#BAFTAsSoWhite began trending on Tuesday as a race row erupted over the all-white acting nominations, as even the academy boss admitted she was ‘very disappointed’ over the lack of diversity.
BAFTA was heavily criticised after it emerged all actors nominated in the Leading Actor, Leading Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress categories are white.
Movie fans took to social media with the hashtag #BAFTAsSoWhite to call out Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong’o’s snub for Us, while Australian actress Margot Robbie was nominated twice in the Supporting Actress category.
Notable snub: #BAFTAsSoWhite began trending on Tuesday as a race row erupted over the all-white acting nominations, as even the academy boss admitted she was ‘very disappointed’ over the lack of diversity (pictured Lupita Nyong’o in Us and Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers)
Speaking on Radio 4 on Tuesday, Amanda Berry OBE admitted she was ‘very disappointed’ at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards shortlist’s lack of diversity.
When asked if the 2020 nominations were a ‘more diverse’ list, she said: ‘If I’m being totally honest, no, I’m very disappointed.
Agreeing the list seemed ‘very white’, she added: ‘I’m going to totally agree with you because that’s how I felt when I first saw the list and this isn’t being disrespectful to anyone who has been nominated because it’s an incredibly strong list this year.
‘If you look at the director category this year in which I hoped we would see at least one female director, that is an incredibly strong list.
Not to be: British actress Cynthia Erivo, who received two Golden Globe nominations for Harriet, did not receive any nominations at the BAFTAs
Reaction: Speaking on Radio 4 on Tuesday, BAFTAs CEO Amanda Berry OBE admitted she was ‘very disappointed’ at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards shortlist’s lack of diversity
Outrage: There was a Twitter backlash over Australian actress Margot Robbie being nominated twice in the Supporting Actress category (above in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood)
‘When I’m looking at the performance categories and the lack of diversity, I think you positioned it very well.
BAFTA has a role to play here, it can’t tell the industry which films to greenlight and who to hire but what it can do is make sure it is finding and supporting talented people and giving them every opportunity to succeed.
‘Talent is everywhere but opportunity is not.’
Discussing BAFTAs efforts to push for more gender diversity in the Best Director category she said: ‘A couple of years ago we did an initiative to support female directors and actually looking at the list this year we have decided we are going to do it again.
BAFTAs 2020: THE NOMINATIONS
BEST FILM
1917 Pippa Harris, Callum McDougall, Sam Mendes, Jayne-Ann Tenggren
THE IRISHMAN Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, Martin Scorsese, Emma Tillinger Koskoff
JOKER Bradley Cooper, Todd Phillips, Emma Tillinger Koskoff
ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh, Quentin Tarantino
PARASITE Bong Joon-ho, Kwak Sin-ae
Joker has earned the most nods with 11 nominations
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
1917 Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Callum McDougall, Jayne-Ann Tenggren, Krysty Wilson-Cairns
BAIT Mark Jenkin, Kate Byers, Linn Waite
FOR SAMA Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts
ROCKETMAN Dexter Fletcher, Adam Bohling, David Furnish, David Reid, Matthew Vaughn, Lee Hall
SORRY WE MISSED YOU Ken Loach, Rebecca O’Brien, Paul Laverty
THE TWO POPES Fernando Meirelles, Jonathan Eirich, Dan Lin, Tracey Seaward, Anthony McCarten
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
BAIT Mark Jenkin (Writer/Director), Kate Byers, Linn Waite (Producers)
FOR SAMA Waad al-Kateab (Director/Producer), Edward Watts (Director)
MAIDEN Alex Holmes (Director)
ONLY YOU Harry Wootliff (Writer/Director)
RETABLO Álvaro Delgado-Aparicio (Writer/Director)*
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
