'Oppenheimer' & 'Poor Things' lead the race for Britain's BAFTA film awards

Auteur Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' appears to be the film to beat going into the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards, having landed 13 nominations, with the director’s most successful film in the UK in terms of box office now becoming its most-nominated on home soil.

The atomic bomb biopic is nominated for best film, director (which could earn Nolan his first-ever BAFTA), leading actor for Cillian Murphy and supporting nominations for both Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt, reports Variety.

Close behind sits Yorgos Lanthimos’ ‘Poor Things’ with 11 nominations, including for best film and actress for Emma Stone. But for all the achievements of ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Poor Things’.

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As per Variety, the biggest talking point is likely to be the snubbing of Greta Gerwig's box office destroying cultural phenomenon ‘Barbie’ across so many categories.

The film went into the nominations tied with both ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ with 15 Longlist slots. But on Thursday, it emerged with just five of these having transferred into nominations. Margot Robbie has a leading actress nod and Ryan Gosling is among the best supporting actors, but there’s no room in either best film or director, something likely to raise more than a few eyebrows.

The five nominations earned by ‘Barbie’ sees it tied with ‘Saltburn’, which has performance slots for Barry Keoghan, Rosamund Pike and Jacob Elordi. Like Gerwig, Emerald Fennell missed out on a director nomination, with Justine Triet the solitary female director among the six nominees.

Elsewhere, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ and ‘The Zone of Interest’ received nine nominations each, with Jonathan Glazer’s Holocaust drama losing just one of its 10 Longlists slots. Flying the flag for ‘The Zone of Interest’ in the supporting actress category is Sandra Huller, who also has a leading actress nomination for ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ (one of the Palme d’Or winner’s seven overall, including best film).

‘The Holdovers’ and ‘Maestro’ also have seven nominations, including best film, while ‘All of Us Strangers’ landed six, including for Claire Foy and Paul Mescal in supporting categories. The BAFTA Film Awards ceremony takes place February 18 from London’s Royal Festival Hall.

Indo-Asian News Service