Oppenheimer dominates ceremony in major Oscars boost
LONDON: Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s epic movie about the creation of the atomic bomb, swept the board at Sunday’s Bafta film awards in London, delivering a serious statement ahead of next month’s Oscars.
The movie earned seven awards in total, including best film, best director for Nolan, best actor for Cillian Murphy and best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr.
In the film, Murphy plays J Robert Oppenheimer, the US theoretical physicist often called the “father of the atomic bomb” who was haunted by the consequences of his creation.
The film has grossed more than $1 billion, already won big at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards and is now the clear frontrunner for Oscars glory.
It was also a good night for surreal dark comedy Poor Things, which won five awards including best actress for Emma Stone, who also won the gong in 2017 for La La Land. In the film, Stone plays a Victorian reanimated corpse brought back to life with the spirit of a child by a mad scientist in a female “Frankenstein” story.
Britain’s royal family was represented at the ceremony, hosted by
Scottish actor David Tennant, by Prince William in his capacity as Bafta president.
William saw US actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph pick up the best supporting actress award for her role in 1970s-set prep school comedy The Holdovers.
Jonathan Glazer’s harrowing The Zone of Interest, about a Nazi concentration camp commander and his family living next to Auschwitz, took home three awards including best British film, best film not in the English language and best sound.
The Boy and the Heron by celebrated Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki won best animated film.