2015 BAFTA Nominations

It’s that time of year again – the awards season is upon us and today, the 2015 BAFTA nominations have been announced!

The Grand Budapest Hotel is the front runner of this year’s awards with 11 nominations, including Best Film and Ralph Fiennes for Best Actor. I personally love this movie.  Director Wes Anderson and cinematographer Robert Yeoman, both also up for nominations, have created, in my opinion, one of the most beautifully shot films of the year and I have my fingers crossed that it’s highly stylised execution will be met with as much appreciation as its excellent script writing and acting.

Falling just behind the Grand Budapest Hotel with 10 nominations is Birdman; a film I have not yet seen but is currently at the top of my to-watch list. The all-star cast includes Michael Keaton who is in tough competition for the Best Actor category, as well as co-stars Emma Stone and Edward Norton, who are up for Best Supporting Actress and Actor respectively.

In joint second place, again with 10 nominations, is The Theory of Everything which I absolutely cannot wait to see; partly because I worked briefly on it during pre-production camera tests, and partly because I am a great admirer of both Professor Stephen Hawking and the incredible acting of Eddie Redmayne who is quite deservedly up for Best Actor for his portrayal of the living legend himself.

As with the Golden Globe nominations, Eddie Redmayne is yet again vying for the Best Actor Award with Benedict Cumberbatch and his portrayal of Alan Turing in The Imitation Game. The Imitation Game is nominated for 9 awards including Outstanding British Film.

Rounding off the Best Film category is Oscar favourite, Boyhood, with 5 nominations. Perhaps a disappointment with its film-makers but still, Richard Linklater is at least up for Best Director. Boyhood is being re-released to UK cinemas next week and I for one will be checking it out.

Other films up for awards include Whiplash; which sees nominations for JK Simmons for Best Supporting Actor; as well as entering into the running for awards in the directing, original screenplay, editing and sound categories.

Surprisingly, Interstellar and Gone Girl were towards the bottom of the list with them being nominated for just 4 and 2 awards respectively, though thankfully one of Gone Girl’s nominations is rightly for Rosamund Pike as Best Actress.

Sandwiched between Interstellar and Gone Girl, and another one on my to-watch list is Pride with just 3 nominations, including Imelda Staunton for Best Supporting Actress. Pride is based on the true story of the ‘Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners’ movement (LGSM) and is full of inspirational and feel-good vibes that begs the question of why the story hadn’t been brought to cinema faster.

Finally, I’m disappointed to see Guardians of the Galaxy only nominated for 2 awards though non-surprisingly it’s for its incredible hair and make-up and visual effects. If only there was a soundtrack category.

Check out the full list of nominations below and make sure you watch the winners announced on Sunday 8^th February with returning host, Stephen Fry!

Best Film

• Birdman
• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• The Theory of Everything

Outstanding British Film

• ’71
• The Imitation Game
• Paddington
• Pride
• The Theory of Everything
• Under The Skin

Best Actor

• Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
• Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
• Michael Keaton – Birdman
• Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

Best Actress

• Amy Adams – Big Eyes
• Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
• Julianne Moore – Still Alice
• Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
• Reese Witherspoon – Wild

Best Supporting Actor

• Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
• Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
• Edward Norton – Birdman
• Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
• JK Simmons – Whiplash

Best Supporting Actress

• Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
• Rene Russo – Nightcrawler
• Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
• Imelda Staunton – Pride
• Emma Stone – Birdman

Director

• Wes Anderson – Grand Budapest Hotel
• Damian Chazelle – Whiplash
• Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman
• Richard Linklater – Boyhood
• James Marsh – The Theory of Everything

Adapted Screenplay

• American Sniper – Jason Hall
• Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
• The Imitation Game – Graham Moore
• Paddington – Paul King
• The Theory of Everything – Anthony McCarten

Original Screenplay

• Birdman – Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo
• Boyhood – Richard Linklater
• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson
• Nightcrawler – Dan Gilroy
• Whiplash – Damien Chazelle

Animated Film

• Big Hero 6
• The Boxtrolls
• The Lego Movie

Documentary

• 20 Feet from Stardom
• 20,000 Days on Earth
• Citizenfour
• Finding Vivian Maier
• Virunga

Foreign Film

• Ida
• Leviathan
• The Lunchbox
• Trash
• Two Days, One Night

Cinematography

• Birdman – Emmanuel Lubezki
• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Robert Yeoman
• Ida – Lukasz Zal, Ryszard Lenczewski
• Interstellar – Hoyte van Hoytema
• Mr Turner – Dick Pope

Costume Design

• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• Into the Woods
• Mr Turner
• The Theory of Everything

Editing

• Birdman – Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione
• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Barney Pilling
• The Imitation Game – William Goldenberg
• Nightcrawler – John Gilroy
• The Theory of Everything – Jinx Godfrey
• Whiplash – Tom Cross

Make-Up and Hair

• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Frances Hannon
• Guardians of the Galaxy – Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White
• Into the Woods – Peter Swords King, J Roy Helland
• Mr Turner – Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener
• The Theory of Everything – Jan Sewell

Music

• Birdman – Antonio Sanchez
• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat
• Interstellar – Hans Zimmer
• The Theory of Everything – Johann Johannsson
• Under the Skin – Mica Levi

Production Design

• Big Eyes – Rick Heinrichs, Shane Vieau
• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
• The Imitation Game – Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
• Interstellar – Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
• Mr Turner – Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts

Sound

• American Sniper – Walt Martin, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman
• Birdman – Thomas Varga, Martin Hernandez, Aaron Glascock, Jon Taylor, Frank A Montaño
• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wayne Lemmer, Christopher Scarabosio, Pawel Wdowczak
• The Imitation Game – John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Stuart Hilliker, Martin Jensen
• Whiplash – Thomas Curley, Ben Wilkins, Craig Mann

Visual Effects

• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Erik Winquist, Daniel Barrett
• Guardians of the Galaxy – Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner, Nicolas
• Aithadi
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R Christopher White
• Interstellar – Paul Franklin, Scott Fisher, Andrew Lockley
• X-Men: Days of Future Past – Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer

British Short Animation

• The Bigger Picture – Chris Hees, Daisy Jacobs, Jennifer Majka
• Monkey Love Experiments – Ainslie Henderson, Cam Fraser, Will Anderson
• My Dad – Marcus Armitage

British Short Film

• Boogaloo and Graham – Brian J Falconer, Michael Lennox, Ronan Blaney
• Emotional Fusebox – Michael Berliner, Rachel Tunnard
• The Karman Line – Campbell Beaton, Dawn King, Tiernan Hanby, Oscar Sharp
• Slap – Islay Bell-Webb, Michelangelo Fano, Nick Rowland
• Three Brothers -S Aleem Khan, Matthieu de Braconier, Stephanie Paeplow

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

• Elaine Constantine (writer/director Northern Soul)
• Gregory Burke, Yann Demange (writer and director ’71)
• Hong Khaou (writer/director Lilting)
• Paul Katis, Andrew De Lotbiniere (director/producer and producer Kajaki: The True Story)
• Stephen Beresford, David Livingstone (writer and producer Pride)

Rising Star Award

• Gugu Mbatha-Raw
• Jack O’Connell
• Margot Robbie
• Miles Teller
• Shailene Woodley