THE FAREWELL Lulu Wang, Daniele Melia
FOR SAMA Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts
PAIN AND GLORY Pedro Almodóvar, Agustín Almodóvar
PARASITE Bong Joon-ho
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE Céline Sciamma, Bénédicte Couvreur
DOCUMENTARY
AMERICAN FACTORY Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert
APOLLO 11 Todd Douglas Miller
DIEGO MARADONA Asif Kapadia
FOR SAMA Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts
THE GREAT HACK Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaim
Frozen 2 earns a nomination for Animated Film
ANIMATED FILM
FROZEN 2 Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho
KLAUS Sergio Pablos, Jinko Gotoh
A SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE: FARMAGEDDON Will Becher, Richard Phelan, Paul Kewley
TOY STORY 4 Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen
DIRECTOR
1917 Sam Mendes
THE IRISHMAN Martin Scorsese
JOKER Todd Phillips
ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD Quentin Tarantino
PARASITE Bong Joon-ho
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
BOOKSMART Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Katie Silberman
KNIVES OUT Rian Johnson
MARRIAGE STORY Noah Baumbach
ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD Quentin Tarantino
PARASITE Han Jin Won, Bong Joon-ho,
Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood has earned 10 nods
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE IRISHMAN Steven Zaillian
JOJO RABBIT Taika Waititi
JOKER Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
LITTLE WOMEN Greta Gerwig
THE TWO POPES Anthony McCarten
LEADING ACTRESS
JESSIE BUCKLEY Wild Rose
SCARLETT JOHANSSON Marriage Story
SAOIRSE RONAN Little Women
CHARLIZE THERON Bombshell
RENÉE ZELLWEGER Judy
Saoirse Ronan has earned a leading actress nod for Little Women
LEADING ACTOR
LEONARDO DICAPRIO Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood
ADAM DRIVER Marriage Story
TARON EGERTON Rocketman
JOAQUIN PHOENIX Joker
JONATHAN PRYCE The Two Popes
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
LAURA DERN Marriage Story
SCARLETT JOHANSSON Jojo Rabbit
FLORENCE PUGH Little Women
MARGOT ROBBIE Bombshell
MARGOT ROBBIE Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
SUPPORTING ACTOR
TOM HANKS A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
ANTHONY HOPKINS The Two Popes
AL PACINO The Irishman
JOE PESCI The Irishman
BRAD PITT Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
ORIGINAL SCORE
1917 Thomas Newman
JOJO RABBIT Michael Giacchino
JOKER Hildur Guđnadóttir
LITTLE WOMEN Alexandre Desplat
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER John Williams
JoJo Rabbit has received six nominations in total
CASTING
JOKER Shayna Markowitz
MARRIAGE STORY Douglas Aibel, Francine Maisler
ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD Victoria Thomas
THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD Sarah Crowe
THE TWO POPES Nina Gold
CINEMATOGRAPHY
1917 Roger Deakins
THE IRISHMAN Rodrigo Prieto
JOKER Lawrence Sher
LE MANS ’66 Phedon Papamichael
THE LIGHTHOUSE Jarin Blaschke
Netflix hit The Irishman has 10 nominations
EDITING
THE IRISHMAN Thelma Schoonmaker
JOJO RABBIT Tom Eagles
JOKER Jeff Groth
LE MANS ’66 Andrew Buckland, Michael McCusker
ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD Fred Raskin
PRODUCTION DESIGN
1917 Dennis Gassner, Lee Sandales
THE IRISHMAN Bob Shaw, Regina Graves
JOJO RABBIT Ra Vincent, Nora Sopková
JOKER Mark Friedberg, Kris Moran
ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD Barbara Ling, Nancy Haigh
COSTUME DESIGN
THE IRISHMAN Christopher Peterson, Sandy Powell
JOJO RABBIT Mayes C. Rubeo
JUDY Jany Temime
LITTLE WOMEN Jacqueline Durran
ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD Arianne Phillips
Sam Mendes’ movie 1917 has received nine nominations
MAKE UP & HAIR
1917 Naomi Donne
BOMBSHELL Vivian Baker, Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan
JOKER Kay Georgiou, Nicki Ledermann
JUDY Jeremy Woodhead
ROCKETMAN Lizzie Yianni Georgiou
SOUND
1917 Scott Millan, Oliver Tarney, Rachael Tate, Mark Taylor, Stuart Wilson
