‘One Battle After Another’ tops UK BAFTA film nominations

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 recognised “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 flavours, really bold storytelling,” she said.

HOLLYWOOD HEAVYWEIGHTS, RISING STARS

Best leading actor contenders are 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 and British actor Robert Aramayo for playing a man with Tourette’s syndrome in biographical drama I Swear.

Aramayo said it was “really crazy” to be nominated alongside Hollywood heavyweights.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” he said. “I admire each and every one of them so much.”

The leading actress category includes awards-season favourite 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 winners will be announced at a February 22 ceremony in London hosted by actor Alan Cumming. The UK 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 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.