BAFTA Shocker! Snubs & Surprises Include No Lily Gladstone & No Martin Scorsese, Greta Gerwig Or Yorgos Lanthimos In Best Director
BAFTA revealed a lively film nominations list this morning full of talking points.
Among major surprises were the omissions of Killers Of The Flower Moon actress Lily Gladstone, who last week won a Golden Globe for her performance, and Martin Scorsese, Greta Gerwig and Yorgos Lanthimos from the Best Director category.
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Killers Of The Flower Moon still scored an impressive nine nominations — though Leonardo DiCaprio did not make the cut — but Barbie fared less well. After garnering nine Golden Globe noms and converting in two categories, Warner Bros’ box office juggernaut made the cut in only five BAFTA categories today.
The picture is perhaps slightly less surprising given the context of a push BAFTA has made in recent years to foreground a greater diversity of content, including more British films. The organization has faced criticism from some that its film nominees in recent years have too closely mirrored the Oscars and haven’t been “British” enough.
Today, All of Us Strangers and Rye Lane are among the local grassroots success stories, and two of the six Best Director nominees are British, which will please some. Suffice to say, Gladstone and Scorsese (and probably Gerwig) are highly likely to hear their names called out come Oscar nomination day. See here for our interview with BAFTA exec Anna Higgs in which she addresses attempts at creating a more “level playing field”.
Meanwhile, despite Poor Things garnering eleven nominations, DGA and Golden Globes-nominated director Yorgos Lanthimos was a shock omission to some in the Best Director category after such universal acclaim for the Searchlight charge. And, though All of Us Strangers fared strongly for Searchlight as well, the lack of Andrew Scott in Lead Actor has puzzled some.
A pleasant (mild) surprise came in the shape of Justine Triet’s French-language hit Anatomy Of A Fall garnering seven nominations, including Best Film, Director and Actress. The movie’s UK release was handled by Lionsgate after initially being acquired by Picturehouse. The film, which been on a mission since its Cannes Palme d’Or win last May, continues the recent trend of foreign-language movies punching across major categories at the BAFTAs and Oscars (See All Quiet On The Western Front, Parasite etc).
Among movies that failed to ignite with voters were May December and Nyad, which received zero nominations between them, and Michael Mann’s big budget Ferrari, which only got one nomination (Sound). Napoleon got four nominations but no acting, director or cinematography nods (something we already knew from the long-list).
Past Lives scored three nominations after being long-listed for six, but wasn’t present in Best Director or Best Film. Saltburn saw its 11 long-list nominations reduced to five.
Among other mild surprises were German actress Sandra Hüller getting nominations in both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories, an impressive feat. The latter coming for her turn in The Zone Of Interest.
The omission of Aki Kaurismäki’s celebrated Fallen Leaves in the Best Film Not in the English Language category will raise some eyebrows, while the inclusion in the same category of 20 Days In Mariupol is a rare feat for a documentary, and a pleasant surprise for its filmmakers given that it is also in the Best Documentary section (it is also on the Oscar shortlists in both races).
Thankfully, unlike in some previous years, there seems to be a solid amount of diversity in main categories (though Best Director remains a particular challenge). Kudos to BAFTA for tweaking its regulations to help boost representation.
Another shoutout goes to UK financier Film4, whose movies received a company-record 30 nominations. Nominated films include Poor Things, The Zone Of Interest, All Of Us Strangers, How To Have Sex and Earth Mama — a nice feather in the cap of outgoing Chairman Daniel Battsek.
Deadline’s Nancy Tartaglione contributed to this article
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