JOKER Tod Maitland, Alan Robert Murray, Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic
LE MANS ’66 David Giammarco, Paul Massey, Steven A. Morrow, Donald Sylvester
ROCKETMAN Matthew Collinge, John Hayes, Mike Prestwood Smith, Danny Sheehan
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER David Acord, Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, Stuart Wilson, Matthew Wood
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
1917 Greg Butler, Guillaume Rocheron, Dominic Tuohy
AVENGERS: ENDGAME Dan Deleeuw, Dan Sudick
THE IRISHMAN Leandro Estebecorena, Stephane Grabli, Pablo Helman
THE LION KING Andrew R. Jones, Robert Legato, Elliot Newman, Adam Valdez
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, Neal Scanlan, Dominic Tuohy
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
GRANDAD WAS A ROMANTIC. Maryam Mohajer
IN HER BOOTS Kathrin Steinbacher
THE MAGIC BOAT Naaman Azhari, Lilia Laurel
BRITISH SHORT FILM
AZAAR Myriam Raja, Nathanael Baring
GOLDFISH Hector Dockrill, Harri Kamalanathan, Benedict Turnbull, Laura Dockrill
KAMALI Sasha Rainbow, Rosalind Croad
LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU’RE A GIRL) Carol Dysinger, Elena Andreicheva
THE TRAP Lena Headey, Anthony Fitzgerald
EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
AWKWAFINA
JACK LOWDEN
KAITLYN DEVER
KELVIN HARRISON JR.
MICHEAL WARD
Producer Kathleen Kennedy will be granted the BAFTA Fellowship Award.
‘We need to up our efforts and keep the pressure on the industry to create these opportunities.’
This year’s Best Director category saw Greta Gerwig miss out on a nomination for Little Women, which has won widespread critical acclaim.
She added there are 13 female directors recognised in other categories besides Best Director and six in the shorts category.
She said: ‘That is where the next generation of talent is coming from so there is hope there, it’s just not going as fast as we want it to.’
Leading actress nominees: Renee Zellweger is nominated for Judy while Saoirse is nominated for Little Women
Fury: Movie fans also took to social media using the hashtag #BAFTAsSoWhite to address the nominations
‘We need people from all backgrounds in the industry to enable us to do that.’
The 2020 shortlist also saw Awkwafina, who is of Chinese descent and picked up a Golden Globe for Best Actress on Sunday, fail to pick up a nomination for The Farewell.
Jennifer Lopez, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, also missed out for her acclaimed role in Hustlers.
One fan wrote: ‘Not a SINGLE person of colour was nominated at the BAFTA’s this year. They could have nominated Lupita for US, Jennifer Lopez for Hustlers, Cynthia for Harriet, or any one of the Parasite actors, they didn’t…
‘Well BAFTA nominated no people of color this year… No Erivo, Nyong’o, Awkwafina, Lopez, Shuzhen, Murphy, or any Parasite actors… disappointed… #BAFTASoWhite…
Another wrote: ‘Here are the all white nominees for Best Actor, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Actress and Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
Leading actor nominations: Joaquin Phoenix and Leonardoo DiCaprio are nominated for Joker and Once Upon A Time In Hollywoo
‘Come on now, you can do better than that. Terrible diversity.’
A third wrote: ‘Not a single one of these people getting nominated for best actress did a better job than Lupita Nyong’o. There is a reason why she has dominated all the critics awards this season.
‘This [s**t] is ridiculous.’
Others called out BAFTA for nominating Margot, 29, twice in the same category for Bombshell and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, with her part as 60s actress Sharon Tate a limited speaking role.
‘I love Margot Robbie and she deserves a nomination. But giving 2 nods to her when Bafta really needs some damn diversity is such a bad move.
Another fan wrote: ‘The #EEBAFTAs are so white that Margot Robbie and Scarlett Johansson are both nominated twice.
Actress in a supporting role: Laura Dern and Florence Pugh are nominated for Marriage Story and Little Women
A third typed; ‘So white, they nominated the same white woman twice.’
