BAFTA WINNERS

[Big Magilla]

I had pretty strong feeling Murphy would win here -- British isles guy, probably more familiar to these voters than stateside folk -- and don't see why that would mean any more to the Oscar outcome than a Giamatti SAG win. Which, of course, hasn't happened yet, but... Little-knowns have occasionally won lead actor over more prominent veterans, usually in connection with best picture heat -- I guess Jean Dujardin the most recent example.

I mostly agree, but it's weird to hear Cillian Murphy referred to as a "little-known." I'd put him on par with Forest Whitaker in 2006 - maybe not the most famous actor of the quintet, but certainly beyond breakthrough or one-off (even if it does end up being his only Oscar nomination).

Well, yeah. As I said several posts down:

Murphy is as well known in the U.S. as he is in Britain, not just for his film work but for the long-running British TV series, Peaky Binders which was a huge streaming success here. He is better known to the general public than Paul Giamatti, but both are familiar to AMPAS voters so it really does look like it will be which performance they like better.

[Okri]

I had pretty strong feeling Murphy would win here -- British isles guy, probably more familiar to these voters than stateside folk -- and don't see why that would mean any more to the Oscar outcome than a Giamatti SAG win. Which, of course, hasn't happened yet, but... Little-knowns have occasionally won lead actor over more prominent veterans, usually in connection with best picture heat -- I guess Jean Dujardin the most recent example. But 1) he also won SAG and 2) his prime competitor, Clooney, was already a winner. Prior to that, you'd have to go back to F. Murray Abraham or Ben Kingsley, which was a different Oscar country. Bottom line for me: if Giamatti wins SAG, I'd say the category's a jump ball.

I mostly agree, but it's weird to hear Cillian Murphy referred to as a "little-known." I'd put him on par with Forest Whitaker in 2006 - maybe not the most famous actor of the quintet, but certainly beyond breakthrough or one-off (even if it does end up being his only Oscar nomination).

A potential sign of weakness for Giamatti? Sessa not getting nominated. When a lead/picture doesn't have long enough coattails to bring in the young(er) "supporting" performance (typically a man, but not always), we've seen the lead trip up in the end (the aforementioned Clooney with Woodley; Eisenberg with Garfield - though you can certainly argue he wasn't in the race). Conversely, we've seen tight races go in the favour of the performer with coattails (Affleck vs Washington in 2016, Washington vs Crowe in 2001, Fraser vs Butler last year).

[Big Magilla]

As long as we're looking at past BAFTA awards, it should be noted that prior to 1969, based on films released in the U.K. in 1968, acting awards were given to Best British Actor and Actress and Best Foreign Actor and Actress. There were no supporting awards given although occasionally a supporting performance was nominated in one of the acting categories alongside starring performances.

The first nominations for Best Actress without the distinction all went to non-British actresses: Katharine Hepburn, who won for both The Lion in Winter and Guess Who's coming to Dinner, Anne Bancroft in The Graduate, Catherine Deneuve in Bell de Jour, and Joanne Woodward in Rachel, Rachel. Spencer Tracy won Best Actor posthumously for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner over three British actors, Trevor Howard in The Charge of the Light Brigade, Ron Moody in Oliver!, and Nicol Williamson in The Bofors Gun. Mike Nichols won Best Director for The Graduate over Britishers Lindsay Anderson for If... and Carol Reed for Oliver!, and Italian Franco Zeffirelli for Romeo & Juliet. The Graduate won for Best Picture over Closely Watched Trains, Oliver!, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Most Promising Newcomer went to Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate over co-star Katharine Ross, as well as Pia Degermark in Elvira Madigan and Jack Wild in Oliver!

British actors did prevail in the supporting categories. Ian Holm won Best Supporting Actor for The Bofors Guns over fellow Britishers Anthony Hopkins in The Lion in Winter and John McEnery in Romeo & Juliet, along with American George Segal in the U.S. film, No Way to Treat a Lady. Billie Whitelaw won Best Supporting Actress for both Twisted Nerve and Charlie Bubbes over fellow Britishers Pat Heywood in Romeo & Juliet and Virginia Maskell nominated posthumously for Interlude, along with French legend Simone Signoret nominated for the U.S. film, Games.

[Big Magilla]

I always found that 1971 domination by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to be amusing.

Based on films released in the U.K. in 1970, the other nominees for Best Film were Kes, M*A*S*H, and Ryan's Daughter. The most memorable award of the evening was the first Fellowship award which went to Alfred Hitchcock.

The 1970 awards, based on films released in the U.K. in 1969, was much more interesting with Midnight Cowboy and Oh! What a Lovely War winning six each. Midnight Cowboy beat out Oh! What a Lovely War, Women in Love and Z for Best Film. Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie beat Glenda Jackson in Women in Love for Best Actress and both Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight won for Midnight Cowboy, Hoffman for Best Actor, Voight for Most Promising Newcomer.

