Gravity leads Baftas nominations with 11 nods

Gravity, Alfonso Cuaron’s space thriller starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney leads the pack of nominations at this year’s Bafta awards, taking 11 nominations to the 10 for Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave. The classification of Gravity as a British film, while Slave’s backing by Plan B, Brad Pitt’s outfit, means it is deemed American, looks to have made the difference, with Gravity scoring nods in both best film and best British film.

Cuaron’s film also picked up a huge raft of technical nominations, while McQueen’s performed well in more traditional acting and script categories. Meanwhile David O’Russell’s American Hustle, did much better than at the London Critics Circle award nominations, where it scored just two. At the Baftas, it’s in the running for nine awards.

There was a surprise nomination for Amy Adams in that film for best actress, while Oprah Winfrey picked up an unexpected supporting actress nod for Lee Daniels’ The Butler. Stephen Frears’ Philomena performed marginally less well than predicted, with just four nominations, while Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra edged ahead of it with five. That film could do especially well in the UK as British voters may especially relish being able honour a film ineligible for cinema awards in the US, where it only had a TV release.

The dark horse was Paul Greengrass’s Captain Phillips, which has been a quiet performer so far in the awards season but which is in the running for nine Baftas.

The nominees for the Bafta rising star award were announced on Monday, with Dane DeHaan, George MacKay and Will Poulter batttling it out against 12 Years a Slave’s Lupita Nyong’o and Blue is the Warmest Colour star La Seydoux.

The actors Helen McCrory and Luke Evans announced the nominations this morning in London. Stephen Fry will again host this year’s ceremony, which takes place on 16 February at the Royal Opera House in London.

Here is a list of nominees in the main categories:

— Best Film 12 Years A Slave; American Hustle; Captain Phillips; Gravity; Philomena;

— Outstanding British Film: Gravity; Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom; Philomena; Rush; Saving Mr. Banks; The Selfish Giant;

— Director 12 Years A Slave/Steve Mcqueen; American Hustle/David O.Russell; Captain Phillips/Paul Greengrass; Gravity/Alfonso Cuaron; The Wolf Of Wall Street/Martin Scorsese;

— Film Not In The English Language: The Act Of Killing; Blue Is The Warmest Colour; The Great Beauty; Metro Manila; Wadjda;

— Documentary The Act Of Killing/Joshua Oppenheimer; The Armstrong Lie/Alex Gibney; Blackfish/Gabriela Cowperthwaite; Tim’s Vermeer/Teller, Penn Jillette, Farley Ziegler; We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks/Alex Gibney;

— Animated Film Despicable Me 2; Frozen; Monsters University;

— Original Screenplay American Hustle/Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell/Blue Jasmine/Woody Allen; Gravity/Alfonso Cuaron, Jonas Cuaron/Inside Llewyn Davis/Joel Coen, Ethan Coen; Nebraska/Bob Nelson;

— Leading Actor Bruce Dern/Nebraska; Chiwetel Ejiofor/12 Years A Slave; Christian Bale/American Hustle; Leonardo Dicaprio/The Wolf Of Wall Street; Tom Hanks/Captain Phillips;

— Leading Actress Amy Adams/American Hustle; Cate Blanchett/Blue Jasmine; Emma Thompson/Saving Mr. Banks; Judi Dench/Philomena; Sandra Bullock Gravity;

— Supporting Actor Barkhad Abdi/Captain Phillips; Bradley Cooper/American Hustle; Daniel Bruhl/Rush; Matt Damon/Behind The Candelabra; Michael Fassbender/12 Years A Slave;

— Supporting Actress Jennifer Lawrence/American Hustle; Julia Roberts/August: Osage County; Lupita Nyong’o/12 Years A Slave; Oprah Winfrey/The Butler; Sally Hawkins/Blue Jasmine.