Eye-popping, breathtaking, never-seen-anything-like-it, a must to experience theatrically in 3D and not at home, great sounds and silences, looks like it was shot in outer space -- all but the crustiest curmudgeons agree that Gravity is all of the above. But has Alfonso Cuaron made a great film or just a great ride? Probably closer to the latter, but still an amazing movie experience and a landmark of some kind from one of the most skilled, eclectic and dynamic directors in the world.
Warner Bros.
LONDON – Alfonso Cuaron‘s Gravity leads the field with 11 nominations for this year’s British Academy Film Awards, presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Cuaron, nominated with his son Jonas Cuaron in the original screenplay category, is nominated for the best director honor, while the space drama’s Sandra Bullock is nominated in the leading actress category.
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The movie’s main challenge on the night will come from Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave and American Hustle, directed by David O. Russell, both of which picked up nominations in 10 categories, including best film, director, screenplay and production design.
The stars of McQueen’s no-holds barred slave drama — Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o — were all nominated in their respective best acting categories. But Russell’s cast — Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence — gave his FBI scam drama a nomination in all four actor categories (organizers will hope for a starry red carpet from that film’s talent alone).
12 Years also received music, editing and cinematography nominations, which Hustle didn’t get. But Hustle earned costume and makeup noms, which 12 Years missed.
PHOTOS: ‘American Hustle’: Behind the Scenes With Christian Bale, Amy Adams
McQueen, Cuaron, O. Russell, Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips) and Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street) will duke it out on the evening for the best director trophy.
Challengers to Gravity, Hustle and 12 Years for the evening’s best film award come from Captain Phillips and Philomena.
In the best actor category, Bale and Ejiofor are challenged by Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street) and Bruce Dern (Nebraska).
And should Adams (American Hustle) and Bullock (Gravity) be beaten to the best actress nod, it will be because Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks), Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) or Judi Dench (Philomena) took the trophy home.
Hanks’ nomination for his star turn in Captain Phillips rather than his outing opposite Thompson in Saving Mr. Banks indicates BAFTA voters’ ability to surprise.
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Julia Roberts (August: Osage County) and Oprah Winfrey (The Butler) alongside Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine) will challenge Lawrence (American Hustle) and Nyong’o (12 Years A Slave) in the best supporting actress category.
Daniel Bruhl (Rush) will take on Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), Matt Damon (Behind the Candelabra), Fassbender (12 Years A Slave) and Bradley Cooper (American Hustle) in the race for the best supporting actor award.
The EE British Academy Film Awards take place on Feb. 16 at the Royal Opera House in London, with the ceremony broadcast exclusively on BBC One in the U.K. and in all major territories around the world.
The awards shindig will be hosted by British actor and media personality Stephen Fry.
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The nominations for what is the U.K.’s glitziest and most prestigious movie awards were revealed at BAFTA’s central London HQ by Helen McCrory (Skyfall) and Luke Evans (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), after being introduced to the gathered media by BAFTA chairman John Willis.
This is the sixteenth year of EE’s sponsorship of the Film Awards, after the cell phone service provider rebranded from its prior name, Orange.
The complete list of BAFTA nominations is below.
BEST FILM
12 YEARS A SLAVE Anthony Katagas,Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen
AMERICAN HUSTLE Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman
PHILOMENA Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman, Jonás Cuarón
MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM Justin Chadwick, Anant Singh, David M. Thompson, William Nicholson
PHILOMENA Stephen Frears, Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward, Jeff Pope
RUSH Ron Howard, Andrew Eaton, Peter Morgan
SAVING MR. BANKS John Lee Hancock, Alison Owen, Ian Collie, Philip Steuer, Kelly Marcel, Sue Smith
THE SELFISH GIANT: Clio Barnard, Tracy O’Riordan
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
COLIN CARBERRY (Writer), GLENN PATTERSON (Writer) Good Vibrations
KELLY MARCEL (Writer) Saving Mr. Banks
KIERAN EVANS (Director/Writer) Kelly + Victor
PAUL WRIGHT (Director/Writer), POLLY STOKES (Producer) For Those in Peril
SCOTT GRAHAM (Director/Writer) Shell
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
THE ACT OF KILLING Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen
BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR Abdellatif Kechiche, Brahim Chioua, Vincent Maraval
THE GREAT BEAUTY Paolo Sorrentino, Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima
METRO MANILA Sean Ellis, Mathilde Charpentier
WADJDA Haifaa Al-Mansour, Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul
DOCUMENTARY
THE ACT OF KILLING Joshua Oppenheimer
THE ARMSTRONG LIE Alex Gibney
BLACKFISH Gabriela Cowperthwaite
TIM’S VERMEER Teller,Penn Jillette, Farley Ziegler
WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS Alex Gibney
ANIMATED FILM
DESPICABLE ME 2 Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
FROZEN Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
MONSTERS UNIVERSITY Dan Scanlon
DIRECTOR
12 YEARS A SLAVE Steve McQueen
AMERICAN HUSTLE David O. Russell
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Paul Greengrass
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Martin Scorsese
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
AMERICAN HUSTLE Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
BLUE JASMINE Woody Allen
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
NEBRASKA Bob Nelson
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
12 YEARS A SLAVE John Ridley
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Richard LaGravenese
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Billy Ray
PHILOMENA Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Terence Winter
LEADING ACTOR
BRUCE DERN Nebraska
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR 12 Years a Slave
CHRISTIAN BALE American Hustle
LEONARDO DICAPRIO The Wolf of Wall Street
TOM HANKS Captain Phillips
LEADING ACTRESS
AMY ADAMS American Hustle
CATE BLANCHETT Blue Jasmine
EMMA THOMPSON Saving Mr. Banks
JUDI DENCH Philomena
SANDRA BULLOCK Gravity
SUPPORTING ACTOR
BARKHAD ABDI Captain Phillips
BRADLEY COOPER American Hustle
DANIEL BRÜHL Rush
MATT DAMON Behind the Candelabra
MICHAEL FASSBENDER 12 Years a Slave
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
JENNIFER LAWRENCE American Hustle
JULIA ROBERTS August: Osage County
LUPITA NYONG’O 12 Years a Slave
OPRAH WINFREY The Butler
SALLY HAWKINS Blue Jasmine
ORIGINAL MUSIC
12 YEARS A SLAVE Hans Zimmer
THE BOOK THIEF John Williams
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Henry Jackman
GRAVITY Steven Price
SAVING MR. BANKS Thomas Newman
CINEMATOGRAPHY
12 YEARS A SLAVE Sean Bobbitt
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Barry Ackroyd
GRAVITY Emmanuel Lubezki
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Bruno Delbonnel
NEBRASKA Phedon Papamichael
EDITING
12 YEARS A SLAVE Joe Walker
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Christopher Rouse
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger
RUSH Dan Hanley, Mike Hill
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Thelma Schoonmaker
PRODUCTION DESIGN
12 YEARS A SLAVE Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker
AMERICAN HUSTLE Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Howard Cummings
GRAVITY Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woodlard
THE GREAT GATSBY Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn
COSTUME DESIGN
AMERICAN HUSTLE Michael Wilkinson
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Ellen Mirojnick
THE GREAT GATSBY Catherine Martin
THE INVISIBLE WOMAN Michael O’Connor
SAVING MR. BANKS Daniel Orlandi
MAKE UP & HAIR
AMERICAN HUSTLE Evelyne Noraz, Lori McCoy-Bell
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Kate Biscoe, Marie Larkin
THE BUTLER Debra Denson, Beverly Jo Pryor, Candace Neal
THE GREAT GATSBY Maurizio Silvi, Kerry Warn
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater
SOUND
ALL IS LOST Richard Hymns, Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor, Micah Bloomberg, Gillian Arthur
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor,Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro, Oliver Tarney
GRAVITYGlenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Niv Adiri, Chris Munro
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Peter F. Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff
RUSHDanny Hambrook, Martin Steyer, Stefan Korte, Markus Stemler, Frank Kruse
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
GRAVITY Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould, Nikki Penny
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds
IRON MAN 3 Bryan Grill, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick
PACIFIC RIM Hal Hickel, John Knoll, Lindy De Quattro, Nigel Sumner
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton, Patrick Tubach, Roger Guyett
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
EVERYTHING I CAN SEE FROM HERE Bjorn-Erik Aschim, Friederike Nicolaus, Sam Taylor
I AM TOM MOODY Ainslie Henderson
SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES James Walker, Sarah Woolner, Yousif Al-Khalifa
BRITISH SHORT FILM
ISLAND QUEEN Ben Mallaby, Nat Luurtsema
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES Megan Rubens, Michael Pearce, Selina Lim
ORBIT EVER AFTER Chee-Lan Chan, Jamie Stone, Len Rowles
ROOM 8 James W. Griffiths, Sophie Venner
SEA VIEW Anna Duffield, Jane Linfoot
THE EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
DANE DEHAAN
GEORGE MACKAY
LUPITA NYONG’O
WILL POULTER
LÉA SEYDOUX
