‘Bridge of Spies,’ ‘Carol’ Clean Up at BAFTA Nominations

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts polished their monocles, twiddled the ends of their impeccably-groomed mustaches, cleared the straggling bits of crumpet from their throats, and announced the nominees for the BAFTA Film Awards late last night. Though the awards program does have a highlight category specifically designating the year’s most Outstanding British Film, this English critical body still favored Hollywood productions in its slate of nominees. Many of the films that have emerged as this season’s usual suspects made their expected appearances — why hello, Carol and The Big Short and The Revenant and Spotlight and Bridge of Spies — but the unveiling of the BAFTA hopefuls was not without its surprises, both pleasant and un-pleasant.

Those five enumerated above make up the Best Film race, with Bridge of Spies and Carol leading the bunch with nine nods apiece. The Revenant trails them with eight, but the most notable multiple nominee is Alicia Vikander, who snagged Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nominations for her work on The Danish Girl and Ex Machina, respectively. While not unprecedented, a single actor receiving two citations for two different performances in a single year is definitely unusual, and worth paying attention to. Whether Vikander has the momentum to carry support for both of these performances through to Oscar day has yet to be seen, and that battle will be at a much steeper incline, but damn, just imagine if.

The Outstanding British Film category assembles an eclectic collection of films from America’s friends across the Atlantic. Vikander’s Danish Girl and Ex Machina both scored inclusion on the list, along with strong contenders Brooklyn and 45 Years. (Though Charlotte Rampling, leading actress in the latter film, was suspiciously absent from the acting categories. Odd, not just considering the strength of her performance, but that the BAFTAs love to reward British performers.) The real oddball of the bunch is Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster, a viciously funny comedy about romance — not to be confused with a romantic comedy, which this sure as hell is not — that has yet to see release on American shores. Having taken great pleasure in the Lobster screening I was able to catch at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September, nothing would bring me such pleasure as to see a real awards push for this idiosyncratic, clever picture. It could be too off-beat for Oscar voters next year, but that’s a conversation for another time.

Take a look at the full list of winners below, via Deadline:

BEST FILM
THE BIG SHORT
BRIDGE OF SPIES
CAROL
THE REVENANT
SPOTLIGHT

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
45 YEARS
AMY
BROOKLYN
THE DANISH GIRL
EX MACHINA
THE LOBSTER

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
ALEX GARLAND (Director) Ex Machina
DEBBIE TUCKER GREEN (Writer/Director) Second Coming
NAJI ABU NOWAR (Writer/Director) RUPERT LLOYD (Producer) Theeb
SEAN MCALLISTER (Director/Producer), ELHUM SHAKERIFAR (Producer) A Syrian Love Story
STEPHEN FINGLETON (Writer/Director) The Survivalist

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
THE ASSASSIN: Hou Hsiao-Hsien
FORCE MAJEURE: Ruben Östlund
THEEB: Naji Abu Nowar, Rupert Lloyd
TIMBUKTU: Abderrahmane Sissako
WILD TALES: Damián Szifron

DOCUMENTARY
AMY
CARTEL LAND
HE NAMED ME MALALA
LISTEN TO ME MARLON
SHERPA

ANIMATED FILM
INSIDE OUT
MINIONS
SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE

DIRECTOR
THE BIG SHORT: Adam McKay
BRIDGE OF SPIES: Steven Spielberg
CAROL: Todd Haynes
THE MARTIAN: Ridley Scott
THE REVENANT: Alejandro G. Iñárritu

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
BRIDGE OF SPIES: Matthew Charman, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
EX MACHINA: Alex Garland
THE HATEFUL EIGHT: Quentin Tarantino
INSIDE OUT: Josh Cooley, Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve
SPOTLIGHT: Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE BIG SHORT: Adam McKay, Charles Randolph
BROOKLYN: Nick Hornby
CAROL: Phyllis Nagy
ROOM: Emma Donoghue
STEVE JOBS: Aaron Sorkin

LEADING ACTOR
BRYAN CRANSTON: Trumbo
EDDIE REDMAYNE: The Danish Girl
LEONARDO DICAPRIO: The Revenant
MATT DAMON: The Martian
MICHAEL FASSBENDER: Steve Jobs

