London: Paul Thomas Anderson’s politically charged action thriller One Battle After Another leads the race for the British Academy Film Awards, securing 14 nominations Tuesday, including acting nods for five of its cast.
Ryan Coogler’s blues-steeped vampire epic Sinners is close behind with 13 nominations, while Chloe Zhao’s Shakespearean family tragedy Hamnet and Josh Safdie’s ping-pong odyssey Marty Supreme have 11 apiece.
The best film nominees are One Battle After Another, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, Sinners and Norwegian family drama Sentimental Value.
Best leading actor contenders are Robert Aramayo for playing a man with Tourette’s syndrome in biographical drama I Swear, Timothee Chalamet for Marty Supreme, Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle After Another, Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon, Michael B Jordan for Sinners and Jesse Plemons for Bugonia.
The leading actress race pits favourite Jessie Buckley for Hamnet against Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Kate Hudson for Song Sung Blue, Chase Infiniti for One Battle After Another, Renate Reinsve for Sentimental Value and Emma Stone for Bugonia.
One Battle actors Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn are all nominated for supporting performances.
The Associated Press was recognised in the best documentary category with a nomination for Mstyslav Chernov’s harrowing Ukraine war portrait 2000 Meters to Andriivka, co-produced by the AP and PBS Frontline.
The winners will be announced at a February 22 ceremony in London hosted by actor Alan Cumming. The UK prizes – officially called the EE BAFTA Film Awards – often provide clues about who will triumph at Hollywood’s Academy Awards, held this year March 15.
This year, unusually, Oscar nominations were announced first, with Sinners securing a record 16 nominations, followed by 13 for One Battle After Another.
The British Academy has recognised several performers overlooked by the Oscars, including supporting actor nominees Paul Mescal for Hamnet and Odessa A’zion for Marty Supreme.
The BAFTAs also have a distinctly British accent, with a separate category of best British film. Its 10 nominees include The Ballad of Wallis Island, Pillion, I Swear and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.
Most BAFTA winners are chosen by 8,500 members of the UK academy of industry professionals, with one of the Rising Star Awards selected by public vote from a shortlist of nominees. This year’s rising star contenders are Infiniti, Aramayo, Sinners star Miles Caton and British actors Archie Madekwe and Posy Sterling.
Like other major movie awards, Britain’s film academy has introduced changes in recent years to increase diversity.
In 2020, no women were nominated as best director for the seventh year running, and all 20 nominees in the lead and supporting performer categories were white. The voting process was changed to add a longlist round before the final nominees are selected.
Zhao is the only female nominee in the best director category, alongside Anderson, Safdie, Cooger, Yorgos Lanthimos for Bugonia and Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value. Across all categories, including documentaries and shorts, 25 per cent of the directing nominees are women.
