Categories
Awards Season Thoughts

When BAFTA Got It Right

There were rumblings of discontent when the BAFTA nominations were announced but let’s celebrate the times when the voters got it spot on.

Before we do this though we should have a moment of silence for:

On Sunday, the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden will play host to some of the world’s A-list film talent, including Brad Pitt, Martin Scorsese and George Clooney.

It wasn’t always the case.

Growing up watching the awards in the UK could be an odd affair as many of my childhood memories are of BAFTAs being won and the recipient not actually being there.

Until the early 2000s it was held after the Oscars, which frequently meant that A-list talent didn’t turn up as they saw the Academy Awards as the end of awards season.

You could almost hear the agents in LA say to their clients: “why fly all the way to London to be pipped by a Brit?”

But the UK and US have always had a strangely symbiotic relationship when it comes to films – many American productions film over here and utilise British studios and crews (e.g. The Dark Knight, Harry Potter).

The career of Stanley Kubrick almost embodies this duality – he so resented studio interference on Spartacus (1960) that he came to film every one of his subsequent productions in England, utilising our crews to create his extraordinary visions.

At the same time members of the Academy have always had a sweet tooth for English period fare (e.g. Chariots of Fire) and no-one has exploited this more than Harvey Weinstein, both in his days at Miramax and last year with The King’s Speech.

More generally, it is very rare to find a Best Picture winner that isn’t a period film, so the Academy’s tastes naturally align with the British addiction to period costume dramas.

But whilst BAFTA has suffered in the past from a ‘vote-for-their-own’ syndrome, they have also pulled out some corkers.

So, let us salute the worthier winners of the mask designed by Mitzi Cunliffe.

BEST PICTURE

Dr. Strangelove (1964): In the year that the Academy gave Best Picture to My Fair Lady, the members of BAFTA went with Kubrick’s Cold War masterpiece. Ironically, the British set musical was filmed entirely on sound stages in Los Angeles, whilst the War Room in Washington was recreated at Shepperton Studios in England.

Day for Night (1973): Truffaut would have been 80 this week, so its worth remembering that in the year the Academy awarded The Sting Best Picture, BAFTA was rewarding one of cinemas great directors. Given that his comments about British cinema were often misquoted it was perhaps a surprise that BAFTA should salute him in this way.

But then again perhaps not. They were of the filmmaking generation that been affected by The 400 Blows (1959) and Jules et Jim (1962) so Truffaut’s masterful depiction of movie making was probably too much for them to resist. (The parallels with the Academy awarding a French film about movie making this year are interesting to chew on).

DIRECTORS

Stanley Kubrick for Barry Lyndon (1975): The Academy maye have never honoured Kubrick with a Best Director honour but BAFTA did. From Lolita (1962) onwards all of Kubrick’s films were shot in the UK, where he made his home and utilised the various studios just outside of London.

With his 1975 adaptation of Thackeray’s novel, Kubrick utilised the countryside in the UK and Ireland and even used lenses created by NASA for the impeccable interior lighting. No wonder this is Martin Scorsese’s favourite Kubrick film.

The 1970s are often talked of as a golden age for Hollywood, with The French Connection (1971), The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and Annie Hall (1977) all winning Best Picture, as well as the many other classics that got nominated.

But check out the BAFTA winners for Best Director during the 1970s – it reads like a slightly more daring version of the Oscars.

(N.B. Butch Cassidy was 1969 but got to the UK a year late, as was the case with some films in the 1970s)

Peter Weir for The Truman Show (1998): The big Oscar battle in 1998 was between Shakespeare in Love and Saving Private Ryan. But BAFTA wisely chose the most prescient film of that year and rewarded a director who is still without an Oscar. It not only predicted the onslaught of reality TV during the 2000s but also managed to showcase Jim Carrey’s considerable acting chops (can someone please get him to do more dramas?).

BEST ACTOR

Peter O’Toole for Lawrence of Arabia (1962): O’Toole still hasn’t won a Best Actor Oscar and there was a minor kerfuffle when he initially wanted to turn down an honorary Oscar in 2003 (so he “could win the bugger outright”) before relenting. BAFTA was awarding them to O’Toole in the early 1960s.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Samuel L Jackson for Pulp Fiction (1994): It was at the infamous ‘Letterman Oscars’ that Jackson was caught mouthing a four letter word as the Oscar went to Martin Landau for Ed Wood. When Barry Norman caught up with Jackson during a post-show interview Jackson responded with a cool “we’ll take care of that at the BAFTAs”. They certainly did.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Sigourney Weaver for The Ice Storm (1997): Whilst the Academy went with Kim Basinger for LA Confidential, BAFTA selected one of Weaver’s best performances. Ang Lee has always been a fine director of actors and this bittersweet drama was filled with great acting from Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire and Christina Ricci.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Geoffrey Unsworth for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): Such was Kubrick’s mastery of all aspects of filmmaking – and so total his control over his productions – that his DPs tend to get overshadowed. But Geoffrey Unsworth’s work in making outer space believable, just as the Apollo program was doing it for real, was fully deserving of a BAFTA.

