BAFTA Nominations

For the films of 2014
Post Reply
Sabin
Laureate Emeritus
Posts: 10740
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 12:52 am
Contact:

Re: BAFTA Nominations

Post by Sabin »

I wrote something akin to this elsewhere, re: Selma's lack of awards traction.

Two more reasons why Selma isn't doing as well as it could:

1) Selma isn't medicine or a history lesson. It's a sermon. It's not a character piece. There are more speeches in Selma than any other film this year. Selma is a movie about people talking about Selma. You could say the same about Lincoln and The Social Network, but Ava DuVernay and Paul Webb are not Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner or David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin. Additionally, the reasons why Selma may not hit it out of the park at the Academy Awards (and we don't know for sure, but it's my guess) are some of the same reasons why Lincoln and The Social Network didn't either.

2) Another reason is this was an exhausting year. Ellen DeGeneres opened the Oscars by saying "Tonight we get to find out if 12 Years a Slave wins Best Picture or if we're all racists." The Academy gave it to 12 Years a Slave and spent the rest of the year hearing about racists in this country. I'm sure some people will be galvanized by Selma's call to action (truth be told: I've never sat in an audience where so many people stayed until the end of credits), but I could see people feeling exhausted as well.

Couple that with a poor rollout and a rollup of precursors and it's an uphill battle.
"How's the despair?"
Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8636
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: BAFTA Nominations

Post by Mister Tee »

The Original BJ wrote:Another thought: I know Oscar voters DID get the Selma screener, but building traction with these precursors is important because it helps voters decide which movies to even WATCH. Contrary to the belief of bloggers, many people in the industry voting for these things don't make a point of seeing all of the contenders, even the most obvious ones. For instance, after the WGA nominations came out, I talked with a WGA member friend of mine -- who submitted a ballot -- who expressed that she wished she'd had more time to see more movies before voting; she didn't get to The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, or Gone Girl, of all things, and just voted for what she liked of what she HAD seen. I'm hoping Oscar voters have pegged Selma as a must-view candidate, but I'm starting to wonder if the traction issues that have plagued it with other groups could hurt it with Oscar as well, simply because some voters didn't get around to it.
Yeah, you can trash Paramount for not doing its job (adding onto their didn't-sell-Top Five blunder), but can we zero in on the true culprit, as suggested by BJ's post here? The move-up of the Oscar presentations, and the resultant shift of everything else forward, has made it almost impossible for the people involved in these various guilds, as well as the Academy, to properly do their jobs. That a writer wouldn't bother watching The Grand Budapest hotel strikes me as disgraceful, but, on the other hand, I only saw A Most Violent Year today, and I haven't seen Mr. Turner or The Imitation Game yet, so I wouldn't be able to vote honestly, either. The year my wife was on the SAG Nominating Committee, she had till January 31st to see everything, and, even with screener help, that became a chore; six weeks earlier, it has to be insane. A friend of mine, I just found out, is an Academy member, and he was watching 3+ films a day over the holidays so he could fill out his ballot. This is no way to watch/appreciate movies, and I don't wonder that some people blow it off. I assume things'll never change back, because...well, just because...but the original sin was the date change. (And its stated goal -- to keep other groups like SAG and the Globes from upstaging the Oscars -- has been a miserable failure: all the other groups (and more) are still around, only they're now compressed into an even shorter space of time, and they've come to more and more pick the same things)

A few other, BAFTA observations:

Steve Carell in support is a whole lot preferable to Duvall or Wilkinson, and it's not super-severe fraud (which is to say, I'd rate him a lead, but I wouldn't arm-wrestle over it). And I wouldn't mind it as a way to keep Carell from being so disappointed after such hype.

The overall strength of Nightcrawler makes Russo at least a possibility in supporting actress. A lot of people have been acting as if that category is frozen-solid, but, past Arquette/Knightley/Stone, I don't think anyone is completely safe.

