The British Academy has unveiled the results of the first round of voting across all 25 categories for the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards, with two very different thrillers leading the pack of longlisted features.
Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” a Spanish-language music-thriller that was picked up by Netflix in Cannes, has emerged ahead of the race with slots in 15 categories, including best film, director, leading actress and three in the supporting actress list. Meanwhile “Conclave,” Focus Features’ Papal mystery-thriller from Edward Berger set within the Vatican, has 14, including best film, director and leading actor for Ralph Fiennes.
Further down, a tight pack of films includes “The Substance,” “The Brutalist” and “A Complete Unknown” on 11 lists, “Wicked” and “Dune: Part Two” on 10 and “Anora” and “Gladiator 2” on nine. All, with the exception of “Gladiator 2,” are on the best film longlist. Ridley Scott’s epic return to the coliseum also missed out on best director and leading man, although Denzel Washington — who has never been BAFTA-nominated before — did get a supporting actor slot.
There should be cheers from Belfast, with “Kneecap” — the raucous Irish-language music biopic that’s easily among the smallest films competing in terms of budget — managing to keep up with major studio titles, landing seven longlist slots including best film. It was also a good day at the office for “The Apprentice,” which appeared in six categories, including best film and leading actor for Sebastian Stan.
Among the absences, while many might not be overly surprised that “Gladiator 2” failed to appear in most of the top categories, there’ll certainly be raised eyebrows over “Maria,” which was shut out completely (and just days before Angelina Jolie attends the Golden Globes as a leading actress nominee). There was also no space whatsoever for Pedro Almodovar’s Venice-winner “The Room Next Door” (like Jolie, Tilda Swinton has a Golden Globe best actress nomination and many might have expected that her fellow Brits would, at least, have given her a BAFTA longlist spot).
For all the last stage awards season love for “A Real Pain,” Jesse Eisenberg’s critically acclaimed comedy-drama landed just two longlist spaces (best supporting actor for Kieran Culkin and original screenplay), as did Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” (original screenplay and editing). Meanwhile, another industry crowd-pleaser, “Nickel Boys,” only managed one longlist space (adapted screenplay).
A new addition for BAFTA this year is the children’s and family film category. Unsurprisingly, there was significant overlap with animated film, with likes of “The Wild Robot,” “That Christmas” and “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” appearing in both longlists. However, many might consider the omission of “Paddington in Peru” a surprising omission from a debut kids and family lineup that includes “Young Woman and the Sea” and “Kensuke’s Kingdom,” with the long-awaited third feature about the Peruvian bear only finding space in the outstanding British film category.
The full list of nominations will be announced on Jan. 15 (minus the BAFTA Rising Star nominees, which will be unveiled Jan. 7), with the BAFTA Film Awards ceremony taking place Feb. 16 from London’s Royal Festival Hall. “Doctor Who” star David Tennant will be returning as host.