Jordan Cronenweth for Blade Runner (1982): Its initial commercial failure didn’t deter BAFTA voters from rewarding the pioneering visuals in this sci-fi masterpiece. As Ridley Scott has noted the rainy city look appeared on a regular basis on MTV in the 1980s. Anecdote alert: at a London screening of the film I overheard someone who actually worked on it (almost certainly a BAFTA member) tell editor Terry Rawlings that he still thought there were ‘problems’ with it. Bollocks to that. It continues to dazzle, which is a miracle when you think that the original financiers almost ruined it (at one point they even fired Ridley Scott and producer Michael Deeley). Jordan sadly passed away in 1996, but his son Jeff is nominated this year for David Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011).

SCREENPLAY

Luis Bunuel and Jean-Claude Carriere for The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972): It was good to see that awards for European masters weren’t just confined to the ghetto of a foreign category.

This surrealist masterpiece has some pretty wild ideas in its script, which are executed brilliantly. The screenplays that the Academy honoured that year were The Sting (Original) and The Exorcist (Adapted).

EDITING

Sam O’Steen for The Graduate (1967): Whilst this was a landmark film and a gigantic hit, it wasn’t justly rewarded at the Oscars that year. Nichols won Best Director, whilst In the Heat of the Night got Best Picture. But it remains a masterclass in editing, with the pool scene being an often quoted highlight.

Steen’s wife Bobbie even wrote a book ‘Cut to the Chase‘ based their on conversations. Incidentally, Nichols’ film was pipped for the editing Oscar that year by In the Heat of the Night, which edited by future director Hal Ashby.

SOUND

Art Rochester, Nat Boxer, Mike Ejve & Walter Murch for The Conversation (1974): In the days when this award was still called ‘Sound Track’, BAFTA recognized one of the most influential of all sound movies. Coppola was on a roll in 1974, managing to squeeze in The Godfather Part II that year, but it was the amazing sound design that was integral to this film’s story and power.

Murch had already done pioneering work on American Graffiti and would revolutionize sound on film further with Apocalypse Now. The Oscar that year went to Earthquake, which may have been its use of Sensurround.

BEST SHORT FILM

Mark Herbert and Chris Morris for My Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117 (2002): Before he unleashed Four Lions on the UK, Chris Morris made this short starring Paddy Considine as a mentally disturbed man taking care of a friend’s Doberman.

Morris didn’t collect the award as he was – in the words of Herbert – “at home watching 24“.

UNITED NATIONS AWARD

The War Game (1966): Believe it or not, back in the Cold War when there was the persistent threat of nuclear annihilation there was actually an award for films that raised global issues. Although Dr. Strangelove (1964) had won it two years before, Peter Watkins’ The War Game was rewarded two years later for its chilling recreation of what a nuclear strike would like in 1960s Britain.

In fact it was so good, it also won the Oscar that year although it wasn’t shown on British television until 1985.

If you have any BAFTA winning films worthy of note, just leave a comment below.

> BAFTA Nominations
> More on past BAFTA ceremonies at Wikipedia

Categories
Festivals Interviews Podcast

Interview: Caroline Bridges and Sameer Patel on BAFTA at Latitude

Two short films recently premiered at BAFTA in London as part of a project to support emerging talent.

Me and My Latitude is a collaboration between BAFTA and Festival Republic, organisers of Latitude, the yearly arts and music festival.

Last year two filmmakers were chosen to each make a short film about an artist preparing to perform at Latitude 2011, with the aim of reflecting the diversity and inventiveness of the UK arts scene.

Caroline Bridges has made Knife Edge, which shows dance theatre company Lost Dog in action at the festival, whilst Sameer Patel has directed She Want Soul, a portrait of poet and writer Sabrina Mahfouz.

Both films screened last night at BAFTA’s Run Run Shaw Theatre in London and will also feature in the line-up for Latitude’s Film & Music Arena in 2012, which is partly programmed in partnership with BAFTA.

I spoke with Catherine and Sameer about their experiences making the films and you can listen to the interviews by clicking below:

[audio:http://filmdetail.receptionmedia.com/Caroline_Bridges_and_Sameer_Patel_on_BAFTA_at_Latitude.mp3]

You can also download this interview as a podcast via iTunes by clicking here or get the MP3 directly here.

The Latitude Festival takes place from July 12th – 15th and the Orange British Film Academy Awards is on February 12th

> Download this interview as an MP3 file
BAFTA
> Latitude Festival
> Follow @BAFTA and @Latitude on Twitter

Categories
Awards Season News

BAFTA Nominations

The BAFTA nominations were announced earlier today and The Artist leads the field (12 nominations), closely followed by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (11 nominations).

I think its a given already that George Clooney (The Descendants) and Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) are hot favourites in the actor category – although Dujardin and Bejo could surprise.

Like the Oscars I still think The Artist is the one to beat for Best Picture.

But the main talking points are:

  • The absence of Olivia Colman for Tyrannosaur
  • The weird snub of Hugo from Best Film
  • The surprise inclusion of Drive for Best Film and the absence of Albert Brooks in Best Supporting Actor
  • The scandalous absence of The Tree of Life in both cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki) and visual effects (Dan Glass & his team)
  • The love for The Help in Best Film and Screenplay which suggests it hits a comfort zone in voters of a certain age.
  • Senna winning a (richly deserved) editing nomination, which is rare for a documentary.
  • Carey Mulligan’s nomination for Drive instead of her (superior) work in Shame
  • The absence of The Interrupters from Best Documentary
Here are the nominations in full:

BEST FILM

  • THE ARTIST Thomas Langmann
  • THE DESCENDANTS Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
  • DRIVE Marc Platt, Adam Siegel
  • THE HELP Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan
  • TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo

DIRECTOR

  • THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius
  • DRIVE Nicolas Winding Refn
  • HUGO Martin Scorsese
  • TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tomas Alfredson
  • WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN Lynne Ramsay

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

  • THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius
  • BRIDESMAIDS Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
  • THE GUARD John Michael McDonagh
  • THE IRON LADY Abi Morgan
  • MIDNIGHT IN PARIS Woody Allen

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

  • THE DESCENDANTS Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
  • THE HELP Tate Taylor
  • THE IDES OF MARCH George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
  • MONEYBALL Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
  • TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan

LEADING ACTOR

  • BRAD PITT Moneyball
  • GARY OLDMAN Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
  • GEORGE CLOONEY The Descendants
  • JEAN DUJARDIN The Artist
  • MICHAEL FASSBENDER Shame

LEADING ACTRESS

  • BÉRÉNICE BEJO The Artist
  • MERYL STREEP The Iron Lady
  • MICHELLE WILLIAMS My Week with Marilyn
  • TILDA SWINTON We Need to Talk About Kevin
  • VIOLA DAVIS The Help

SUPPORTING ACTOR

  • CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER Beginners
  • JIM BROADBENT The Iron Lady
  • JONAH HILL Moneyball
  • KENNETH BRANAGH My Week with Marilyn
  • PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN The Ides of March

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

  • CAREY MULLIGAN Drive
  • JESSICA CHASTAIN The Help
  • JUDI DENCH My Week with Marilyn
  • MELISSA MCCARTHY Bridesmaids
  • OCTAVIA SPENCER The Help

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

  • MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Simon Curtis, David Parfitt, Harvey Weinstein, Adrian Hodges
  • SENNA Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Manish Pandey
  • SHAME Steve McQueen, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Abi Morgan
  • TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tomas Alfredson, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo, Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan
  • WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN Lynne Ramsay, Luc Roeg, Jennifer Fox, Robert Salerno and Rory Stewart Kinnear

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

  • ATTACK THE BLOCK Joe Cornish (Director/Writer)
  • BLACK POND Will Sharpe (Director/Writer), Tom Kingsley (Director), Sarah Brocklehurst
  • (Producer)
  • CORIOLANUS Ralph Fiennes (Director)
  • SUBMARINE Richard Ayoade (Director/Writer)
  • TYRANNOSAUR Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

  • INCENDIES Denis Villeneuve, Luc Déry, Kim McGraw
  • PINA Wim Wenders, Gian-Piero Ringel
  • POTICHE François Ozon, Eric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer
  • A SEPARATION Asghar Farhadi
  • THE SKIN I LIVE IN Pedro Almodóvar, Agustin Almodóvar

DOCUMENTARY

  • GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD Martin Scorsese
  • PROJECT NIM James Marsh, Simon Chinn
  • SENNA Asif Kapadia

ANIMATED FILM

  • THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN Steven Spielberg
  • ARTHUR CHRISTMAS Sarah Smith
  • RANGO Gore Verbinski

ORIGINAL MUSIC

  • THE ARTIST Ludovic Bource
  • THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
  • HUGO Howard Shore
  • TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Alberto Iglesias
  • WAR HORSE John Williams

CINEMATOGRAPHY

  • THE ARTIST Guillaume Schiffman
  • THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Jeff Cronenweth
  • HUGO Robert Richardson
  • TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Hoyte van Hoytema
  • WAR HORSE Janusz Kaminski

EDITING

  • THE ARTIST Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
  • DRIVE Mat Newman
  • HUGO Thelma Schoonmaker
  • SENNA Gregers Sall, Chris King
  • TINKER TAILOR SOLIDER SPY Dino Jonsater

PRODUCTION DESIGN

  • THE ARTIST Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould
  • HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
  • HUGO Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
  • TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
  • WAR HORSE Rick Carter, Lee Sandales

COSTUME DESIGN

  • THE ARTIST Mark Bridges
  • HUGO Sandy Powell
  • JANE EYRE Michael O’Connor
  • MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Jill Taylor
  • TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Jacqueline Durran

MAKE UP & HAIR

  • THE ARTIST Julie Hewett, Cydney Cornell
  • HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
  • HUGO Morag Ross, Jan Archibald
  • THE IRON LADY Marese Langan
  • MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Jenny Shircore

SOUND

  • THE ARTIST Nadine Muse, Gérard Lamps, Michael Krikorian
  • HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener
  • HUGO Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley
  • TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY John Casali, Howard Bargroff, Doug Cooper, Stephen Griffiths and Andy Shelley
  • WAR HORSE Stuart Wilson, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Richard Hymns

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

  • THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN Joe Letteri
  • HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery
  • HUGO Rob Legato, Ben Grossman, Joss Williams
  • RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White
  • WAR HORSE Ben Morris, Neil Corbould

SHORT ANIMATION

  • ABUELAS Afarin Eghbal, Kasia Malipan, Francesca Gardiner
  • BOBBY YEAH Robert Morgan
  • A MORNING STROLL Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

SHORT FILM

  • CHALK Martina Amati, Gavin Emerson, James Bolton, Ilaria Bernardini
  • MWANSA THE GREAT Rungano Nyoni, Gabriel Gauchet
  • ONLY SOUND REMAINS Arash Ashtiani, Anshu Poddar
  • PITCH BLACK HEIST John Maclean, Gerardine O’Flynn
  • TWO AND TWO Babak Anvari, Kit Fraser, Gavin Cullen

THE ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)

  • ADAM DEACON
  • CHRIS HEMSWORTH
  • CHRIS O’DOWD
  • EDDIE REDMAYNE
  • TOM HIDDLESTON

> BAFTA
> Analysis at Awards Daily and Hitfix

Categories
Interesting

Martin Scorsese at BAFTA

Martin Scorsese turns 69 today.