Kim Darby was also nominated for Most Promising Newcomer for True Grit but in order to avoid nominating John Wayne, they had to nominate Walter Matthau for The Secret Life of an American Wife and Hello, Dolly! Laurence Olivier won Best Supporting Actor for his cameo in Oh! What a Lovely War over Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider and Celia Johnson won Best Supporting Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie over co-star Pamela Franklin.

[Reza]

Oppenheimer had a big day -- feels like it must be the most BAFTAs any film's won in quite a while --

This made me curious.

Oppenheimer won 7 Baftas out of 13 nominations.

The film with the record win is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1970) - which won 9 awards from 10 nods. It won for Best Film, Director (George Roy Hill), Actor (Robert Redford), Actress (Katherine Ross), Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Original Music, and Sound. The film won every category in which it was nominated — its only loss was to itself, as Redford beat out fellow nominee Paul Newman for Best Actor.

The Killing Fields (1984) won the second-most BAFTAs for a single movie. It won eight awards from 13 nods: Best Film, Best Actor and Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for Haing S. Ngor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Production Design/Art Direction, and Best Sound.

The following nine films received seven BAFTAs each: Cabaret, Schindler’s List, Slumdog Millionaire, The King's Speech, The Artist, The Favourite, 1917, All Quiet on the Western Front, and now Oppenheimer.

The films with the most Bafta nods:

Gandhi (1982) scored 16 nods across 14 categories, winning for Best Film, Best Direction, Best Actor and Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for Sir Ben Kingsley, and Best Supporting Actress for Rohini Hattangadi. It also received two Best Supporting Actor nods for Edward Fox and Roshan Seth, another Best Supporting Actress nod for Candice Bergen, and nods for Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup Artist, Best Production Design/Art Direction, Best Sound, and Best Score.

Shakespeare in Love (1998) received 15 nods. The film won the awards for Best Film, Best Supporting Actor for Geoffrey Rush, Best Supporting Actress for Judi Dench, and Best Editing. It also received nods for Best Direction, Best Actor for Joseph Fiennes, Best Actress for Gwyneth Paltrow, Best Supporting Actor for Tom Wilkinson, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Music, Best Makeup and Hair, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Sound.

Nine movies tie for third place with 14 BAFTA nods: A Room with a View; The Madness of King George; American Beauty; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Gladiator; The Aviator; Atonement; The King's Speech; and All Quiet on the Western Front.

[Big Magilla]

I thought the awards went pretty much as expected except for the American Fiction win which no one predicted.

I don't put much stock in the idea of Cillian Murphy winning the BAFTA due to home advantage. That didn't stop Colin Farrell from losing to Austin Butler last year. Murphy is as well known in the U.S. as he is in Britain, not just for his film work but for the long-running British TV series, Peaky Binders which was a huge streaming success here. He is better known to the general public than Paul Giamatti, but both are familiar to AMPAS voters so it really does look like it will be which performance they like better.

I personally liked Giamatti more, but Murphy would be my second choice and Jeffrey Wright my third.

I also preferred Sandra Hüller to Emma Stone but without a BAFTA win she's pretty much out of it.

Like Best Picture and Director, the supporting awards have been locked in for some time now. DaVine Joy Randlph's acceptance speech was the best of the show. After nicely complimenting Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, and Andrew Payne, she dedicated the award to "all the Marys who never had a chance to wear a nice gown to awards shows" or something like that.

[Mister Tee]

Apart from the American Fiction screenplay prize, nothing here startled me. I think the SAG outcomes will be much more impactful in my coming to final decisions. Some thoughts for now, partially responding to Sabin's take:

Oppenheimer had a big day -- feels like it must be the most BAFTAs any film's won in quite a while -- but it still managed not to be a complete juggernaut, losing screenplay and sound prizes that would have made it a full-on sweeper. It's curious a movie could be that extensively admired and still be passed over in screenplay, like it was writer-deficient a la Titanic or Platoon (which it isn't). I'm not suggesting this indicates any weakness in the coming Oppenheimer putsch; it's just odd.

I had pretty strong feeling Murphy would win here -- British isles guy, probably more familiar to these voters than stateside folk -- and don't see why that would mean any more to the Oscar outcome than a Giamatti SAG win. Which, of course, hasn't happened yet, but... Little-knowns have occasionally won lead actor over more prominent veterans, usually in connection with best picture heat -- I guess Jean Dujardin the most recent example. But 1) he also won SAG and 2) his prime competitor, Clooney, was already a winner. Prior to that, you'd have to go back to F. Murray Abraham or Ben Kingsley, which was a different Oscar country. Bottom line for me: if Giamatti wins SAG, I'd say the category's a jump ball.

