Bafta Film Awards: Eddie Redmayne and Dame Maggie Smith nominated
- Published
Both Eddie Redmayne (left) and Alicia Vikander have been nominated for The Danish Girl
Eddie Redmayne is aiming for a Bafta double after being nominated for best actor for The Danish Girl, a year after winning for The Theory of Everything.
Redmayne faces competition from Bryan Cranston, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael Fassbender.
Dame Maggie Smith is up for best actress for The Lady in the Van - pitting her against Cate Blanchett.
Blanchett's romance Carol and Steven Spielberg's drama Bridge of Spies lead the nominations with nine each.
Smith plays the title role in The Lady in the Van, in which Alex Jennings plays Alan Bennett
Alongside Blanchett and Dame Maggie on the best actress list are Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn, Brie Larson for Room and Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl.
Vikander also has a second nomination in the supporting actress category for Ex Machina. She said she was "truly honoured" and the two films had been "such gifts of projects for me".
Carol and Bridge of Spies are both nominated for best film, alongside financial crash drama The Big Short, DiCaprio's survival epic The Revenant and Spotlight, about a newspaper investigation into child abuse in the Catholic Church.
The Danish Girl, in which Redmayne plays transgender pioneer Lili Elbe, is named on the shortlist for outstanding British film, along with Brooklyn, in which Ronan plays a young Irish woman who emigrates to New York.
Amy Winehouse documentary Amy is also up for best British film, as are marital drama 45 Years, Ex Machina - in which Vikander plays a synthetic human - and surreal comedy drama The Lobster.
Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet are both nominated for Steve Jobs
Most nominated films:
9 - Bridge of Spies
9 - Carol
8 - The Revenant
7 - Mad Max: Fury Road
6 - Brooklyn
6 - The Martian
5 - The Big Short
5 - The Danish Girl
5 - Ex Machina
4 - Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Saoirse Ronan is nominated for her role in Brooklyn, a love story based on a novel by Colm Toibin
Other British talents up for awards include Julie Walters, whose role as a boarding house owner in Brooklyn pits her against Kate Winslet, who plays an Apple marketing executive in the biopic of Steve Jobs, for best supporting actress.
Winslet said being nominated "by my fellow Brits really means a great deal", adding: "This is such a great year for women in film and I am absolutely thrilled to be included."
Walters said she was thrilled to be nominated and "proud to be included alongside these great women and their powerful performances". Carol's Rooney Mara and The Hateful Eight's Jennifer Jason Leigh are also in the running.
Three Brits are in the best supporting actor category - Christian Bale for The Big Short, Idris Elba for Beasts of No Nation and Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies.
Ridley Scott will fly the flag in the best director category thanks to his work on space survival saga The Martian.
However there were no nominations for James Bond film Spectre, Jennifer Lawrence's Oscar-tipped Joy or Suffragette.
Mark Rylance plays British-born Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in Bridge of Spies
Carey Mulligan's hopes of a best actress nomination for Suffragette were dashed, while other Brits to miss out included Charlotte Rampling, who was tipped for 45 Years, and Steve Jobs director Danny Boyle.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens could be rewarded for its huge success after being nominated for best production design, sound, original music and special visual effects.
One of the film's young stars, Londoner John Boyega, has already received his nomination for the Bafta Rising Star Award alongside Brie Larson, Dakota Johnson, Taron Egerton and Bel Powley.
The annual Bafta ceremony takes place at London's Royal Opera House on 14 February - two weeks before the Oscars.
Find out more about the nominated films:
Eddie Redmayne stars as Einar Wegener in The Danish Girl
Dame Maggie Smith: "I'm stuck being a mean old cow!"
Newsnight's Stephen Smith speaks to director Steven Spielberg
- Published14 February 2016
- Published5 January 2016