Last December he gave at talk at BAFTA with Francine Stock where he discussed his life and career.

You can watch the whole thing here:

Amongst the things they talked about were:

It has been a pretty busy year for Scorsese: there was the re-release of Taxi Driver followed by the outstanding Blu-raythe DVD release of his 1999 documentary about Italian cinema My Voyage to Italy, a lengthy discussion at the LMCA about film preservation, his outstanding documentary about George Harrison and his upcoming 3D film Hugo.

Hugo opens in the UK on Friday 2nd December

> More on Martin Scorsese at Wikipedia, MUBi and TSFDT
> BAFTA Guru
> Scorsese on 3D
> World Cinema Foundation

Categories
Directors Documentaries Interesting

Errol Morris at BAFTA

Famed documentarian Errol Morris was at BAFTA this week where he gave the annual David Lean lecture and a Q&A with Adam Curtis.

He has been in London this week promoting Tabloid, his new film about a bizarre scandal involving a beauty queen and a mormon, and the event was live streamed over the web on BAFTA Guru.

To watch the full 30 minute speech head on over to the BAFTA site, but here is a clip:

Afterwards he engaged in an interesting Q&A session with fellow director Adam Curtis which can be seen here:

I first saw Tabloid at the London Film Festival last year and it is going to be a strong contender for the inaugural BAFTA documentary award.

Interestingly, the film hit the headlines this week when Joyce McKinney (the main subject) announced she was suing Morris for her portrayal in the film, which has echoes of Randall Adams suing Morris, despite the fact that (or maybe because?) his 1988 film The Thin Blue Line got him off death row.

Perhaps there is a follow up film to be made?

> Tabloid review from LFF 2010
> BAFTA Guru
> Adam Curtis’ essential BBC blog which regularly culls interesting material from the archives
> More on Errol Morris at Wikipedia

Categories
Interesting

BAFTA Guru

BAFTA recently launched a section on their website dedicated to video interviews with notable people from the worlds of film, TV and gaming.

Aside from having one of the greatest screening rooms in London, BAFTA regularly hosts events involving noted directors, actors and even legendary game designers.

You can check out lengthy interviews with such luminaries as:

Some of this video has been tucked away on their website, which is perhaps why they have grouped them under a new section called BAFTA Guru.

They’ll even be live streaming the Annual David Lean Lecture this Sunday (6th November) at 8pm (GMT), which this year will be given Errol Morris, whose new film Tabloid is released here next week.

> BAFTA Guru (browse the mini-site by craft)
> Main BAFTA site and Twitter feed, Facebook page and YouTube channel
> More on BAFTA at Wikipedia

Categories
Awards Season video

BAFTA Backstage Interviews

BAFTA have posted a series of backstage interviews from last nights awards, including backstage chats with Colin Firth, Tom Hooper, David Seidler, Aaron Sorkin and Sir Christopher Lee.

N.B. The sound in some of these clips isn’t exactly awards worthy as Edith Bowman’s microphone doesn’t appear to be working properly.

Just click on the following links:

> Full list of BAFTA Nominations
> BAFTA

Categories
Awards Season News

BAFTA Orange Rising Star Nominees 2011

The nominees for this year’s BAFTA Rising Star Award have been announced and the list features Gemma Arterton, Andrew Garfield, Tom Hardy, Aaron Johnson and Emma Stone.

It is the only accolade at the Orange British Academy Film Awards that is voted for by the public and was created in honour of the late casting director Mary Selway, who passed away in 2004.

Officially renamed the Orange Wednesdays Rising Star Award, voting takes place both at www.orange.co.uk/bafta, on the mobile portal Orange World and via text.

To see them in action and cast your vote just click on the relevant links below:

The winner will be announced at the BAFTAs on Sunday 13th February.

Previous winners of the award include James McAvoy in 2006, Eva Green in 2007, Shia LaBeouf in 2008, Noel Clarke in 2009 and Kristen Stewart in 2010.

Potential rising stars were proposed by BAFTA members and leading film industry insiders to create an initial list of contenders.

> Official Orange BAFTA site
> Orange Film on Twitter and Facebook
> BAFTA

Categories
Awards Season News

BAFTA Long List

The official longlist for this year’s BAFTAs have been announced with The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, Another Year, Black Swan, The Fighter and The Social Network amongst the leading contenders.

The Longlist comes together after the first round of voting by BAFTA members as they whittle down the 207 films entered this year.

The first round of voting reduces the list of eligible films to fifteen in each category.

The second round of votes, which opens today, will then reduce these fifteen contenders down to the five nominations in each category. (Just being on the longlist does not constitute a nomination).

Over 6300 BAFTA members vote in three rounds to decide the Longlist, Nominations and Winners.

All members vote in the first two rounds and in the final round, winners are voted for by specialist Chapters in all categories except for Best Film, the four performance categories and Film Not in the English Language, which are voted for by all members.

The full list of nominations will be announced on 18 January 2011.