Joker is this year’s frontrunner with a whopping 11 nominations, while The Irishman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood follow on behind with 10.
The supervillain drama, starring Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Todd Phillips, looks set to dominate on the night, and will compete for Best Film alongside 1917, The Irishman, Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood and Parasite.
The drama has also earned nods in the Director category for Todd, and Leading Actor for Joaquin. The film is also up for Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Production Design, Make Up and Hair and Sound.
This is Joaquin’s fourth nomination by BAFTA, but he will face tough competition in the Lead Actor category from Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon A Time…), Adam Driver (Marriage Story), Taron Egerton (Rocketman), and Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes).
Double hitters: Both Scarlett and Margot have two nominations each, Scarlett is nominated in the category for Jojo Rabbit while Margot is nominated twice in the supporting actress category for Bombshell and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
However, his chances at scoring his first BAFTA have only increased after he took home the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for the role at Sunday night’s Golden Globes ceremony, beating Jonathan Pryce, Christian Bale, Antonio Banderas and Adam Driver.
In the Supporting Actor category, The Irishman actors Al Pacino and Joe Pesci are set to go head-to-head, but face competition from Tom Hanks (A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood), Sir Anthony Hopkins (The Two Popes) and Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time…) for the gong.
If Scarlett is unable to scoop the Supporting Actress gong, she could have luck in the Lead Actress category, where she is nominated for her work in Marriage Story.
She will go up against Jessie Buckley (Wild Rose), Saoirse Ronan (Little Women), Charlize Theron (Bombshell) and Renee Zellweger (Judy).
Outstanding British Film is set to be tightly fought category, with 1917, Bait For Sama, Rocketman, Sorry We Missed You, and The Two Popes going up for the honour.
Supporting actor nominees: Brad Pitt is nominated for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
If the BAFTAs follow the same path as the Golden Globes, it will be a good night for Sam Mendes’ World War I movie 1917, as that scooped both Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director at the Hollywood ceremony.
Sam has earned a Best Director nomination at this year’s BAFTAs for 1917, where he will compete against Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Todd Phillips (Joker), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon A Time…) and Bong Joon-ho (Parasite).
The BAFTA nominations were announced on Tuesday morning by BAFTA’s Chief Executive Amanda Berry OBE, who was joined by Asa Butterfield and Ella Balinska.
The day before, the five nominees for the prestigious EE Rising Star Award were announced: Awkwafina, Jack Lowden, Kaitlyn Dever, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Micheal Ward
This year’s nominees were selected by a group of industry jurors including actors Vanessa Kirby, Cynthia Erivo, Gemma Whelan and film broadcaster Edith Bowman
Acclaimed: Joker is this year’s frontrunner with a whopping 11 nominations (above), while The Irishman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood follow on behind with 10
2020 is the 15th anniversary of the EE Rising Star Award – the only award at BAFTA’s Film Awards voted for by the British public
This year’s ceremony will be hosted by Graham Norton, taking over the role from Joanna Lumley, who hosted for two years prior.
The talk show host, 56, first presented the British Academy Television Awards 15 years ago however this year will mark his debut as Film Awards host.
The awards ceremony, which will be broadcast on BBC One and iPlayer, will also feature an exclusive performance from Cirque du Soleil.
Following the announcement, Graham said: ‘I’m delighted to be taking the helm of the biggest night in British Film. The audience at the Royal Albert Hall will be the biggest sofa I’ve ever faced. I’m honoured to be following in the fabulous footsteps of Stephen Fry and Joanna Lumley.’
Following news of Graham’s appointment, it was reported that Joanna had been axed from the hosting job, with producers decided Graham was ‘a safe pair of hands.’
A source told The Sun: ‘Bosses decided to get rid of Joanna as they were not massively keen on her hosting style and decided two years was enough. They wanted someone with a safe pair of hands — and there is no one safer than Graham. He did a sterling job with the TV awards and went down brilliantly with viewers.’
The EE British Academy Film Awards will take place on Sunday February 2 at Royal Albert Hall and air on BBC One.