By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Paul Thomas Anderson’s politically charged action thriller “One Battle After Another” leads the race for the British Academy Film Awards, securing 14 nominations Tuesday including acting nods for five of its cast.
Ryan Coogler’s blues-steeped vampire epic “Sinners” is close behind with 13 nominations for Britain’s equivalent of the Oscars, while Chloé Zhao’s Shakespearean family tragedy “Hamnet” and Josh Safdie’s ping-pong odyssey “Marty Supreme” have 11 apiece.
Guillermo del Toro’s reimagining of “Frankenstein” and Norwegian family drama ” Sentimental Value” each got eight nominations, rounding out a six-pack of leading contenders for both the British and Hollywood Academy Awards.
The best film nominees are “One Battle After Another,” “Hamnet,” “Marty Supreme,” “Sinners” and “Sentimental Value.”
BAFTA Chief Executive Jane Millichip said the nominations recognized “films like ‘One Battle After Another,’ ‘Sinners,’ tackling really big societal issues — the moral ambiguity of activism, Black identity,” alongside films exploring “the most intimate side of family relationships.”
“They’re all doing it in quite different ways: Strong flavors, really bold storytelling,” she said.
Best leading actor contenders are Robert Aramayo for playing a man with Tourette’s syndrome in biographical drama “I Swear,” Timothée Chalamet for “Marty Supreme,” Leonardo DiCaprio for “One Battle After Another,” Ethan Hawke for Broadway biopic “Blue Moon,” Michael B. Jordan for “Sinners” and Jesse Plemons for “Bugonia.”
The leading actress category includes awards-season favorite Jessie Buckley for her performance as Agnes Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare, in “Hamnet.” She’s up against Rose Byrne for “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” Kate Hudson for “Song Sung Blue,” Chase Infiniti for “One Battle After Another,” Renate Reinsve for “Sentimental Value” and Emma Stone for dystopian tragicomedy “Bugonia.”
“One Battle” actors Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn are all nominated for supporting performances.
The Associated Press was recognized in the best documentary category with a nomination for Mstyslav Chernov’s harrowing Ukraine war portrait “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” co-produced by the AP and PBS Frontline.
The winners will be announced at a Feb. 22 ceremony in London hosted by actor Alan Cumming. The U.K. prizes — officially called the EE BAFTA Film Awards — often provide clues about who will triumph at Hollywood’s Academy Awards, held this year on March 15.
This year, unusually, Oscar nominations were announced first, with “Sinners” securing a record 16 nominations, followed by 13 for “One Battle After Another.”
The British academy has recognized several performers overlooked by the Oscars, including supporting actor nominees Paul Mescal for “Hamnet” and Odessa A’zion for “Marty Supreme.”
The BAFTAs also have a distinctly British accent, with a separate category of best British film. Its 10 nominees include “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” “Pillion,” “I Swear” and “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.”
Most BAFTA winners are chosen by 8,500 members of the U.K. academy of industry professionals, with one – the Rising Star Award – selected by public vote from a shortlist of nominees. This year’s rising star contenders are Infiniti, Aramayo, “Sinners” star Miles Caton and British actors Archie Madekwe and Posy Sterling.
Like other major movie awards, Britain’s film academy has introduced changes in recent years to increase diversity. In 2020, no women were nominated as best director for the seventh year running, and all 20 nominees in the lead and supporting performer categories were white. The voting process was changed to add a longlist round before the final nominees are selected.
Zhao is the only female nominee in the best director category, alongside Anderson, Safdie, Cooger, Yorgos Lanthimos for “Bugonia” and Joachim Trier for “Sentimental Value.” Across all categories including documentaries and shorts, 25% of the directing nominees are women.