LONGLIST

N.B. * Denotes Chapter selection from Round One

Best Film

  • 127 Hours
  • Another Year
  • Black Swan
  • The Fighter
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Inception
  • The Kids Are All Right
  • The King’s Speech
  • Made In Dagenham
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network
  • The Town
  • Toy Story 3
  • True Grit
  • Winter’s Bone

Director

  • 127 Hours *
  • Alice In Wonderland
  • Another Year
  • Black Swan *
  • The Fighter
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Inception *
  • The Kids Are All Right
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network *
  • The Town
  • Toy Story 3
  • True Grit

Leading Actor

  • Aaron Eckhart (Howie) – Rabbit Hole
  • Ben Affleck (Doug MacRay) – The Town
  • Colin Firth (King George VI) – The King’s Speech *
  • James Franco (Aron Ralston) – 127 Hours *
  • Javier Bardem (Uxbal) – Biutiful *
  • Jeff Bridges (Marshal Reuben J Cogburn) – True Grit *
  • Jesse Eisenberg (Mark Zuckerberg) – The Social Network *
  • Jim Broadbent (Tom) – Another Year
  • Johnny Depp (Mad Hatter) – Alice In Wonderland
  • Leonardo DiCaprio (Cobb) – Inception
  • Leonardo DiCaprio (Teddy Daniels) – Shutter Island
  • Mark Wahlberg (Micky Ward) – The Fighter
  • Paul Giamatti (Barney Panofsky) – Barney’s Version
  • Robert Duvall (Felix Bush) – Get Low
  • Ryan Gosling (Dean) – Blue Valentine

Leading Actress

  • Andrea Riseborough (Rose) – Brighton Rock
  • Annette Bening (Nic) – The Kids Are All Right *
  • Carey Mulligan (Kathy) – Never Let Me Go *
  • Gemma Arterton (Alice) – The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
  • Gemma Arterton (Tamara Drewe) – Tamara Drewe
  • Hailee Steinfeld (Mattie Ross) – True Grit
  • Jennifer Lawrence (Ree) – Winter’s Bone
  • Julianne Moore (Jules) – The Kids Are All Right *
  • Michelle Williams (Cindy) – Blue Valentine *
  • Natalie Portman (Nina Sayers / The Swan Queen) – Black Swan *
  • Nicole Kidman (Becca) – Rabbit Hole
  • Noomi Rapace (Lisbeth Salander) – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Rosamund Pike (Miriam Grant-Panofsky) – Barney’s Version
  • Sally Hawkins (Rita O’Grady) – Made In Dagenham
  • Tilda Swinton (Emma Recchi) – I Am Love

Supporting Actor

  • Andrew Garfield (Eduardo Saverin) – The Social Network *
  • Andrew Garfield (Tommy) – Never Let Me Go
  • Ben Kingsley (Dr Cawley) – Shutter Island
  • Bill Murray (Frank Quinn) – Get Low
  • Bob Hoskins (Albert) – Made In Dagenham*
  • Christian Bale (Dicky Eklund) – The Fighter *
  • Dustin Hoffman (Izzy Panofsky) – Barney’s Version
  • Geoffrey Rush (Lionel Logue) – The King’s Speech *
  • Guy Pearce (King Edward VIII) – The King’s Speech
  • Jeremy Renner (James Coughlin) – The Town
  • Justin Timberlake (Sean Parker) – The Social Network
  • Mark Ruffalo (Paul) – The Kids Are All Right *
  • Matt Damon (La Boeuf) – True Grit
  • Pete Postlethwaite (Fergus ‘Fergie’ Colm) – The Town
  • Vincent Cassel (Thomas Leroy / The Gentleman) – Black Swan

Supporting Actress

  • Amy Adams (Charlene Fleming) – The Fighter *
  • Barbara Hershey (Erica Sayers / The Queen) – Black Swan *
  • Ellen Page (Ariadne) – Inception
  • Geraldine James (Connie) – Made In Dagenham
  • Helena Bonham Carter (Queen Elizabeth) – The King’s Speech *
  • Helena Bonham Carter (Red Queen) – Alice In Wonderland
  • Lesley Manville (Mary) – Another Year *
  • Marion Cotillard (Mal) – Inception
  • Melissa Leo (Alice Ward) – The Fighter
  • Mila Kunis (Lily / The Black Swan) – Black Swan
  • Miranda Richardson (Barbara Castle) – Made In Dagenham *
  • Olivia Williams (Ruth Lang) – The Ghost
  • Rebecca Hall (Claire Keesey) – The Town
  • Rosamund Pike (Lisa Hopkins) – Made In Dagenham
  • Winona Ryder (Beth Macintyre / The Dying Swan) – Black Swan

Adapted Screenplay

  • 127 Hours *
  • Alice In Wonderland
  • Barney’s Version
  • Brighton Rock
  • Despicable Me
  • The Ghost
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Never Let Me Go
  • Rabbit Hole
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network *
  • The Town
  • Toy Story 3 *
  • True Grit *
  • Winter’s Bone *

Original Screenplay

  • Another Year
  • Biutiful
  • Black Swan *
  • Blue Valentine
  • The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
  • The Fighter *
  • Four Lions
  • Get Low
  • Hereafter
  • I Am Love
  • Inception *
  • The Kids Are All Right *
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham
  • Of Gods and Men

Make Up & Hair

  • 127 Hours
  • Alice In Wonderland *
  • Black Swan *
  • Brighton Rock
  • The Fighter
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 *
  • I Am Love
  • Inception
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham *
  • Never Let Me Go
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network
  • True Grit

Editing

  • 127 Hours *
  • Alice In Wonderland
  • Black Swan *
  • The Fighter
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
  • Inception *
  • The Kids Are All Right
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network *
  • The Town
  • Toy Story 3
  • True Grit

Special Visual Effects

  • 127 Hours
  • Alice In Wonderland *
  • Black Swan
  • Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 *
  • Hereafter
  • How To Train Your Dragon
  • Inception *
  • Iron Man 2 *
  • Kick-Ass
  • The King’s Speech
  • Monsters
  • Shutter Island
  • Toy Story 3
  • Tron Legacy *

Costume Design

  • Alice In Wonderland *
  • Black Swan *
  • Brighton Rock
  • Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
  • I Am Love
  • Inception
  • Kick-Ass
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham *
  • Never Let Me Go
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network
  • True Grit *

Sound

  • 127 Hours *
  • Alice In Wonderland
  • Black Swan *
  • Brighton Rock
  • The Fighter
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
  • Inception *
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network
  • The Town
  • Toy Story 3 *
  • True Grit *

Production Design

  • 127 Hours
  • Alice In Wonderland *
  • Black Swan *
  • Brighton Rock
  • The Fighter
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 *
  • I Am Love
  • Inception *
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham
  • Never Let Me Go
  • Shutter Island *
  • The Social Network
  • True Grit *

Cinematography

  • 127 Hours
  • Alice In Wonderland
  • Black Swan *
  • The Fighter
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
  • I Am Love
  • Inception *
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Never Let Me Go
  • Shutter Island *
  • The Social Network
  • The Town
  • True Grit *
  • Winter’s Bone

Original Music

  • 127 Hours
  • Alice In Wonderland *
  • Biutiful
  • Brighton Rock
  • Despicable Me
  • The Ghost
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
  • How To Train Your Dragon *
  • Inception *
  • The King’s Speech *
  • Made In Dagenham
  • Never Let Me Go
  • The Social Network *
  • The Town

Animated Film

  • Chico & Rita
  • Despicable Me *
  • How To Train Your Dragon *
  • Illusionist, The
  • Toy Story 3 *

Note: As there were ties in the Chapter vote in Production Design and Sound, seven and six achievements are flagged in these categories respectively

> BAFTA
> Awards season coverage at InContention and Awards Daily

Categories
Interesting

Paul Greengrass BAFTA interview at Latitude

Director Paul Greengrass was recently at the Latitude festival where he did a fairly in depth BAFTA interview with Simon Mayo about his career.

They discuss his love of The Battle of Algiers (1966), his time working on World in Action, The Murder of Stephen Lawrence (1999), Bloody Sunday (2002), The Bourne films (2004, 2007), United 93 (2006) and Green Zone (2010).

You can watch it in full here:

> Paul Greengrass at the IMDb
> BAFTA

Categories
Awards Season News

BAFTA Long List

The official long list of the BAFTAs was announced today, with An Education leading the field with 17 mentions.

Other films with quite a few nominations include Inglourious Basterds (15 mentions), The Hurt Locker (12 mentions), Avatar (11 mentions and The Lovely Bones (11 mentions).

Perhaps the suprising underdog of the pack – given the lack of US awards heat – is Moon which received 10 mentions, including the big categories of Best film, director and actor.

The process involves around 6000 members of BAFTA who vote in three rounds to decide the winners at the Orange British Academy Film Awards on February 21st.

The long list is the result of Round One voting, which whittles down eligible films down to fifteen in each category.

Round Two voting will then reduce these fifteen contenders down to the final five nominees which will be announced on Thursday 21st January at BAFTA HQ in London.

The asterisks below show the top 5 (or in certain cases 6) voted by each chapter of the Academy in this first round. (Have a listen to my interview with BAFTA’s Amanda Berry from 2008 for further details on how the voting system works).

As ever with BAFTA watch out for delayed releases (Gran Torino is a 2008 film which Warner Bros couldn’t be bothered to screen in time for last year’s deadlines) and the British bias (Carey Mulligan and Colin Firth seem like slam-dunks to win in their respective categories – not that they aren’t deserving, but there is something a little parochial when BAFTA voters go for the ‘home vote’).

Here is the long list in full:

BEST FILM
Avatar
District 9
An Education
Gran Torino
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
Moon
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
The Road
A Serious Man
A Single Man
Star Trek
Up
Up in the Air

DIRECTOR
Avatar *
Bright Star
District 9 *
An Education *
Fish Tank
Gran Torino
The Hurt Locker *
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
Moon
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
A Prophet *
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

LEADING ACTOR
Aaron Johnson (John Lennon) – Nowhere Boy
Andy Serkis (Ian Dury) – Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll *
Ben Whishaw (John Keats) – Bright Star
Brad Pitt (Lt. Aldo Raine) – Inglourious Basterds
Clint Eastwood (Walt Kowalski) – Gran Torino
Colin Firth (George) – A Single Man *
George Clooney (Ryan Bingham) – Up in the Air *
Jeff Bridges (Bad Blake) – Crazy Heart
Jeremy Renner (SSgt. William James) – The Hurt Locker *
Michael Sheen (Brian Clough) – The Damned United
Morgan Freeman (Nelson Mandela) – Invictus *
Peter Capaldi (Malcolm Tucker) – In the Loop
Peter Sarsgaard (David) – An Education
Sam Rockwell (Sam Bell) – Moon
Viggo Mortensen (Man) – The Road

