British awards: La La Land, Arrival, lead nominees
UPBEAT musical drama “La La Land” could sweep Best Film, Best Director, and both Best Actor and Actress at the British Academy Film Awards on Feb 12, having been put forward in a total of 11 categories, while sci-fi alien encounter “Arrival” and three-stranded thriller “Nocturnal Animals” are not far behind on nine each.
Its 11 nominations include six categories that have seen significant recent overlap between winners at the British Academy Film Awards and the Academy Awards.
Those are the “La La Land” nods in Leading Actress and Actor ( Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling,) Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design and Sound.
Five remaining nominations are in Best Film, Best Original Music, and Editing; Damien Chazelle has been nominated for both Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.
“Arrival” shares six of its nine nominations with “La La Land,” those being Best Film, Director ( Denis Villeneuve,”) Actress (Amy Adams,) Original Music, Cinematography, and Sound. It has also received nods in Best Adapted Screenplay, Editing, and Special Visual Effects.
And “Nocturnal Animals” also shares six, in Best Film, Director (Tom Ford, currently best known for his fashion design,) Lead Actor (Jake Gyllenhaal,) Original Music, Cinematography, Production Design, and Editing.
Its three remaining nominations come in Adapted Screenplay ( Ford again,) Best Supporting Actor (Aaron Taylor- Johnson) and Make Up & Hair.
Other films with multiple nominations include “Manchester by the Sea” (six,) Harry Potter prequel “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” war drama “Hacksaw Ridge,” family search “Lion,” and “I, Daniel Blake” (five each,) and both urban drama “Moonlight” and musical comedy “Florence Foster Jenkins” (four.)
“Manchester by the Sea,” “Moonlight” and “I, Daniel Blake” make up the quintet of Best Film nominations, with the latter also one of six for Outstanding British Film alongside “Fantastic Beasts,” USset road trip “American Honey,” and three more.
If BAFTA’s tastes continue to overlap with the Oscars’ AMPAS, then award-watchers might like to keep an eye on Hayley Squires, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Nicole Kidman and Viola Davis when the Academy announces its Supporting Actress nominees on Jan 12.
As well as Taylor- Johnson, potential supporting actor winners are Dev Patel, Hugh Grant, Jeff Bridges and Mahershala Ali; additional nominees for Leading Actress are Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep and Natalie Portman, while Andrew Garfield, Casey Affleck and Viggo Mortensen could also win Leading Actor.
One more BAFA set that enjoys 80 per cent overlap with the Oscars is Best Animated Film (“Finding Dory,” “Kubo and the Two Strings,” “Moana” and “Zootropolis – also known as Zootopia.”)
And Costume Design has so far gone five for five since 2012, so look out for “Allied,” “Fantastic Beasts,” “Florence Foster Jenkins,” “Jackie” as well as “La La Land” in that regard.