Mike Leigh is of course always a threat for a writers' branch mention, but the way BAFTA passed on him (including Spall) makes me wonder if he just won't make it this time. (Which is just what he WANTS me to believe, so he can swoop in again)

Paddington, for those who haven't followed this, got quite enthusiastic reviews (in the trades, and in the UK where it opened), and has done serious box office. It'll open here shortly, and could become a hit in the LEGO Movie late winter slot.
User avatar
OscarGuy
Site Admin
Posts: 13668
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 12:22 am
Location: Springfield, MO
Contact:

Re: BAFTA Nominations

Post by OscarGuy »

If it was indeed eligible for BAFTA, then its failure to secure ANY nominations is bad. It might still show up, but at this point it has to have below-the-line support to get a lot of major traction and so far even that isn't playing out.

Paramount (and DuVernay) blame the last-minute editing completion. However, Paramount has royally botched this film's roll-out, screener distribution and general publicity. If it fails to get many nominations, this will be the second year in a row that Para has almost killed a film's Oscar chances. At least with Wolf of Wall Street, they got it out to most of the guilds before voting. This time, they weren't so lucky. This all boils down to Paramount's crappy awards publicity arm. If I were someone high up in Para, I'd be rolling some heads.

I had a conversation with someone over at Paramount's awards screener division in early December as our OFCS members were preparing to vote and they hadn't gotten Selma or Interstellar on screener and wanted to give it a look before voting. Enough had seen a screening and given it a nomination for Best Picture, but it was a small fraction of our member base. The person I spoke with indicated that they would of course prefer people see it on the big screen where it was meant to be seen, but admitted that they were just then starting to burn copies of Interstellar. A movie that had been in the theaters for quite awhle hadn't even been transferred for screeners. That sounds like laziness or poor planning or perhaps a combination of both.

Perhaps this is why both Interstellar and Selma have lost so much traction this Oscar season. Interstellar didn't have great reviews, so that didn't help, but if guilds didn't get screeners until late, that's another issue. I can attest that most people who vote on awards will watch everything they get up to the point where they have too many to watch, then they prioritize. They watch what they find most interesting and save the rest for last, often pushing some possibly depressing movies to the backburner (I know I kept pushing my Wild screener to the bottom of the list).
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
The Original BJ
Emeritus
Posts: 4312
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 8:49 pm

Re: BAFTA Nominations

Post by The Original BJ »

Here's why folks are panicking about Selma. It definitely was eligible for the SAG Awards, and didn't get any nominations. It definitely was eligible for the PGA, and couldn't crack a list of 10. And now many outlets are reporting that it WAS eligible at BAFTA, giving the excuse that it only had the equivalent of a qualifying run, but wasn't widely seen.

The question becomes, how much can we write off these rather significant precursor failings as simply due to the fact that the movie hasn't been seen? And what point do we wonder if it's not exciting passion among people? I'm not ready to stick a fork in the movie's nomination chances just yet, but neither am I confident that suddenly it's just going to rally back with Oscar to lead the nominations either.

Another thought: I know Oscar voters DID get the Selma screener, but building traction with these precursors is important because it helps voters decide which movies to even WATCH. Contrary to the belief of bloggers, many people in the industry voting for these things don't make a point of seeing all of the contenders, even the most obvious ones. For instance, after the WGA nominations came out, I talked with a WGA member friend of mine -- who submitted a ballot -- who expressed that she wished she'd had more time to see more movies before voting; she didn't get to The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, or Gone Girl, of all things, and just voted for what she liked of what she HAD seen. I'm hoping Oscar voters have pegged Selma as a must-view candidate, but I'm starting to wonder if the traction issues that have plagued it with other groups could hurt it with Oscar as well, simply because some voters didn't get around to it.