LEADING ACTRESS
Abbie Cornish (Fanny Brawne) – Bright Star *
Amy Adams (Julie Powell) – Julie & Julia
Audrey Tautou (Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel) – Coco Before Chanel
Carey Mulligan (Jenny) – An Education *
Emily Blunt (Queen Victoria) – The Young Victoria
Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire *
Helen Mirren (Sofya Tolstoy) – The Last Station
Katie Jarvis (Mia) – Fish Tank
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Jean Craddock) – Crazy Heart
Marion Cotillard (Luisa Contini) – Nine
Melanie Laurent (Shosanna Dreyfus) – Inglourious Basterds
Meryl Streep (Jane) – It’s Complicated
Meryl Streep (Julia Child) – Julie & Julia *
Penelope Cruz (Lena) – Broken Embraces
Saoirse Ronan (Susie Salmon) – The Lovely Bones *

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Aaron Wolff (Danny Gopnik) – A Serious Man
Alan Rickman (Professor Severus Snape) – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Alec Baldwin (Jake) – It’s Complicated
Alfred Molina (Jack) – An Education *
Anthony Mackie (Sgt. JT Sanborn) – The Hurt Locker
Brian Geraghty (Specialist Owen Eldridge) – The Hurt Locker
Christian McKay (Orson Welles) – Me and Orson Welles *
Christoph Waltz (Col. Landa) – Inglourious Basterds *
Christopher Plummer (Leo Tolstoy) – The Last Station *
Dominic Cooper (Danny) – An Education
Matt Damon (Francois Pienaar) – Invictus
Stanley Tucci (Mr Harvey) – The Lovely Bones *
Stanley Tucci (Paul Child) – Julie & Julia
Timothy Spall (Peter Taylor) – The Damned United
Zachary Quinto (Spock) – Star Trek

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anna Kendrick (Natalie Keener) – Up in the Air
Anne-Marie Duff (Julia) – Nowhere Boy *
Claire Danes (Sonja Jones) – Me and Orson Welles
Diane Kruger (Bridget von Hammersmark) – Inglourious Basterds
Emma Thompson (Headmistress) – An Education
Julianne Moore (Charley) – A Single Man *
Kristin Scott Thomas (Mimi) – Nowhere Boy *
Mariah Carey (Mrs Weiss) – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Mo’Nique (Mary) – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire *
Olivia Williams (Miss Stubbs) – An Education
Penelope Cruz (Carla) – Nine
Rachel Weisz (Abigail Salmon) – The Lovely Bones
Rosamund Pike (Helen) – An Education *
Susan Sarandon (Grandma Lynn) – The Lovely Bones
Vera Farmiga (Alex Goran) – Up in the Air

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Crazy Heart
The Damned United
District 9 *
An Education *
Fantastic Mr Fox
In the Loop *
Invictus
Let the Right One In *
The Lovely Bones
Me and Orson Welles
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire *
The Road
A Single Man
Star Trek
Up in the Air *

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Avatar
Bright Star
Broken Embraces
Fish Tank
Gran Torino
The Hangover
The Hurt Locker *
Inglourious Basterds *
It’s Complicated
Moon *
Nowhere Boy
A Prophet
A Serious Man *
Up *
The Young Victoria

MAKE UP & HAIR
Avatar
Bright Star *
Coco Before Chanel *
District 9
An Education *
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus *
Inglourious Basterds
Julie & Julia
Me and Orson Welles
Nine
Nowhere Boy
The Road
Star Trek
The Young Victoria *

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
2012 *
Avatar *
District 9 *
Fantastic Mr Fox
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince *
The Hurt Locker
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Inglourious Basterds
The Lovely Bones
Moon
The Road
Star Trek *
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Watchmen
Where the Wild Things Are

SOUND
Avatar *
District 9 *
An Education
Fantastic Mr Fox
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker *
Inglourious Basterds
The Lovely Bones
Moon
Nine
Nowhere Boy
The Road
Star Trek *
Up *
Where the Wild Things Are

EDITING
Avatar *
Bright Star
District 9 *
An Education
The Hurt Locker *
Inglourious Basterds *
The Lovely Bones
Moon
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
The Road
A Serious Man
A Single Man
Star Trek
Up
Up in the Air *

COSTUME DESIGN
Avatar
Bright Star *
Coco Before Chanel *
District 9
An Education *
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Inglourious Basterds
Me and Orson Welles
Nine
Nowhere Boy
Sherlock Holmes
A Single Man *
Star Trek
The Young Victoria *

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Avatar
Bright Star *
Coco Before Chanel
District 9 *
An Education
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince *
The Hurt Locker
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus *
Inglourious Basterds
The Lovely Bones
Moon
The Road
Sherlock Holmes *
A Single Man
Star Trek

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar *
Bright Star *
Coco Before Chanel
District 9
An Education
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker *
Inglourious Basterds *
The Lovely Bones
Moon
The Road
A Serious Man *
A Single Man
Star Trek
Up in the Air

ANIMATED FILM
Coraline *
Disney’s A Christmas Carol
Fantastic Mr Fox *
Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Up *

MUSIC
Avatar *
Bright Star
Coraline *
Crazy Heart *
An Education
Fantastic Mr Fox *
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Lovely Bones
Moon *
Nine
Nowhere Boy
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
Up *
Up in the Air

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Broken Embraces
Coco Before Chanel
Let the Right One In
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

Official BAFTA site
> Interview with BAFTA chief executive Amanda Berry from 2008

Categories
News

EA British Academy Childrens Awards

The EA British Academy Children’s Awards took place last night at the London Hilton Hotel.

They celebrate excellence in the art forms of the moving image for children – from film and television to video games and websites.

Check out the above video to find out who won in the various categories and find out more at the official Children’s BAFTA website.

Categories
Amusing Awards Season

Mickey Rourke’s BAFTA Speech

Probably the highlight of last night’s BAFTAs was Mickey Rourke’s acceptance speech.

Categories
Interviews Podcast

Interviews with BAFTA Winners

And the BAFTA goes to...

Here are some interviews I’ve done in the past year with people involved in films that won at the BAFTAs tonight.

Check out more interviews here and subscribe to our interview podcast via iTunes or RSS feed.

> Full list of this year’s winners
Official BAFTA site
Full list of this year’s nominees

Categories
Awards Season News

BAFTA Winners

BAFTAs 2009 [Photo by Flickr user FoxyCoxy]

Here are the full list of winners at tonight’s BAFTA awards, which were held at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.

BEST FILM
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ACTOR
Mickey Rourke
– The Wrestler

BEST ACTRESS
Kate Winslet – The Reader

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Milllionaire

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
In Bruges – Martin McDonagh

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Slumdog Millionaire – Simon Beaufoy

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
I’ve Loved You So Long

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Wall-E

THE CARL FOREMAN AWARD (Special achievement by a British director, writer or producer for their first feature film)
Steve McQueen (Director/Writer) – Hunger

BEST MUSIC
Slumdog Millionaire – AR Rahman

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Slumdog Millionaire – Anthony Dod Mantle

BEST EDITING
Slumdog Millionaire – Chris Dickens

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Donald Graham Burt, Victor J Zolfo

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Duchess – Michael O’Connor

BEST SOUND
Slumdog Millionaire – Glenn Freemantle, Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke, Tom Sayers, Ian Tapp

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Barba, Craig Barron, Nathan McGuinness, Edson Williams

BEST MAKE-UP & HAIR
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Jean Black, Colleen Callaghan

BEST SHORT ANIMATION
Wallace And Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death – Steve Pegram, Nick Park, Bob Baker

BEST SHORT
September – Stewart le Marechal, Esther May Campbell

BEST BRITISH FILM
Man On Wire

THE ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Noel Clarke

Official BAFTA site
> Full list of this year’s nominees
The original longlist

[Photo courtesy of Flickr user FoxyCoxy]

Categories
Interesting News

Philip French tribute at The Observer

Philip French has been the chief film critic at The Observer for over 30 years and has recently been awarded a BAFTA fellowship.

The UK newspaper has compiled a nice set of features to honour one of their finest writers:

It is a fitting tribute and a model of how online content can supplement the print edition.

But it also highlights the reasons French remains the best UK film critic, which is his ability to write about films in engaging, fair and learned manner.

His fairness means that he takes mainstream films seriously (both the good and the bad) and doesn’t feel the need to come up with a contrarian angle in order to attract attention.

Whether he likes a film or not, I get the sense he gives anything he sees a fair crack of the whip. Unlike some of his contemporaries, he reviews all the weekly releases and doesn’t farm out lesser known films to a deputy.

His learning means that his can place films in a valuable context, be it historical, political or artistic, but he manages to do so in a way that avoids the snooty academic tone that can plague highbrow criticism.

He also reminds you that there is a world outside of films, which is useful in keeping things in perspective.

If you are a critic for a media outlet, you get invited to pre-release screenings and in the case of the national press, screenings usually take place every Monday or Tuesday.

Sometimes, a mood of jaded cynicism can pervade the air (particularly if the film is a stinker) but Philip is always a notable presence because he invariably stays until the credits have finished.

For me, it is symbolic of both his professionalism and genuine love of cinema. In the UK, too many people assigned to write about about films are arts journalists plucked from the social networks that pervade the British media.

Sometimes they appear to have little love or knowledge of the medium and favour witty putdowns over genuine thought.

In recent weeks a raft of US film critics have lost their jobs and the role has been called in to question. In a post I wrote on that very subject I said that the best critics must inform, enlighten and entertain.

French does all three and remains a shining example of what a good arts journalist should be.

> Read Philip’s latest reviews at The Observer
> Check out past articles at Guardian Unimited

(Photo: Richard Saker / The Observer)

Categories
Awards Season Interviews

Interview: Amanda Berry of BAFTA

The Orange British Academy Film AwardsThe Orange British Academy Film Awards – also known as the BAFTAs – take place this Sunday and it is the showpiece event of the UK film calendar.

Amanda Berry is the chief executive of BAFTA and I recently spoke to her about: the awards event; the changes she has made since the late 90s; how it fits in to the awards season; how the nomination process works, what the BAFTA organisation does around the year; and the films up for nomination.

Listen to the interview here:

[audio:http://filmdetail.receptionmedia.com/Amanda_Berry_BAFTA_Interview_2008.mp3]

To download this as a podcast via iTunes just click the image below:

UK viewers can see the awards show on BBC1 this Sunday at 9pm and for more information just visit their official website at www.bafta.org/awards

> Download this interview as an MP3 file
> The full BAFTA nominations for this year
> Watch some of the highlights from last year at BAFTA’s site