HOLLYWOOD—Well, talk about shocking because that is exactly how I felt as the 2022 nominees for the British Academy of Film and Theatre Arts, better known as BAFTA. The awards are equivalent to the Academy Awards for the Brits. However, they are another precursor to where Oscar ‘could’ be headed when they unveil their nominees on Tuesday, February 8. So which movie lead the pack it was the sci-fi flick “Dune” which picked up 11 nominations including Best Film.
Followed behind was “The Power of Dog” with 8 nominations, while early awards season darling “Belfast” picked up 6 nominations. So let’s talk about snubs because people, there were plenty. No love for Kristen Stewart in the Best Actress race for her role in “Spencer.” Guess who else was missing in that race: Nicole Kidman for “Being the Ricardos” and Jessica Chastain for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” When it comes to Best Actor, there was no love for Andrew Garfield in “Tick Tick…Boom!” or Denzel Washington for “The Tragedy of MacBeth.” It was almost like BAFTA said we’re going to do our own thing this awards season people.
How is it that “King Richard,” “West Side Story” and “CODA” are missing form the Best Film category, but “Don’t Look Up” made the cut? Seriously?! And when it comes to Best Director we may as well say it is literally anyone’s game people. A partial list of this year’s nominees are listed below:
Best Film
-“Belfast”
-“Don’t Look Up”
-“Dune”
-“Licorice Pizza”
-“The Power of the Dog”
Outstanding British Film
-“After Love”
-“Ali & Ava”
-“Belfast”
-“Boiling Point”
-“Cyrano”
-“Everybody’s Talking About Jamie”
-“House of Gucci”
-“Last Night in Soho”
-“No Time to Die”
-“Passing”
Best Director
-Aleem Khan “After Love”
-Ryusuke Hamaguchi “Drive My Car”
-Audrey Diwan “Happening”
-Paul Thomas Anderson “Licorice Pizza”
-Jane Campion “The Power of the Dog”
-Julia Ducournau “Titane”
Leading Actress
-Lady Gaga “House of Gucci”
-Alana Haim “Licorice Pizza”
-Emilia Jones “CODA”
-Renate Reinsve “The Worst Person in the World”
-Joanna Scanlan “After Love”
-Tessa Thompson “Passing”
Leading Actor
-Adeel Akhtar “Ali & Ava”
-Mahershala Ali “Swan Song”
-Benedict Cumberbatch “The Power of the Dog”
-Leonardo DiCaprio “Don’t Look Up”
-Stephen Graham “Boiling Point”
-Will Smith “King Richard”
Best Original Screenplay
-Aaron Sorkin “Being the Ricardos”
-Kenneth Branagh “Belfast”
-Adam Mckay “Don’t Look Up”
-Zach Baylin “King Richard”
-Paul Thomas Anderson “Licorice Pizza”
Best Adapted Screenplay
-Sian Heder “CODA”
-Ryusuke Hamaguchi “Drive My Car”
-Denis Villeneuve “Dune”
-Maggie Gyllenhaal “The Lost Daughter”
-Jane Campion “The Power of the Dog”
Best Supporting Actress
-Caitriona Balfe “Belfast”
-Jessie Buckley “The Los Daughter”
-Ariana Debose “West Side Story”
-Ann Dowd “Mass”
-Aunjanue Ellis “King Richard”
-Ruth Negga “Passing”
Best Supporting Actor
-Mike Faist “West Side Story”
-Ciaran Hinds “Belfast”
-Troy Kotsur “CODA”
-Woody Norman “C’mon C’mon”
-Jesse Plemons “The Power of the Dog”
-Kodi Smith-McPhee “The Power of the Dog”
Best Animated Film
-“Encanto”
-“Flee”
-“Luca”
-“The Mitchells vs. The Machines”
Best Cinematography
-Greg Fraser “Dune”
-Dan Lausten “Nightmare Alley”
-Linus Sandgren “No Time to Die”
-Ari Wegner “The Power of the Dog”
-Bruno Delbonnel “The Tragedy of Macbeth”
Best Editing
-Una Ni Dhonghaile “Belfast”
-Joe Walker “Dune”
-Andy Jurgensen “Licorice Pizza”
-Tom Cross and Elliot Graham “No Time to Die”
-Joshua L. Pearson “Summer of Soul (Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)”
EE Rising Star Award
-Ariana Debose
-Harris Dickinson
-Lashana Lynch
-Millicent Simmonds
-Kodi Smit-McPhee
Best Documentary
-“Becoming Cousteau”
-“Cow”
-“Flee”
-“The Rescue”
-“Summer of Soul (Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)”
Film Not in the English Language
-“Drive My Car”
-“The Hand of God”
-“Parallel Mothers”
-“Petite Maman”
-“The Worst Person in the World”
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
-“After Love”
-“Boiling Point”
-“The Harder They Fall”
-“Keyboard Fantasies”
-“Passing”
The 75th annual BAFTA will be held on March 13, just a mere 2 weeks for the 94th annual Academy Awards. I will say this, this has been the most unpredictable awards season thus far and not many awards have been handed out so I guess that is a good thing for movie lovers.
