January 9, 2019
by Carla Hay
With 12 nominations, the period dramedy “The Favourite” is the leading contender for the 72nd annual British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards, which will be presented at Royal Albert Hall in London on February 10, 2019. BBC America will have the U.S. telecast of the show. Joanna Lumley is hosting the show for the second consecutive year. Other films to receive several nominations include “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “First Man,” “A Star Is Born” and “Roma,” which garnered seven nods each. “Vice” received six nominations, while “BlacKkKlansman” got five nods. “Green Book” and “Cold War” received four nominations each. Three nominations each went to “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” “Mary Poppins Returns,” “Mary Queen of Scots” and “Stan & Ollie.” Eligible movies were those released in the United Kingdom in 2018.
“The Favourite” is the only movie to receive a nomination for Best Film and Outstanding British Film at the 2019 BAFTAs. In the Best Film category, “The Favourite” is up against “BlacKkKlansman,” “Green Book,” “Roma” and “A Star Is Born.” In the category of Outstanding British Film, “The Favourite” is competing against “Beast,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “McQueen,” “Stan & Ollie” and “You Were Never Really Here.”
Snubs and Surprises
Regina King, who has been winning several awards for her supporting role in “If Beale Street Could Talk,” was shut out of the BAFTA race this year. And despite the big push for “Black Panther” to get several nominations at award shows, the superhero movie was ultimately snubbed at the BAFTAs except for one category: Best Special Visual Effects. “Mary Poppins Returns” is a critically acclaimed hit, but didn’t make the cut in two categories that some people predicted the movie would get BAFTA nominations: Best Film and Best Actress (for Emily Blunt). And the documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” which has been winning most of the documentary awards this year, failed to get a BAFTA nomination for Best Documentary, probably because documentary subject Fred Rogers and his American TV show “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood” are not well-known in British culture.
At other major award shows, the Steve McQueen-directed “Widows” has been largely overlooked for nominations, but Viola Davis did get a surprise BAFTA nomination for her leading role in the film. Another big surprise was Paweł Pawlikowski getting a Best Director nomination for his Polish-language film “Cold War,” even though the movie wasn’t nominated for Best Film. He likely edged out director Peter Farrelly, who is the only director at this year’s BAFTAs whose movie (“Green Book”) was nominated for Best Film but didn’t get a Best Director nod.
Noteable Milestones
Alfonso Cuarón achieved a major BAFTA milestone by being the first person to receive six BAFTA nominations in a single year. Cuarón, who directed the Spanish-language “Roma” (which is based on his childhood growing up in Mexico City), is also the movie’s cinematographer, screenwriter and one of the film’s producers and editors. Therefore, Cuarón is nominated in six of “Roma’s” seven BAFTA categories: Best Film, Best Film Not in the English Language, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Editing.
Bradley Cooper is the first director to have five BAFTA nominations in one year for a directorial debut. Cooper made his directorial debut with the 2018 remake of “A Star Is Born,” and he not only directed and starred in “A Star Is Born,” but he is also one of the movie’s producers, screenwriters and songwriters. Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” BAFTA nods are for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Leading Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Music.
Meanwhile, Spike Lee, who has been making critically acclaimed movies since the 1980s, finally received his first BAFTA nominations this year, for “BlacKkKlansman.” As the film’s director and as one of the movie’s producers and screenwriters, he’s nominated for Best Director, Best Film and Best Adapted Screenplay. Although these are Lee’s first BAFTA nominations, he was given a special, non-competitive BAFTA Award in 2002.
Here is the complete list of nominations for the BAFTA Awards:
Best Film
“BlacKkKlansman”
“The Favourite”
“Green Book”
“Roma”
“A Star Is Born”
Outstanding British Film
“Beast”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“McQueen”
“Stan & Ollie”
“You Were Never Really Here”
Best Leading Actor
Bradley Cooper – “A Star Is Born”
Christian Bale – “Vice”
Rami Malek – “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Steve Coogan – “Stan & Ollie”
Viggo Mortensen – “Green Book”
Best Leading Actress
Glenn Close – “The Wife”
Lady Gaga – “A Star Is Born”
Melissa McCarthy – “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Olivia Colman – “The Favourite”
Viola Davis – “Widows”
Best Supporting Actor
Adam Driver – “BlacKkKlansman”
Mahershala Ali – “Green Book”
Richard E Grant – “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Sam Rockwell – “Vice”
Timothée Chalamet – “Beautiful Boy”
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – “Vice”
Claire Foy – “First Man”
Emma Stone – “The Favourite”
Margot Robbie – “Mary Queen of Scots”
Rachel Weisz – “The Favourite”
EE Rising Star Award (public vote)
Jessie Buckley
Cynthia Erivo
Barry Keoghan
Lakeith Stanfield
Letitia Wright
Best Director
Spike Lee – “BlacKkKlansman”
Paweł Pawlikowski – “Cold War”
Yorgos Lanthimos – “The Favourite”
Alfonso Cuarón – “Roma”
Bradley Cooper – “A Star Is Born”
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
“Apostasy” – Daniel Kokotajlo (writer/director)
“Beast” – Michael Pearce (writer/director), Lauren Dark (producer)
“A Cambodian Spring” – Chris Kelly (writer/director/producer)
“Pili” – Leanne Welham (writer/director), Sophie Harman (producer)
“Ray & Liz” – Richard Billingham (writer/director), Jacqui Davies (producer)
Best Film Not in the English Language
“Capernaum”
“Cold War”
“Dogman”
“Roma”
“Shoplifters”
Best Documentary
“Free Solo”
“McQueen”
“RBG”
“They Shall Not Grow Old”
“Three Identical Strangers”
Best Animated Film
“Incredibles 2”
“Isle of Dogs”
“Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse”
Best Original Screenplay
“Cold War”
“The Favourite”
“Green Book”
“Roma”
“Vice”
Best Adapted Screenplay
“BlacKkKlansman”
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
“First Man”
“If Beale Street Could Talk”
“A Star Is Born”
Best Original Music
“BlackkKlansman”
“If Beale Street Could Talk”
“Isle of Dogs”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
“A Star Is Born”
Best Cinematography
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“Cold War”
“The Favourite”
“First Man”
“Roma”
Best Costume Design
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
“Mary Queen of Scots”
Best Editing
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“First Man”
“Roma”
“Vice”
Best Production Design
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”
“The Favourite”
“First Man”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
“Roma”
Best Makeup and Hair
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“Mary Queen of Scots”
“Stan & Ollie”
“Vice”
Best Sound
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“First Man”
“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”
“A Quiet Place”
“A Star Is Born”
Best Special Visual Effects
“Avengers: Infinity War”
“Black Panther”
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”
“First Man”
“Ready Player One”
British Short Film
“73 Cows”
“Bachelor”
“The Blue Door”
“The Field”
“Wale”
British Short Animation
“I’m OK”
“Marfa”
“Roughhouse”
Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema
Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen