BAFTA 2022 Nominations Announced
Dune and The Power Of The Dog dominate a diverse pack as this year’s BAFTA nominations are revealed.
Denis Villeneuve’s star-studded sci-fi spectacle boasts a staggering eleven nominations with Jane Campion’s nuanced Netflix western and Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical sensation Belfast following closely with eight and six respectively.
All three films compete for Best Film where they’re nominated alongside Adam McKay’s climate-comedy Don’t Look Up and Paul Thomas Anderson’s seventies-set coming-of-age drama Licorice Pizza.
Dune is the front runner for the technical categories that makes up most of its nominations, but Villeneuve joins Kenneth Branagh and Steven Spielberg as notable absentees from the Best Director category; especially surprising for the latter as Spielberg is many pundits’ favourite to scoop the same award at the Oscars.
The direction and acting categories both signify BAFTAs' continued intent to improve inclusivity, equal opportunity, and diversity among its nominees. There’s an equal split of male and female directors vying for Best Director as the strong list includes Aleem Khan, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Audrey Diwan, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jane Campion, and Julia Ducournau.
Diversity is also reflected in all four acting categories as the selections range from big blockbusters to indie titles and from Hollywood household names to home-grown talent with nineteen of the twenty-four named are first-time nominees.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Benedict Cumberbatch, Lady Gaga, and Will Smith are the best-known stars named in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories as they’re nominated alongside Licorice Pizza’s Alana Haim, Coda’s Emilia Jones, The Worst Person In The World’s Renate Reinsve, After Love’s Joanna Scanlan, Passing’s Tessa Thompson, Ali & Ava’s Adeel Akhtar, Swan Song’s Mahershala Ali, and Boiling Point’s Stephen Graham.
Belfast’s Caitríona Balfe, The Lost Daughter’s Jessie Buckley, West Side Story’s Ariana DeBose, Mass’ Ann Dowd, King Richard’s Aunjanue Ellis, and Passing’s Ruth Negga are nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Best Supporting Actor includes West Side Story’s Mike Faist, Belfast’s Ciarán Hinds, Coda’s Troy Kotsur, C’mon C’mon’s Woody Norman, with Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee both nominated for their roles in The Power Of The Dog.
Such rich and varied nominations is sure to throw up one or two surprises when the stars return and host Rebel Wilson rolls out the red carpet to celebrate BAFTAs’ 75th anniversary at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 13 March.