The other thought I have is, many of us have long pegged Selma as the MOST compelling of the more traditional fare, assuming this would help it do very well. But, could it possibly be seen as the LEAST hip of the edgier fare instead? The people that like the movie DON'T seem to be the crowd that fawns over stuff like Imitation Game and Theory of Everything. But it seems like most of Selma's fans seem to be MORE committed to stuff like Boyhood, Birdman, Grand Budapest, maybe even Nightcrawler. It's possible the movie just isn't bold enough OR square enough to nab the passion index it needs.

Or...it could still pull through with a bunch of Oscar nominations. The thing is, it's just hard to know anymore, and that's I think the reason why people are panicking about its chances. I just don't think you can say, with certainty, "the Academy got the screeners, its chances are fine."
User avatar
OscarGuy
Site Admin
Posts: 13668
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 12:22 am
Location: Springfield, MO
Contact:

Re: BAFTA Nominations

Post by OscarGuy »

Why are we panicking about Selma? Selma doesn't release in the UK until February. Was it even eligible based on its release date? If not, then people need to chill out about this stuff. If it got a qualifying run (not sure BAFTA even permits that like the Oscars do), then yeah, it's a bad sign...especially since it didn't get nominated ANYWHERE (which is one of the reasons I believe it was ineligible).
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
The Original BJ
Emeritus
Posts: 4312
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 8:49 pm

Re: BAFTA Nominations

Post by The Original BJ »

I've been wondering a lot this week if the recent surge for Nightcrawler will be able to pull Rene Russo into that anyone's-guess fifth supporting actress slot. A Most Violent Year doesn't seem to be catching on, so whether or not Chastain can survive to be the sole major nominee from the film is iffy. Selma and Wild seem to be struggling to get the nominations that already seemed likely -- pulling along coattails nominees seems far too great a mountain to climb. And St. Vincent strikes me as the definition of SAG flukiness. Despite few individual precursor mentions, Russo still seems like a very decent possibility to me.
Sabin
Laureate Emeritus
Posts: 10740
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 12:52 am
Contact:

Re: BAFTA Nominations

Post by Sabin »

Rene Russo gets her first nomination of this award's season. I'm going to have to rescind my gripes about Best Supporting Actress this year if she gets in.
"How's the despair?"
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19312
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: BAFTA Nominations

Post by Big Magilla »

MIke Leigh has certainly done well by Bafta in the past with 14 nominations and 4 wins. Nice to see Vera Drake star Imelda Staunton nominated in the highly competitive supporting actress category.

I originally thought Paddington would be the big British hit of the year, couldn't understand why its U.S. release was delayed. It has one of the most intriguing casts of the year - Nicole Kidman, Peter Capaldi, Julie Walters, Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonnevile, Jim Broadbent, Matt LUcas, Geofrey Palmer and the voices of Michael Gambon, Ben Whishaw and Imedla Stanton.
ITALIANO
Emeritus
Posts: 4076
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2003 1:58 pm
Location: MILAN

Re: BAFTA Nominations

Post by ITALIANO »

Yes, from what I've heard Mr Turner deserved more than four technical nominations - especially from the country it belongs to. I haven't seen it yet, but I can't believe that it's worse than The Theory of Everything..!

I'm glad for The Grand Budapest Hotel, though. It is, of course, a movie that Europeans can fall in love with, and easily relate to - but at this point it's clear that the Academy will also nominate it in several categories, and not only for its (excellent) production values. Ralph Fiennes will probably be the only one missing from the Oscar list, which will be a pity, but it's nice that he was at least mentioned by his countrymen.

Will Rene Russo be the big surprise on nomination morning? Not so surprising maybe, especially now that it has happened here, but still something that not many were betting on these days.

