By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
LONDON (Reuters) -Papal thriller “Conclave” led nominations for the BAFTA Film Awards on Wednesday, with music-themed and horror productions also faring well at Britain’s top movie honours.
“Conclave,” about scheming cardinals deciding who to elect as pope, secured 12 nods including for best film, director for Edward Berger and leading actor for Ralph Fiennes.
Isabella Rossellini was nominated for best supporting actress for playing a nun in the movie, based on the novel by British writer Robert Harris.
Berger’s last film, a German remake of the anti-war classic “All Quiet on the Western Front,” swept the 2023 BAFTA awards with a historic seven wins.
“Emilia Perez,” which mixes the diverse genres of musical and crime, followed “Conclave” with 11 nominations. The Spanish-language film stars Zoe Saldana as a lawyer who helps a Mexican cartel leader, played by Karla Sofia Gascon, fake his death and transition from a man to a woman.
Gascon got a leading actress nomination, while Saldana and singer-actor Selena Gomez, who plays the drug lord’s wife, were recognised for supporting actress.
One of the top contenders during this year’s awards season, “Emilia Perez” also received nods for best film and director for French filmmaker Jacques Audiard.
Fellow musical “Wicked,” the hit adaptation of the stage show, and the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” in which Timothee Chalamet portrays the singer during his rise to fame in the 1960s, were also recognised, with seven and six nominations respectively. Adding to the music theme, “Kneecap,” about the rise of an Irish hip-hop trio, also got six nods.
“A Complete Unknown” will also compete at the Feb. 16 ceremony for the top prize of best film, along with “The Brutalist,” in which Adrien Brody portrays a Hungarian immigrant seeking to rebuild his life in the United States after World War Two. That movie received nine nominations, including three acting nods.
“Anora,” about a young exotic dancer who becomes involved with the son of a Russian oligarch, completes the list for best film. The omission of “Wicked,” whose stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande received nominations, surprised fans.
“The pleasant surprise is the range of the types of movies,” Anna Higgs, chair of the BAFTA Film Committee, told Reuters.
“We don’t just have classic awards dramas … but we also have sci-fi and horror in the mix as well as a whole heap of musicals and musical-themed movies this year,” Higgs said.
HORROR FILMS
Both Chalamet and Brody, who won a Golden Globe this month, were nominated for leading actor, alongside Fiennes, Colman Domingo for the prison drama “Sing Sing” and surprise inclusions Hugh Grant for playing a serial killer in the horror film “Heretic” and Sebastian Stan for his portrayal of a young Donald Trump in “The Apprentice.”
Gascon’s leading actress rivals include Golden Globe winner Demi Moore for the body horror film “The Substance,” which received five nominations, including for Coralie Fargeat, the only woman to make the best director category. That list did not include any British filmmakers.
Gothic horror film “Nosferatu” also received five nominations, in another boost for the genre.
The leading actress category includes Erivo, Mikey Madison for “Anora,” Saoirse Ronan for playing a woman dealing with addiction in “The Outrun,” and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a woman struggling with depression in “Hard Truths.”
More than half of the acting contenders – 14 out of 24 – are first-time BAFTA Film Awards nominees.
Surprise omissions included actors Daniel Craig for “Queer” and Denzel Washington for “Gladiator II.”
Observers will be looking at the BAFTAs for indications of Oscar triumphs. Last year’s main category winners were the same at both ceremonies.
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Additional reporting by Sarah Mills; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Gareth Jones and Mark Porter)
