2018 BAFTA Awards: ‘The Shape of Water’ leads with 12 nominations

January 9, 2018

by Carla Hay

With 12 nominations, Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy film “The Shape of Water” is the leading contender for the 71st Annual British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Film Awards. The ceremony will take place February 18, 2018,  at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Joanna Lumley will host the show. Meanwhile, the Winston Churchill drama “Darkest Hour” and the crime drama “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (written and directed by British filmmaker/playwright Martin McDonagh) earned nine nominations each. All three movies are up for the Best Film prize, along with “Call Me By Your Name” and “Dunkirk.”

Snubs and Surprises

“Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool” and “Paddington 2” garnered three nominations each, despite being snubbed by the Golden Globe Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards this year. The two movies’ British pedigree no doubt helped their chances of getting BAFTA nominations. Meanwhile, “The Post” (based on the true story of the Washington Post’s reporting of the Pentagon Papers) was completely shut out of getting any BAFTA nominations, despite getting four Golden Globe nominations and nominations at other movie-related award shows. “The Post” (directed by Steven Spielberg, and starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep) was also snubbed by the Screen Actors Guild Awards. This BAFTA snub appears to have also hurt the movie’s chances of being a leading Oscar contender, since several members of BAFTA and SAG are also members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the Oscars. Also shut out of the 2018 BAFTAs was “The Disaster Artist” (directed by and starring James Franco), despite the film getting nominations and some awards at several U.S. award shows that honor movies.

Here is the complete list of nominations for the 2018 BAFTA Film Awards:

Best Film

Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Outstanding British Film

Darkest Hour
The Death of Stalin
God’s Own Country
Lady Macbeth
Paddington 2
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

The Ghoul – Gareth Tunley (writer/director/producer), Jack Healy Guttman & Tom Meeten (producers)

I Am Not a Witch – Rungano Nyoni (writer/director), Emily Morgan (producer)

Jawbone – Johnny Harris (writer/producer), Thomas Napper (director)

Kingdom of Us – Lucy Cohen (director)

Lady Macbeth – Alice Birch (writer), William Oldroyd (director), Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly (producer)

Best Film Not in the English Language

Elle
First They Killed My Father
The Handmaiden
Loveless
The Salesman

Best Documentary

City of Ghosts
I Am Not Your Negro
Icarus
An Inconvenient Sequel
Jane

Best Animated Film

Coco
Loving Vincent
My Life as a Courgette

Best Director

Denis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049
Luca Guadagnino, Call Me by Your Name
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Guillermo Del Toro, The Shape of Water
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Original Screenplay

Get Out
I, Tonya
Lady Bird
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Adapted Screenplay

Call Me by Your Name
The Death of Stalin
Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
Molly’s Game
Paddington 2

Best Actress

Annette Bening, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird

Best Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Jamie Bell, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name

Best Supporting Actress

Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Kristin Scott Thomas, Darkest Hour
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

Best Supporting Actor

Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World
Hugh Grant, Paddington 2
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Original Music

Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water

Best Cinematography

Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Editing

Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Production Design

Beauty and the Beast
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water

Best Costume Design

Beauty and the Beast
Darkest Hour
I, Tonya
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water

Best Make-up and Hair

Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
I, Tonya
Victoria & Abdul
Wonder

Best Sound

Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Special Visual Effects

Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
War for the Planet of the Apes

Best British Short Animation

Have Heart
Mamoon
Poles Apart

Best British Short Film

Aamir
Cowboy Dave
A Drowning Man
Work
Wren Boys

EE Rising Star Award (voted for by the public)

Daniel Kaluuya
Florence Pugh
Josh O’Connor
Tessa Thompson
Timothée Chalamet