simon Hughes

British Short Animation