ROTTEN TOMATOES: 2008 BAFTA Film Award Nominations Announced

2008 BAFTA Film Award Nominations Announced

Atonement scoops fourteen nominations.

by Joe Utichi | January 16, 2008

Keira Knightley - A. Wyman/WireImage.com

The nominations for the 2008 Orange British Academy Film Awards have been announced.

Atonement leads the pack with a massive fourteen nominations, followed by No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood, both of which managed nine nods.

Like the Academy, BAFTA is an organisation comprised of members of the film and television art industries who vote on its awards and its place as a British organisation means BAFTA has often favoured British nominations come awards time.

Foreign film is also well represented, with The Lives of Others up for five awards and La Vie En Rose up for seven, both of them sharing nods in the Best Film Not in the English Language categories.

The BAFTA awards will take place in London in February and RT will be there on the night to report on the winners.

Unlike the Globes and the Oscars which have been subject to cancellation and concern respectively, it's expected that the ceremony, which took place at London's Royal Opera House last year, will go ahead without fault, with the WGA claiming no issue with BAFTA.

The nominations in full:

Best Film
American Gangster
Atonement
The Lives of Others
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best British Film
Atonement
The Bourne Ultimatum
Control
Eastern Promises
This is England

The Carl Foreman Award (for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer in their First Feature Film)
Chris Atkins (Director/Writer) -- Taking Liberties
Mia Bays (Producer) -- Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
Sarah Gavron (Director) -- Brick Lane
Matt Greenhalgh (Writer) -- Control
Andrew Piddington (Director/Writer) -- The Killing of John Lennon

Best Director
Joe Wright - Atonement
Paul Greengrass - The Bourne Ultimatum
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck - The Lives of Others
Joel Coen/Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood

Best Original Screenplay
American Gangster
Juno
The Lives of Others
Michael Clayton
This is England

Best Adapted Screenplay
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Kite Runner
No Country for Old Men
There Will be Blood

Best Film Not in the English Language (nominations announced on Friday 4 January)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Kite Runner
The Lives of Others
Lust, Caution
La Vie en Rose

Best Animated Film
Ratatouille
Shrek the Third
The Simpsons Movie

Best Actor
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
James McAvoy - Atonement
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises
Ulrich Muhe - The Lives of Others

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie - Away From Her
Marion Cottilard - La Vie en Rose
Keira Knightley - Atonement
Ellen Page - Juno

Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Paul Dano - There Will Be Blood
Tommy Lee Jones - No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Kelly Macdonald - No Country for Old Men
Samantha Morton - Control
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton

Best Music
American Gangster
Atonement
The Kite Runner
There Will Be Blood
La Vie En Rose

Best Cinematography
American Gangster
Atonement
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Editing
American Gangster
Atonement
The Bourne Ultimatum
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men

Best Production Design
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
There Will be Blood
La Vie En Rose

Best Costume Design
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Lust, Caution
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
La Vie En Rose

Best Sound
Atonement
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
La Vie En Rose

Best Special Visual Effects
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Golden Compass
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Spider-Man 3

Best Make-Up & Hair
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Hairspray
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
La Vie En Rose

Best Short Animation
The Pearce Sisters
Head Over Heels
The Crumblegiant

Best Short Film
Dog Altogether
Hesitation
The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island
Soft
The Stronger

The Orange Rising Star Award (voted for by the public -- nominees announced on Tuesday 8 January)
Shia LaBeouf
Sienna Miller
Ellen Page
Sam Riley
Tang Wei

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(1-18 of 18 posts) | Reply

Floor Man writes:
on Jan 16 2008 03:02 AM

Woo! This just gets me stoked even more for the Oscars! :) (I just hope all is in order by the Awards....)

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knowingtoast85 writes:
on Jan 16 2008 03:09 AM

"Atonement" really snuck by me. Didn't count on it being anything more than your average bait parade.