As far as best actress, with Gladstone absent, this wasn't a test of anything but Stone vs. Huller, and I wouldn't view it as very surprising that Stone won that match-up. Again, I think SAG will be significant. Gladstone has to win there to be in it -- a Stone win would end the suspense -- but, if she does pull through, I don't see her as some hopelessly weak challenger -- certainly not simply because the Broadcast Critics predicted (sorry...picked) her. But, we'll of course see.

Downey may well just sweep through the season alongside Randolph, but, if he was going to encounter opposition, this didn't seem the spot, as Barbie was clearly not BAFTA's thing, and the Poor Things guys weren't on hand to compete. SAG is Downey's biggest/only remaining hurdle, but a win by anyone else there would shake things up.

There'll be more to say about the screenplay awards in their one-by-one threads, but I'd say adapted is officially a true mess, that mess only deepened by the fact that Barbie will now switch categories and possibly shift the balance of power.

The Sound thing was truly interesting, because I don't see it as a rejection of Oppenheimer (the kind of film that often takes this category in a sweep), but an affirmative vote for Zone of Interest. I've heard many people (including my Academy voter friend) say they thought the sound design was the film's most remarkable achievement, key to its power. Of course, Oscar voters haven't been known for such discernment in this category, usually voting for Loudest. But this makes it interesting.

I don't think it's impossible Poor Things does very well at the Oscars. But I also recall the previous Stone/Lanthimos collaboration winning costumes & production design at BAFTA, and losing both to Black Panther at AMPAS. I wouldn't bury Barbie just yet.

The alternative view on animated feature is, Spider-verse crushed at the Annies Saturday. A lot of uncertainty in that category, as well.

And, in the gloriously zany visual effects category, both groups we look to for guidance -- the Broadcasters and BAFTA -- chose films not nominated at the Oscars. Figure that.

[Sabin]

Over on the DGA Winner thread, we have a conversation about the number of competitive races. At this point, the only categories I would consider open and shut are all Oppenheimer (Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Original Score, Cinematography, Film Editing) plus Da'Vine Joy Randolph and I guess 20 Days in Mariupol. Beyond that...

-BAFTA threw Best Sound up in the air. They've got a pretty good track record in this category. Since 2010. They've gone for All Quiet on the Western Front over Top Gun Maverick, Arrival over Hacksaw Ridge, and The Revenant over Mad Max: Fury Road. If I had to guess, Oppenheimer is still the safe money but are you confident?
-Poor Things was already looking good-ish for Best Production Design and Costume Design, but throw Best Makeup & Hair in its direction too. BAFTA's track record has been good, despite going for Elvis over The Whale, The Favourite over Vice, Florence Foster Jenkins over Mad Max: Fury Road, American Hustle over Dallas Buyers Club, and Alice in Wonderland over Barney's Version.
-The Boy and the Heron looks increasingly solid over Across the Spider-Verse.
-Anatomy of a Fall expands a small, unexpected lead in Best Original Screenplay over The Holdovers and Past Lives.
-American Fiction also possibly positions itself as a frontrunner. I don't claim to have any idea in this category but it has the most writerishness of the bunch, plus a meta angle. Very surprising that Poor Things didn't win.

And then we have the two main acting categories.

I've been bullish on Emma Stone's chances for a little while now. I'm a fan of Sandra Huller's but her chances are probably done. It's totally possible that Lily Gladstone wins the SAG (maybe even likely) or sure maybe Annette Bening comes out of nowhere and wins it all. But it doesn't feel likely now that everyone is lining up behind Stone. Also I can't help but feeling like Killers of the Flower Moon has already won its last award.

With Cillian Murphy, now we have to ask is this a case of honoring their hometown boy or is he truly in the running? I'm torn but I keep thinking about the fact that Paul Giamatti (despite a showier role) isn't in a movie that I see winning many awards while Murphy is the lead in Oppenheimer. If I had to guess right now, I'd say Murphy.

[Okri]

Things of interest

a) American Fiction winning screenplay over Poor Things and Oppenheimer
b) Emma Stone winning best actress - suggesting (as Sabin did) a steamroller
c) The Boy and the Heron winning animated film
d) Barbie going home empty handed

[Big Magilla]

So much for streaming on Brit Box which is better than the old BBC America but it's still time delayed with awards being announced elsewhere before they're shown.

[Reza]

EE Rising Star
Mia McKenna-Bruce

BAFTA Fellowship
Samantha Morton

[Reza]

Best Film:
Oppenheimer

[Reza]

Best Lead Actress
Emma Stone, Poor Things

[Reza]

Best Lead Actor
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer

[Reza]

Best Original Screenplay
WINNER: Anatomy of a Fall