Oppenheimer beats Barbie as Bafta nominations announced

oppenheimer beats barbie as bafta nominations announced

Composite: PR

Christopher Nolan, arguably the most commercially and critically successful British director in decades, looks set to secure his first Bafta victory last month, after his latest film, Oppenheimer, was nominated in 13 categories.

The film is up for best film, director, adapted screenplay, leading actor for Cillian Murphy, supporting actress for Emily Blunt, supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr, cinematography, editing, costume design, makeup and hair, original score, production design, and sound – but it was overlooked in the visual effects category.

Although Nolan, 53, received the Britannia award from Bafta in 2010, and has been nominated eight times for previous films including Dunkirk and Inception, he is yet to win either a Bafta or an Oscar. This year’s Academy Award shortlists are announced next Tuesday; to date Nolan has five nominations.

Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos’s steampunk feminist fantasy, came in second place on Thursday with 11 nominations, including nods for best film and adapted screenplay, and for Emma Stone’s leading performance, although her co-stars Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe were not mentioned.

Stone will compete against Margot Robbie (Barbie), Carey Mulligan (Maestro), Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall), Fantasia Barrino (The Color Purple) and Rye Lane’s Vivian Oparah – but not Killers of the Flower Moon’s Lily Gladstone, who had been considered Stone’s key competition, having taken the Golden Globe for best female actor in a drama earlier this month.

“It’s a very competitive year,” Bafta chair Sara Putt told the Guardian of the omission. “Who would we take off this list?”

While Greta Gerwig’s DayGlo satire eventually triumphed over Oppenheimer at the box office, taking $1.4bn and breaking multiple records, Nolan’s film looks likely to enter the billion dollar club imminently off the back of awards season rereleases (it’s currently on $953m).

Along with Robbie’s acting nomination, Barbie is up for original screenplay, supporting actor for Ryan Gosling, costume design and production design; a considerable decline from the 15 mentions it took when the Bafta longlists were announced a fortnight ago.

Earlier this week, culture secretary Lucy Frazer praised the production, which was largely shot in Leavesden Studios, saying “before it was exported to all corners of the world and became the biggest selling film of 2023, Barbie was made and recorded in Hertfordshire – not Hollywood.”

Warner Bros, the studio behind the film, have said that Barbie contributed £80m in direct spend to the local economy, created 685 jobs, involved more than 6,000 extras, supported 754 local businesses and paid over £40m in local wages.”

Neither Gerwig nor Past Lives’s Celine Song nor Saltburn’s Emerald Fennell feature on the shortlist of directors, with Anatomy of a Fall’s Justine Trier the only woman in contention. Alongside her and Nolan are Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest, Andrew Haigh for All of Us Strangers), Bradley Cooper for Maestro and Alexander Payne for The Holdovers. Four of these are first time nominees, and none have previously won.

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, when none of the performers nominated were people of colour.

“We know it’s not a level playing field,” Putt told the Guardian of the lack of female representation on the best director shortlist. “The odds are stacked. Of the 100 top-grossing films released last year, only 12 were made by women.”

Putt said that while the Bafta longlists are designed to be interventionist – the director category has to have gender parity – the organisation was “not about quotas”.

She added that the bigger picture appeared “a little more hopeful”, with 11 of the 32 total director nominations – including short films and documentaries – going to women. “But there’s still a long way to go.”

Saltburn, Fennell’s much-discussed black comedy, scored a leading actor nomination for its star, Barry Keoghan, as well as supporting nods for Rosamund Pike and Jacob Elordi.

Keoghan is up against Oppenheimer’s Murphy, Maestro’s Cooper, Colman Domingo for Rustin, Teo Yoo for Past Lives and Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers. Giamatti – who was not nominated 20 years ago for his performance in another Payne film, Sideways – is fast becoming the man to beat this year, having taken a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice award.

Not in the running, however, is Andrew Scott for Andrew Haigh’s highly acclaimed All of Us Strangers, although co-star Claire Foy was named in the supporting actress category, alongside Blunt, Huller, Pike, Danielle Brooks for The Color Purple and Da’Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers. Mirroring Giamatti, Randolph is widely expected to prove victorious, having already won almost every equivalent prize going.

Their co-star, newcomer Dominic Sessa, looks more of an outside bet in the supporting actor race, with stiff competition including Downey Jr, Gosling, Paul Mescal for All of Us Strangers and Killers of the Flower Moon’s Robert De Niro – who, like Nolan, has never won a Bafta despite eight nominations (including most promising newcomer in 1976).

There was disappointment, too, for American Fiction, Cord Jefferson’s biting farce starring Jeffrey Wright as a conflicted novelist, which was only nominated for adapted screenplay.

Last year, Edward Berger’s anti-war epic, All Quiet on the Western Front, won seven Baftas from 14 nominations, including best picture. Cate Blanchett won best actress for Tár while Austin Butler won best actor for Elvis. At the Oscars two weeks later, Blanchett was beaten by Michelle Yeoh, Butler by Brendan Fraser and Everything Everywhere All at Once dominated, taking seven Oscars.

Yet despite this divergence, there is considerable overlap between the 7,800-odd Bafta members and the some 10,000 Oscar voters.

The ceremony will take place at the Southbank Centre in London on 18 February, hosted – for the first time – by David Tennant. The Oscars follow three weeks later, on 10 March.

News Related

OTHER NEWS

FA confident that Man Utd starlet will pick England over Ghana

Kobbie Mainoo made his first start for Man Utd at Everton (Photo: Getty) The Football Association are reportedly confident that Manchester United starlet Kobbie Mainoo will choose to represent England ... Read more »

World Darts Championship draw throws up tricky tests for big names

Michael Smith will begin the defence of his world title on the opening night (Picture: Getty Images) The 2024 World Darts Championship is less than three weeks away and the ... Read more »

Pioneering flight to use repurposed cooking oil to cross Atlantic

For the first time a long haul commercial aircraft is flying across the Atlantic using 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). A long haul commercial flight is flying to the US ... Read more »

King meets world business and finance figures at Buckingham Palace

The King has met business and finance leaders from across the world at a Buckingham Palace reception to mark the conclusion of the UK’s Global Investment Summit. Charles was introduced ... Read more »

What Lou Holtz thinks of Ohio State's loss to Michigan: 'They aren't real happy'

After Ohio State’s 30-24 loss to Michigan Saturday, many college football fans were wondering where Lou Holtz was. In his postgame interview after the Buckeyes beat Notre Dame 17-14 in ... Read more »

Darius Slay wouldn't have minded being penalized on controversial no-call

Darius Slay wouldn’t have minded being penalized on controversial no-call No matter which team you were rooting for on Sunday, we can all agree that the officiating job performed by ... Read more »

Mac Jones discusses Patriots future after latest benching

New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones (10) Quarterback Mac Jones remains committed to finding success with the New England Patriots even though his future is up in the air following ... Read more »
Top List in the World