Bafta Film Awards 2022: Dune leads nominations with 11
- Published
Sci-fi epic Dune, which boasts an all-star cast including Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya, leads the nominations for this year's Bafta Film Awards with 11.
The Power of the Dog, a gothic Western starring Benedict Cumberbatch as a menacing cowboy, received eight nods.
Sir Kenneth Branagh's Belfast, a black-and-white retelling of his childhood in Northern Ireland got six nominations.
Daniel Craig's final Bond outing No Time To Die has five nominations, including outstanding British film.
The top nominees
Dune - 11
The Power of the Dog - 8
Belfast - 6
Licorice Pizza - 5
No Time to Die - 5
West Side Story -5
After Love - 4
Boiling Point -4
Cyrano - 4
Don't Look Up - 4
Passing - 4
King Richard - 4
Read the full list of nominations here.
Best film recognition
Dune's high number of nominations on Thursday, including for best film, reflects its recognition in many categories, including technical ones such as cinematography, visual effects, costume design and make-up and hair, as well as original score.
It is a sprawling story of power, betrayal and murder set in the distant future, and was a box office hit when it came out last year in the UK, making more than £20m.
Critics largely lavished praise on director Denis Villeneuve's movie, which was based on Frank Herbert's 1965 classic sci-fi book. It was also made into a film in 1984 by David Lynch.
The other best film nominees are Belfast, Leonardo DiCaprio's disaster comedy Don't Look Up, coming-of-age comedy-drama Licorice Pizza, starring pop/rock star Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman, and The Power of the Dog.
But No Time to Die, along with Steven Spielberg's big-screen adaptation of the musical West Side Story, were overlooked for best film.
Sir Kenneth said Bafta's recognition for Belfast was "an amazing tribute to a remarkable part of the world", adding: "We are humbly and delightfully gobsmacked!"
Who is in the acting categories?
Cumberbatch was nominated in the leading actor category and afterwards told the PA news agency he was "deeply humbled and grateful". "The journey to play Phil Burbank took me a long way from anything familiar to me and this recognition of that work feels like completing the circle and coming home," he said.
The UK actor will go head-to-head with DiCaprio and King Richard star Will Smith for the leading actor gong, as well as another Brit Stephen Graham - who played an under pressure chef in Boiling Point.
This is Smith's first Bafta nomination, for his role as Richard Williams, in the biographical drama about the father and coach of tennis players Venus and Serena Williams.
Among the nominees for best actress are House of Gucci's Lady Gaga, fellow musician Alana Haim for Licorice Pizza, Tessa Thompson for Passing and Emilia Jones - Aled Jones's daughter - for Coda.
Joanna Scanlan, who is nominated for After Love, a film about a 60-year-old Muslim convert who suffers an identity crisis following the sudden death of her husband.
She told the BBC: "I'm shaking, I'm literally shaking my knees are buckling underneath. I feel really in shock. I was lucky as a 60-year-old woman to play a character who, in real life would be quite an invisible person.
"It's a fantastic role - I often play support roles, that's been the majority of my career. I really enjoyed playing a leading role and stepping into that kind of emotional complexity."
Licorice Pizza filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson is up for best director, against the likes of Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog and Julia Ducournau for Titane - which won the Palme d'Or at last year's Cannes Film Festival. Three women were nominated among the six slots, which also includes Audrey Diwan, for Happening.
The best supporting actor category includes 11-year old British schoolboy Woody Norman, for C'mon C'mon - about a radio journalist (Joaquin Phoenix) who is landed with his energetic young nephew, and takes him on a road trip.
It also includes Ciaran Hinds (Belfast), plus Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee for The Power of the Dog. Hinds said he was "quietly thrilled and genuinely grateful", while Smit-McPhee said he felt "humbled" his performance had "resonated" with Bafta.
Jessie Buckley is on the list for best supporting actress, which also includes King Richard's Aunjanue Ellis, Ariana DeBose for West Side Story and Ruth Negga (Passing).
Buckley, who starred in The Lost Daughter as a younger version of Olivia Colman's character, commented: "Making this film surrounded by these incredible women was an absolute gift."
Belfast star Caitriona Balfe, who is nominated in the same category, thanked Sir Kenneth for casting her as Ma in the film, which she described as a "beautiful exploration of love, kindness and the need for tolerance at a time when it's needed more than ever".
Who missed out?
Sir Kenneth's Belfast is up for a raft of awards, but his name is absent from the best director list, along with Villeneuve, Spielberg for West Side Story and Ridley Scott for House of Gucci.
Other notable omissions from this year's shortlists include Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter) and Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos) in the best actress category plus Kirsten Dunst for best supporting actress (The Power of the Dog), along with Andrew Garfield (Tick Tick... Boom!) and Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth) for best actor. Two-time Oscar winner Washington has never had a Bafta nomination.
Despite their leading actresses missing out, The Lost Daughter and Being the Ricardos are still among nine films to have been handed two Bafta nominations.
One film missing from the Bafta shortlists is Spider-Man: No Way Home because it was not made available for voters to watch online in time, while Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, failed to get any nominations.
What about the Oscars?
Stars including Chalamet and Cumberbatch may now face a dilemma over whether to attend the Baftas or the Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles, after being nominated for both.
The Critics Choice show was moved from January to the same day as the Baftas, which usually attracts an array of big-name nominees from the US as well as the UK. Last month, Bafta said it was not planning to have a satellite link-up with the Critics Choice venue.
The Oscar nominations will be announced on Tuesday ahead of the Academy Awards on 27 March.
Final Oscars voting begins four days after the Bafta and Critics Choice ceremonies. Nomadland won best film at both the Oscars and Baftas last year, but before 2021, the best film winner at both ceremonies had been different six years in a row.
Baftas' new host
The nominees for the rising star category - the only Bafta voted for by the public - were announced earlier this week.
DeBose, Harris Dickinson (The King's Man), Lashana Lynch (No Time To Die), Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place Part II) and Smit-McPhee are all in the running.
The Baftas will be hosted by Australian actress Rebel Wilson at a ceremony at London's Royal Albert Hall on 13 March.
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