As for the Steve Carell "trick", it's also a sign that, for Best Actor, he may be weaker than Jake Gyllenhaal, though maybe a bit less so in the US where Carell is, I've been told, a star and the movie probably less "foreign", in more ways than one, than it is in UK. I don't think that the Supporting move will happen at the Oscars, actually, though, as far as category frauds go, we have seen much more obviously "leading" roles being unfairly put in the other race. It would be wrong, of course, but maybe not shockingly wrong.
Last edited by ITALIANO on Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
flipp525
Laureate
Posts: 6163
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2003 7:44 am

Re: BAFTA Nominations

Post by flipp525 »

Apparently Amy Adams lives to see another day although, to be fair, this organization does kind of love her. Has Jennifer Aniston not whored herself around the Empire enough? (J/k I'm sure that Cake was ineligible.)

And what an interesting way of dealing with the Steve Carell problem.

Love the Rene Russo citation. I really hope she swoops in for an Oscar nod. They shut-out Meryl! But they overlooked her August: Osage County performance as well and we know how the Academy dealt with that.

Ugh, The Theory of Everything.

Is that Paddington as in Paddington Bear, as in the stuffed animal I used to have on my bed as a child? That's quite a snub to Mike Leigh and company.
Last edited by flipp525 on Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:07 am, edited 3 times in total.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Okri
Tenured
Posts: 3345
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:28 pm
Location: Edmonton, AB

Re: BAFTA Nominations

Post by Okri »

Not yet anonymous.

Though we should give up the hope that The Theory of Everything will underperform at oscars. Be happy if Marsh misses on the DGA and move on.
User avatar
Precious Doll
Emeritus
Posts: 4453
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:20 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Re: BAFTA Nominations

Post by Precious Doll »

The BFTAs have always been a joke. No Timothy Spall or Mike Leigh!

I have always thought should limit their nominations to British films, with maybe a category for best foreign film (in any language including English) like the French do.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
anonymous1980
Laureate
Posts: 6374
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 10:03 pm
Location: Manila
Contact:

BAFTA Nominations

Post by anonymous1980 »

Should we stick a fork in Selma?

Here is the full list of the 2015 BAFTA awards nominees:

BEST FILM
Birdman Alejandro G. Inarritu, John Lesher, James W. Skotchdopole
Boyhood Richard Linklater, Cathleen Sutherland
The Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson
The Imitation Game Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky, Teddy Schwarzman
The Theory of Everything Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
’71 Yann Demange, Angus Lamont, Robin Gutch, Gregory Burke
The Imitation Game Morten Tyldum, Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky, Teddy Schwarzman, Graham Moore
Paddington Paul King, David Heyman
Pride Matthew Warchus, David Livingstone, Stephen Beresford
The Theory of Everything James Marsh, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten
Under the Skin Jonathan Glazer, James Wilson, Nick Wechsler, Walter Campbell

ANIMATED FILM
Big Hero 6 Don Hall, Chris Williams
The Boxtrolls Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable
The Lego Movie Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

DIRECTOR
Birdman Alejandro G. Inarritu
Boyhood Richard Linklater
The Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Anderson
The Theory of Everything James Marsh
Whiplash Damien Chazelle

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo
Boyhood Richard Linklater
The Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Anderson
Nightcrawler Dan Gilroy
Whiplash Damien Chazelle

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Sniper Jason Hall
Gone Girl Gillian Flynn
The Imitation Game Graham Moore
Paddington Paul King
The Theory of Everything Anthony McCarten

LEADING ACTOR
Benedict Cumberbatch The Imitation Game
Eddie Redmayne The Theory of Everything
Jake Gyllenhaal Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton Birdman
Ralph Fiennes The Grand Budapest Hotel

LEADING ACTRESS
Amy Adams Big Eyes
Felicity Jones The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore Still Alice
Reese Witherspoon Wild
Rosamund Pike Gone Girl

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Edward Norton Birdman
Ethan Hawke Boyhood
J.K. Simmons Whiplash
Mark Ruffalo Foxcatcher
Steve Carell Foxcatcher

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Emma Stone Birdman
Imelda Staunton Pride
Keira Knightley The Imitation Game
Patricia Arquette Boyhood
Rene Russo Nightcrawler

