With the Golden Globes now a distant memory, the BAFTAS are set to take center stage with a slew of nominations to argue over.
The Usual Contenders
The lineup contains the usual contenders, as well as a few notable absences. Most disappointingly, as with the Globes, the race for Best Director will be duked out entirely by men. Likewise, all of the nominations for both Best Film and Outstanding British Film were directed by men.
Natalie Portman called out this discrepancy while presenting the award for Best Director at the Globes, and it may fall to a fellow actress to do the same come Feb. 18, when the BAFTA ceremony takes over London's Royal Albert Hall.
In keeping with the tone of their American counterparts, Greta Gerwig in particular isn't nominated in spite of her film Lady Bird being well-represented elsewhere, including in both the Best Actress and Best Screenplay categories. Gerwig was effusive about the nods she did receive, however.
"I've always wanted to be a writer and director, and I could not be more happy that I've been able to do it and that it has been received with such love", she told the BBC.
The Shape Of Water Set To Win Big
The Globes big winner, Guillermo Del Toro's celebrated The Shape Of Water, leads the pack with a whopping 12 BAFTA nominations, closely followed by Martin McDonagh's controversial Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and homegrown Winston Churchill drama Darkest Hour with nine each.
Sally Hawkins, star of The Shape Of Water, described the nomination as "like a gift from my homeland." Gary Oldman, who plays Churchill in Darkest Hour and won Best Actor at the Globes, said "the recognition means so much."
Elsewhere, Blade Runner 2049 and Dunkirk, neither of which carried much traction Stateside, are both represented in eight categories apiece.
No Love For Spielberg Or Franco
Aside from Gerwig, the biggest omission seems to be Steven Spielberg's Meryl Streep-Tom Hanks two-hander The Post, which received not a single nod.
Likewise, Dee Rees's Mudbound and The Disaster Artist, for which star James Franco scooped a Best Actor gong at the Globes, received no BAFTA nominations either.
There are few surprises elsewhere, however, as slighter less conventional fare including The Ghoul, Elle, Lady Macbeth, and even homegrown favorite Paddington 2 — also starring Hawkins, funnily enough — is represented here when it didn't, or perhaps couldn't, get a look in across the pond.
In a move that will bring some respite to those in search of a Globes-like movement toward more female representation, host Stephen Fry stepped down after 12 years to be replaced by Absolutely Fabulous star and comedy legend Joanna Lumley. Baby steps, after all.