Nice to see "The Bourne Ultimatum" get some recognition too, not that it really needs a win to validate its existence or anything.

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Mr Maestro writes:
on Jan 16 2008 04:10 AM

Some really strong choices right across the board. And while Atonement took the Golden Globe, I think this (and the Oscars) will be a closer thing. Good to see the love for Bourne - BAFTA are good at recognising non-traditional candidates; Casino Royale got 10 nominations last year. That said, where the heck is Transformers's FX nomination? Hardly the most important pick of the bunch perhaps, but that astounds me.

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The Paki Don writes:
on Jan 16 2008 04:55 AM

I was surprised by Transformers as well, The Bourne Ultimatum should have been left out there to give room for Transformers.

And what about "Gone Baby Gone"? Is it not nominated in any category, because it hasn't premiered in the UK? Because Amy Ryan's performance is more note-worthy than Tilda Swinton's was of "Michael Clayton" in my opinion.

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Joe Utichi writes:
on Jan 16 2008 05:00 AM

I don't actually know the full details of the rules for BAFTA eligibility because plenty of the awardsy films up there didn't open here before January. So I don't know about Gone, Baby, Gone. Interesting question though.

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TheGreatOne13 writes:
on Jan 16 2008 09:23 AM

finally some love for Tommy Lee Jones

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dahluzz writes:
on Jan 16 2008 10:33 AM

OK, seriously, WAY too much Bourne up there. the movie was GOOD, not great. yeah, it was head and shoulders above most action movies, but that doesn't make it one of the top films of the year.

I rewatched it a couple weeks ago and was underwhelmed. The Bourne movies have gotten progressively worse (and dumber) since 'Identity,' probably why they've earned increasingly more money with each installment.

'Ultimatum' being nominated for the cinematography award is beyond laughable, it's offensive. Did they frame up a single shot in the movie, or just bring five handy cams to every location and wing it?

I'm banking on the latter, which would explain why there are far too many cuts and I get friggin motion sickness when I try keep my eyes in focus for more than 30 seconds. The movie doesn't suck, nor is it anything to write home about (or be nominated).

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red_grace writes:
on Jan 16 2008 01:38 PM

Glad to see Atonement got all those nominations. I agree about Amy Ryan not getting a nomination, and I'm not too happy about the sparse nominations for Sweeney Todd, which, in my opinion, was one of the best movies of the year (same goes for the snub of Once, which should have at least earned some kind of musical nominations).

But I'm especially happy to see James McAvoy nominated for best actor and the fact that BAFTA tends to favor British films and actors. Maybe he'll actually win, something that's not very likely here in the States. His performance in Atonement was by far one of the best of the year and he more than deserves it.

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Jaiph writes:
on Jan 16 2008 01:49 PM

I guess Gone Baby Gone was not released in the UK in time? It at least deserves Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actress nominations if it was eligible.

The Transformers FX snub is pretty funny. You can certainly question the quality of the film but Transformers stomps all over every other candidate in the FX department. And if we're talking movie quality, POTC3, Spiderman 3 and the Golden Compass were all decidedly underwhelming anyway. Also, as much as I loved the Bourne Ultimatum, it had very few FX at all and is a strange nomination in this category.

Good to see Kelly Macdonald getting a nom for No Country For Old Men, she's been overlooked alot so far.

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Bardego writes:
on Jan 16 2008 02:41 PM

I am seriously disappointed at the amount of praise Atonement is getting at the expense of other, better films. I'm glad that BAFTA had the good sense to nominate the two best films of the year - No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood - for Best Picture, but so many amazing movies got snubbed as well. Why did American Gangster receive the Best Picture nomination over superior crime films like Gone Baby Gone and Zodiac? How did American Gangster and The Bourne Ultimatum get recognized for Best Cinematography over The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and The Diving Bell and the Buttryfly? How come Amy Ryan is absent from the Best Supporting Actress nominees, and Hal Holbrook from the Best Supporting Actor nominees? Why is it that The Kite Runner - which was mediocre at best - was nominated for Best Film Not in the English Language instead of 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days? Oh, and let's not forget the mixed-bag visual effects of The Golden Compass being nominated instead of the mind-blowing depiction of the robots in Transformers.