Original music
BIRDMAN Antonio Sanchez
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Alexandre Desplat
INTERSTELLAR Hans Zimmer
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Jóhann Jóhannsson
UNDER THE SKIN Mica Levi

Cinematography
BIRDMAN Emmanuel Lubezki
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Robert Yeoman
IDA Lukasz Zal, Ryzsard Lenczewski
INTERSTELLAR Hoyte van Hoytema
MR. TURNER Dick Pope

Editing
BIRDMAN Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Barney Pilling
THE IMITATION GAME William Goldenberg
NIGHTCRAWLER John Gilroy
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Jinx Godfrey
WHIPLASH Tom Cross

Production design
BIG EYES Rick Heinrichs, Shane Vieau
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
THE IMITATION GAME Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
INTERSTELLAR Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
MR. TURNER Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts

Costume design
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Milena Canonero
THE IMITATION GAME Sammy Sheldon Differ
INTO THE WOODS Colleen Atwood
MR. TURNER Jacqueline Durran
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Steven Noble

Make-up and hair
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Frances Hannon
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White
INTO THE WOODS Peter Swords King, J. Roy Helland
MR. TURNER Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Jan Sewell

Sound
AMERICAN SNIPER Walt Martin, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman
BIRDMAN Thomas Varga, Martin Hernández, Aaron Glascock, Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Wayne Lemmer, Christopher Scarabosio, Pawel Wdowczak
THE IMITATION GAME John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Stuart Hilliker, Martin Jensen
WHIPLASH Thomas Curley, Ben Wilkins, Craig Mann

Special visual effects
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Erik Winquist, Daniel Barrett
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner, Nicolas Aithadi
THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White
INTERSTELLAR Paul Franklin, Scott Fisher, Andrew Lockley
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer

British short animation
THE BIGGER PICTURE Chris Hees, Daisy Jacobs, Jennifer Majka
MONKEY LOVE EXPERIMENTS Ainslie Henderson, Cam Fraser, Will Anderson
MY DAD Marcus Armitage

British short film
BOOGALOO AND GRAHAM Brian J. Falconer, Michael Lennox, Ronan Blaney
EMOTIONAL FUSEBOX Michael Berliner, Rachel Tunnard
THE KÁRMÁN LINE Campbell Beaton, Dawn King, Tiernan Hanby, Oscar Sharp
SLAP Islay Bell-Webb, Michelangelo Fano, Nick Rowland
THREE BROTHERS Aleem Khan, Matthieu de Braconier, Stephanie Paeplow

Outstanding debut by a British actor, director or producer
ELAINE CONSTANTINE (Writer/Director) Northern Soul
GREGORY BURKE (Writer), YANN DEMANGE (Director) ’71
HONG KHAOU (Writer/Director) Lilting
PAUL KATIS (Director/Producer), ANDREW DE LOTBINIÈRE (Producer) Kajaki: The True Story
STEPHEN BERESFORD (Writer), DAVID LIVINGSTONE (Producer) Pride

Film not in the English language
IDA Pawel Pawlikowski, Eric Abraham, Piotr Dzieciol, Ewa Puszczynska
LEVIATHAN Andrey Zvyagintsev, Alexander Rodnyansky, Sergey Melkumov
THE LUNCHBOX Ritesh Batra, Arun Rangachari, Anurag Kashyap, Guneet Monga
TRASH Stephen Daldry, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Kris Thykier
TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Denis Freyd

Documentary
20 FEET FROM STARDOM Morgan Neville, Caitrin Rogers, Gil Friesen
20,000 DAYS ON EARTH Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard
CITIZENFOUR Laura Poitras
FINDING VIVIAN MAIER John Maloof, Charlie Siskel
VIRUNGA Orlando von Einsiedel, Joanna Natasegara

The EE rising star award (voted for by public)
GUGU MBATHA-RAW
JACK O’CONNELL
MARGOT ROBBIE
MILES TELLER
SHAILENE WOODLEY
Post Reply

Return to “87th Predictions and Precursors”