LEADING ACTRESS
ALICIA VIKANDER: The Danish Girl
BRIE LARSON: Room
CATE BLANCHETT: Carol
MAGGIE SMITH: The Lady In The Van
SAOIRSE RONAN: Brooklyn

SUPPORTING ACTOR
BENICIO DEL TORO: Sicario
CHRISTIAN BALE: The Big Short
IDRIS ELBA: Beasts Of No Nation
MARK RUFFALO: Spotlight
MARK RYLANCE: Bridge Of Spies

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
ALICIA VIKANDER: Ex Machina
JENNIFER JASON LEIGH: The Hateful Eight
JULIE WALTERS: Brooklyn
KATE WINSLET: Steve Jobs
ROONEY MARA: Carol

ORIGINAL MUSIC
BRIDGE OF SPIES: Thomas Newman
THE HATEFUL EIGHT: Ennio Morricone
THE REVENANT: Ryuichi Sakamoto, Carsten Nicolai
SICARIO: Jóhann Jóhannsson
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS: John Williams

CINEMATOGRAPHY
BRIDGE OF SPIES: Janusz Kamiński
CAROL: Ed Lachman
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD: John Seale
THE REVENANT: Emmanuel Lubezki
SICARIO: Roger Deakins

EDITING
THE BIG SHORT: Hank Corwin
BRIDGE OF SPIES: Michael Kahn
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD: Margaret Sixel
THE MARTIAN: Pietro Scalia
THE REVENANT: Stephen Mirrione

PRODUCTION DESIGN
BRIDGE OF SPIES: Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo
CAROL: Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD: Colin Gibson, Lisa Thompson
THE MARTIAN: Arthur Max, Celia Bobak
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS: Rick Carter, Darren Gilford, Lee Sandales

COSTUME DESIGN
BROOKLYN: Odile Dicks-Mireaux
CAROL: Sandy Powell
CINDERELLA: Sandy Powell
THE DANISH GIRL: Paco Delgado
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD: Jenny Beavan

MAKE UP & HAIR
BROOKLYN: Morna Ferguson, Lorraine Glynn
CAROL: Jerry DeCarlo, Patricia Regan
THE DANISH GIRL: Jan Sewell
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD: Lesley Vanderwalt, Damian Martin
THE REVENANT: Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, Robert Pandini

SOUND
BRIDGE OF SPIES: Drew Kunin, Richard Hymns, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD: Scott Hecker, Chris Jenkins, Mark Mangini, Ben Osmo, Gregg Rudloff, David White
THE MARTIAN: Paul Massey, Mac Ruth, Oliver Tarney, Mark Taylor
THE REVENANT: Lon Bender, Chris Duesterdiek, Martin Hernandez, Frank A. Montaño, Jon Taylor, Randy Thom
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS: David Acord, Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, Matthew Wood, Stuart Wilson

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
ANT-MAN: Jake Morrison, Greg Steele, Dan Sudick, Alex Wuttke
EX MACHINA: Mark Ardington, Sara Bennett, Paul Norris, Andrew Whitehurst
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD: Andrew Jackson, Dan Oliver, Tom Wood, Andy Williams
THE MARTIAN: Chris Lawrence, Tim Ledbury, Richard Stammers, Steven Warner
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS: Chris Corbould, Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, Neal Scanlan

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
EDMOND: Nina Gantz, Emilie Jouffroy
MANOMAN: Simon Cartwright, Kamilla Kristiane Hodol
PROLOGUE: Richard Williams, Imogen Sutton

BRITISH SHORT FILM
ELEPHANT: Nick Helm, Alex Moody, Esther Smith
MINING POEMS OR ODES: Callum Rice, Jack Cocker
OPERATOR: Caroline Bartleet, Rebecca Morgan
OVER: Jörn Threlfall, Jeremy Bannister
SAMUEL-613: Billy Lumby, Cheyenne Conway

THE EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
BEL POWLEY
BRIE LARSON
DAKOTA JOHNSON
JOHN BOYEGA
TARON EGERTON