As American awards, such as DGA, PGA and Oscars, are still figuring out how to proceed amid the L.A. fires, their British counterpart announced the 2025 BAFTA nominations on Wednesday morning
BAFTA is a big deal if you follow the Oscar race. Last year, BAFTA members made up around half (325) of the UK Academy voters (650). There has definitely been a rise in the number of international voters in the Oscar race, the UK bloc is the largest, followed by various European and Scandinavian countries. So, today’s shortlist could have a major impact in how the Oscar nominations might turn out.
Expectedly leading the way this morning were “Conclave” with 12 nominations, Emilia Pérez” with 11, and “The Brutalist” with nine. “Anora,” and “Dune: Part Two” received seven nominations.
“Wicked” was shut out from the Best Film category. It was the major snub of the morning. Other notable omissions include “Challengers,” which received zero nominations; The most surprising snubbed actors were Nicole Kidman (“Babygirl”), Daniel Craig (“Queer”) and Denzel Washington (“Gladiator II”).
It’s hard to believe, but Denzel Washington has never been nominated for a BAFTA, and that’s despite delivering impressive performances in “Malcolm X,” “Glory,” “Training Day,” “The Hurricane,” “Flight,” “American Gangster,” and “Fences.”
“The Last Showgirl” actress Pamela Anderson was snubbed by BAFTA, but her co-star Jamie Lee Curtis was nominated in the Supporting Actress category. “The Apprentice” also found support, with nominations for Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong.
However, the biggest surprise has got to be Hugh Grant (“Heretic”) being nominated in the Best Actor category. Clearly, there’s a bit of British bias in his amassing of votes, but it’s an excellent genre performance that didn’t get talked about enough during awards season. I doubt an Oscar nomination is happening, but it’s nice to see him get recognized here.
Denis Villeneuve was actually nominated in the Best Director category, his first BAFTA nod. It should be noted that there were six nominees this year in the category, and if there were just five then either Villeneuve or Coralie Fargeat (“The Substance”) would have probably not made it.
The Bafta Film Award will take place at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in central London on Sunday, February 16, 2025.
BEST FILM
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Emilia PérezFILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
All We Imagine As Light — Payal Kapadia, Thomas Hakim
Emilia Pérez — Jacques Audiard
I’m Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui) — Walter Salles
Kneecap — Rich Peppiatt, Trevor Birney
The Seed of the Sacred Fig — Mohammad Rasoulof, Amin SadraeiDOCUMENTARY
Black Box Diaries
Daughters
No Other Land
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Will & HarperANIMATED FILM
Flow
Inside Out 2
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild RobotDIRECTOR
Sean Baker, Anora
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
Edward Berger, Conclave
Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part 2
Jacques Audiard, Emelia Pérez
Coralie Fargeat, The SubstanceORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Anora
The Brutalist
Kneecap
A Real Pain
The SubstanceADAPTED SCREENPLAY
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Nickel Boys
Sing SingLEADING ACTRESS
Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
Saoirse Ronan, The OutrunLEADING ACTOR
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
Hugh Grant, Heretic
Sebastian Stan, The ApprenticeSUPPORTING ACTRESS
Selena Gomez, Emilia Pérez
Ariana Grande, Wicked
Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
Jamie Lee Curtis, The Last Showgirl
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
Zoe Saldaña, Emilia PérezSUPPORTING ACTOR
Yura Borisov, Anora
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing
Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong, The ApprenticeCASTING
Anora
The Apprentice
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
KneecapCINEMATOGRAPHY
The Brutalist — Lol Crawley
Conclave — Stéphane Fontaine
Dune: Part Two — Greig Fraser
Emilia Pérez — Paul Guilhaume
Nosferatu — Jarin BlaschkeEDITING
Anora — Sean Baker
Conclave — Nick Emerson
Dune: Part Two — Joe Walker
Emilia Pérez – Juliette Welfling
Kneecap — Julian Ulrichs, Chris Gill
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.