I don't want to bash Atonement. It's actually a pretty compelling movie with some impressive performances (even though the ending is terrible, in my opinion), but nowhere near as good as all these award shows are making it out to be.

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monkeyonaspring writes:
on Jan 16 2008 03:14 PM

Good, but still sad that Once and Sunshine got snubbed.

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lifeinoutaspace writes:
on Jan 16 2008 04:26 PM

How do Harry Potter and Spiderman get Special Effects nods and Transformers miss out?

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BowieSwimmer writes:
on Jan 16 2008 04:37 PM

I'm surprised Once and Sunshine aren't on here as well, especially considering the audience picking these nominees.
Oh well, over all, I think this is an EXCELLENT group of nominees.
Atonement deserves all the love, and will certainly see many wins from this British awards ceremony. I just hope James McAvoy and Saoirse Ronan get some love, because they will probably not win their respected categories at the Oscars, if the Academy even nominates them. I adore Keira Knightly, but I think there's stronger nominees in Best Actress.

The BAFTA has long been my second favorite awards ceremony, behind the Oscars of course, because after all, I am an American :]

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KubrickIsG-d writes:
on Jan 16 2008 05:30 PM

How did a film as overrated as Amercan Gangster get some many of the top nominations. Juno, Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and Once were much better films. American Gangster strived for about as much unoriginality as a film possibly could. It was good formulaic fun but nothing special.

Also, considering this is Britain, how is it that "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" was completly snubbed. This was Ken Loach's masterpiece, released in the beginning of the year to rave reviews but pretty much forgotten by awards season.

No country For Old Men deserves best picture, but I guarentee "Atonement" will sweep these awards, the same way it will most likely sweep the oscars. It was a great film, but like the "English Patient", it was the typical war/romance epic that eats up awards whenever a Coen's brothers masterpiece comes along, like "Fargo" ten years ago.

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Joe Utichi writes:
on Jan 16 2008 07:04 PM

Kubrick: The Wind that Shakes the Barley was eligible for last year's BAFTAs having arrived in the UK in 2006. It didn't pick up any nominations though.

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AquaFina writes:
on Jan 16 2008 08:23 PM

Love to see Tom Wilkinson up there too. Michael Clayton was nothing if not an acting showcase, but people seem to have forgotten about it.

Am I the only one pulling for Viggo? Still, it's a fantastic field this year, and none of those potential wins are upsetting.

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BowieSwimmer writes:
on Jan 17 2008 06:47 AM

Why does everyone keep comparing Atonement to the English Patient?
Patient was a snoozefest! Atonement is so much richer, deeper, and technically superior.

I don't see why they didn't give Once any love...
that really makes no sense from this crowd.

Viggo is astounding in Eastern Promises, showing just how well he can act, but Daniel Day-Lewis steals the show. His acting is so incredibly frenzied. Its like nothing I've ever really seen.

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Kimmycat24 writes:
on Jan 17 2008 09:25 AM

In reply to this comment (#1477334)
I agree 100%. I hope that James McAvoy and Saoirse Roanan win the BAFTA awards in their respective catagories too. James won the Best Newcomer BAFTA back in 2006 for his role in the "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (my favorite movie). Like you, I doubt either will win an Oscar. Their performances in "Atonement were incredible. "Atonement" is much better than the "English Patient" in every way. I hate it when people compare the two movies.

I loved Juno and I hope Ellen Page gets an Best Actress award. I haven't seen "No Country For Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" yet. I have heard a lot of good buzz from friends and family about both movies. There are some really deserving movies out this year.

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