From Hugh Grant to Daniel Kaluuya: 5 major talking points from the Bafta Film Award nominations
With Joanna Lumley as host, the Bafta Film Awards will take place on 18th February
With awards season in full swing and the red carpet ready to roll out, Bafta has just announced the nominees for the Bafta Film Awards – and the list makes for very interesting reading.
With Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley replacing Stephen Fry as host of the ceremony, 2018 will be a year of change.
- Joanna Lumley to replace Stephen Fry as host of the Bafta Film Awards
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- Bafta Film Awards 2018: nominations in full
Here are the notable nominations – and the trends we can see at this year's Film Awards...
No nominations for female directors
Natalie Portman will not be pleased. Just this weekend, the actress had a dig at the Golden Globes, going off-script to announce the "all-male nominees" for Best Director – and now the nominees for the same category at the Bafta Film Awards 2018 are all-male, too.
Plenty of people had their fingers crossed for Greta Gerwig, for Lady Bird. But no luck. At least Gerwig got a nod in the Original Screenplay category.
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Instead, the Best Director nominations went to Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049), Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name), Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk), Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water) and Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri).
Get Out gets (some) recognition
Two nominations went to Jordan Peele's horror movie, Get Out.
It didn't make the cut for Best Film, but this groundbreaking movie is up for Original Screenplay, with its star Daniel Kaluuya in the running for Leading Actor (he's also up for the Bafta Rising Star Award in the same year!).
Christopher Plummer gets a Bafta nod – in Kevin Spacey's old role
Ridley Scott's audacious plan to replace Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer at the eleventh hour seems to have worked out. Plummer was drafted in to the film All the Money in the World to re-shoot Spacey's scenes after the latter was hit by numerous sexual harassment and assault allegations.
The film had already been completed, but Scott re-shot all of Spacey's scenes with Plummer as billionaire J Paul Getty. Now Plummer is in the running for Supporting Actor against Hugh Grant, Sam Rockwell, Willem Dafoe and Woody Harrelson.
The Shape of Water is the biggest winner
The Shape of Water managed to notch up an impressive 12 nominations. Guillermo del Toro's movie swept the board, with categories including Best Film (the big one!), Best Director (another coveted title), Original Screenplay, Leading Actress (for Sally Hawkins), Original Music and Cinematography.
Other standout movies were Darkest Hour and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri with nine each, while Blade Runner 2049 and Dunkirk (largely overlooked in awards season so far) each picked up eight nominations.
Hugh Grant is up for Paddington 2
Hugh Grant really was the highlight of Paddington 2, and now he's getting the recognition he deserves. The actor has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as fading celebrity Phoenix Buchanan – the villain of the piece.
Grant has been nominated for a Bafta twice before. In 2017 he was up for Florence Foster Jenkins, and back in 1995 he went on to win Best Actor for Four Weddings and a Funeral.
The Bafta Film Awards will air on Sunday 18th February on BBC1
