Brits lead charge for Oscars
Ten nominations for Mendes war epic as our female stars fly the flag too
‘More than a dream come true’
THE British charge for Oscar glory began yesterday, led by a war epic, two rising female stars and two veteran Welshmen.
Sir Sam Mendes’s highly-nominated 1917 is among films competing for Best Picture, while Cynthia Erivo is up for Best Actress and Best Original Song for Harriet.
Miss Erivo, 33, was controversially snubbed in the Bafta nominations last week but was recognised by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her portrayal of the 19th century slavery abolitionist Harriet Tubman.
The south Londoner, who also co-wrote and sang the song Stand Up for the film, said her nominations were ‘beyond anything I could have ever imagined’ and ‘more than a dream come true’.
Florence Pugh was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her dynamic performance as Amy March in the latest adaptation of the much-loved US novel Little Women. It marks an astonishing rise for the 24-yearold former public schoolgirl from Oxford, who has made a handful of screen appearances.
Jonathan Pryce and Sir Anthony Hopkins secured recognition for the unlikely Netflix hit The Two Popes. Pryce, 72, is nominated for Best Actor as Pope Francis while Hopkins, 82, is up for Best Supporting Actor as Pope Benedict
XVI. It is a first Oscar nomination for Pryce but the fifth for Hopkins, who won Best Actor for playing Hannibal Lecter in The Silence Of The Lambs in 1991.
The real biggie for Britain though is the continued success of Mendes and his First World War epic 1917, which took ten nominations including for Best Picture and Best Director.
Its tally was matched by Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood – and beaten only by the 11 nominations for Joker. One of its two lead actors, George MacKay, 27, said 1917 was about British soldiers being stretched ‘emotionally and physically whole in the service of doing something for someone else’.
He added: ‘I think people sit in cinemas and wonder ”What would I do in that situation?”’
MacKay explained that director Mendes oversaw six months of rehearsals to ensure that he could make the film as though in one continuous shot. It then took a further four months to film .
‘Sam’s a master at what he does. Every department had input but everything came together under his command. There were hundreds and hundreds of people on this film,’ said MacKay. Mendes last won an Oscar in 1999, for his debut film American Beauty, which bagged both Best Picture and Best Director.
Elton John and Bernie Taupin were nominated for (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again, which they wrote for Rocketman. However, the film’s star Taron Egerton, who won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Elton, missed out.
The Academy was keen to point out that a record 62 women were nominated across categories, representing one third of the total. But there was controversy as Greta Gerwig was not nominated for Best Director for Little Women, making it the second year in a row with no female represenation for the category. There has ben only one woman winner – Kathryn Bigelow in 2009 for The Hurt Locker.
The Oscars ceremony takes place in Hollywood on February 9.