BAFTA Nominations

February’s awards season ushers in the annual glitter of the Brits and the Baftas, with the latter announcing its nominees for 2008 with Naomie Harris and Kelly Reilly, above. Pic Mark Hoberman(17 Jan ’08)

It was more domination than nomination for Atonement which swept the board at the nominations for the Orange British Academy Film (BAFTA) Awards 2008. The romantic drama amassed 14 nominations during Bafta’s press conference at its Academy Headquarters in technical and performance categories.

Close behind were No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood which each received nine nominations while La Vie en Rose picked up seven. Six nominations went to The Bourne Ultimatum with American Gangster, The Lives of Others and Michael Clayton each receiving five nominations.

Atonement scored in the categories of Best Film, Best British Film, Director for Joe Wright, Adapted Screenplay, Music, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Sound, Costume Design and Make Up & Hair.

Keira Knightley and James McAvoy were nominated for Leading Actress and Leading Actor, with Saoirse Ronan receiving a Supporting Actress nomination. No Country for Old Men received three performance nominations: Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones have both been nominated for Supporting Actor, with Kelly Macdonald nominated for Supporting Actress. The film’s other nominations are for Best Film, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing and Sound, with the Coen brothers receiving a Director nomination.

Leading Actress nominations favoured Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Julie Christie for Away From Her, Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose and Ellen Page for Juno.

Leading males nominations went to Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises, George Clooney for his role in Michael Clayton, Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood with a posthumous nomination for Ulrich Mühe in The Lives of Others.

The Baftas look set to command even more attention with the Golden Globes scuppered this month by the US writers’ strike. At the time of writing even the Oscars ceremony, scheduled for February 24, appears under threat from the Writers’ Guild of America.

The Orange British Academy Film Awards takes place on Sunday 10 February at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. The ceremony will be hosted by Jonathan Ross for the second year running and produced by Whizz Kid Entertainment to be broadcast on BBC One.

RK _______________________________________________