‘Joker’ leads BAFTAs with 11 nominations
THE nominations for the EE British Film Awards, Britain’s equivalent of the Academy Awards, were announced Tuesday — and not a single person of color is nominated in the best acting categories.
‘Joker,’ the well-reviewed but controversial film starring Joaquin Phoenix as a tortured comic book villain, leads the nominations with 11 in total.
The film’s accolades include a best actor nod for Phoenix, who won a Golden Globe Sunday for the role and is expected to be among the best actor nominees at the Oscars next month.
The rest of the best actor category isn’t particularly surprising — Leonardo DiCaprio (‘Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood’) and Adam Driver (‘Marriage Story’) are both up against Phoenix — but the supporting actor list notably overlooks Eddie Murphy, who made a well-received comeback in Netflix’s ‘ Dolemite Is My Name.’
The nominations for the upcoming ceremony, commonly referred to as the BAFTAs (after its voting body, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts) and often seen as a bellwether for the Oscars, sparked swift social media backlash.
Film fans on both sides of the pond tweeted their outrage with the hashtag #BAFTASsowhite, a spin on the 2016 #OscarsSoWhite campaign that forced Hollywood to confront its abiding lack of representation.
Among those shut out of the leading actress category were Lupita Nyong’o, who impressed critics with her macabre turn in Jordan Peele’s ‘ Us’; Cynthia Erivo, whose portrayal of famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman in ‘Harriet’ earned her a Golden Globe nod; and — perhaps most glaringly — Awkwafina, who won a statuette Sunday for her dramatic breakout in Lulu Wang’s ‘The Farewell.’ (The Queens native is up for the EE Rising Star Award, which is chosen by viewer votes.)
Jennifer Lopez, meanwhile, failed to get a nomination in the supporting actress category despite already earning a Golden Globe nomination (and Oscar buzz) for her acclaimed performance in ‘Hustlers.’
The supporting actress category includes two nods for Margot Robbie (who starred in both ‘Bombshell’ and ‘Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood’).
Scarlett Johansson also received two nominations: a leading actress nod for ‘Marriage Story,’ and a supporting actress nod for ‘Jojo Rabbit.’
April Reign, the activist who created the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag, was among the critics who noted that several actors of color appeared prominently in promotional images for the nominations despite the lack of diversity among the actual honorees.
‘Don’t use people of color as window dressing if they’re not invited to the show,’ Reign tweeted.
Some of BAFTA’s oversights echoed existing critiques of this year’s awards season.
Like the Golden Globes, the UK ceremony will not feature any women among its best director nominees, though ‘Little Women’
director Greta Gerwig and the writers behind Olivia Wilde’s ‘Booksmart’ did score nods for best adapted screenplay and best original screenplay, respectively.
Since some BAFTA members are also in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the nominations prompted some to urge the Oscars not to make the same mistakes.
Diversity among nominees ‘does continue to be an industrywide issue,’ said BAFTA’s director of awards, Emma Baehr in an interview with the Hollywood
Reporter on Tuesday.
‘I think more films need to be made, and entered, giving people a chance to see them. We’d absolutely like to see more diversity, but I also don’t want to take away from those celebrating today.’
The BAFTAs will be held on Feb 2 in London, and the Graham Norton-hosted ceremony will air that night on BBC America.
The nominations for the most closely watched categories are below. The full list is here.
Best film
‘1917’
‘The Irishman’ ‘Joker’
‘Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood’ ‘Parasite’
Best director
Sam Mendes, ‘1917’ Martin Scorsese, ‘The Irishman’
Todd Phillips, ‘Joker’ Quentin Tarantino, ‘Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood’ Bong Joon Ho, ‘Parasite’
Best actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, ‘Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood’ Adam Driver, ‘Marriage Story’ Taron Egerton, ‘Rocketman’ Joaquin Phoenix, ‘Joker’ Jonathan Pryce, ‘The Two Popes’
Best actress
Jessie Buckley, ‘Wild Rose’ Scarlett Johansson, ‘Marriage Story’
Saoirse Ronan, ‘Little Women’ Charlize Theron, ‘Bombshell’ Renée Zellweger, ‘Judy’
Best supporting actor
Tom Hanks, ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ Anthony Hopkins, ‘The Two Popes’
Al Pacino, ‘The Irishman’ Joe Pesci, ‘The Irishman’ Brad Pitt, ‘Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood’
Best supporting actress Laura Dern, ‘Marriage Story’ Florence Pugh, ‘Little Women’ Margot Robbie, ‘Bombshell’ Margot Robbie, ‘Once Upon a
Time...in Hollywood’ Scarlett Johansson, ‘Jojo Rabbit’
Best original screenplay Susanna Fogle, Emily Halpen, Sarah Haskins, & Katie Silverman, ‘Booksmart’ Rian Johnson, ‘Knives Out’ Noah Baumbach, ‘Marriage Story’
Quentin Tarantino, ‘Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood’ Bong Joon Ho & Han Jin Won, ‘Parasite’ Best adapted screenplay Steven Zaillian, ‘The Irishman’ Taika Waititi, ‘Jojo Rabbit’ Todd Phillips & Scott Silver, ‘Joker’
Greta Gerwig, ‘Little Women’ Anthony McCarten, ‘The Two Popes’. —