'Conclave' leads the pack, 'Emilia Perez' faces test at Britain's BAFTA film awards
Stars including Cynthia Erivo, Hugh Grant, Ariana Grande, Lupita Nyong'o, Timothee Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan walked the red carpet at London's Royal Festival Hall for the awards, known as BAFTAs.
The prizes are closely watched for clues about who will triumph at Hollywood's Academy Awards on March 3, in an unusually hard-to-call awards season.
They also have a distinctly British accent. The ceremony kicked off with its kilt-wearing host, Scottish actor David Tennant, leading the audience in a rousing singalong of The Proclaimers' anthem 'I'm Gonna be (500 Miles).'
The best film contenders are 'Conclave,' 'Emilia Perez,' Brady Corbet's 215-minute architecture epic " The Brutalist,' the James Mangold-directed Bob Dylan biopic 'A Complete Unknown' and Sean Baker's Brighton Beach tragicomedy 'Anora.'
'Anora,' about an exotic dancer entangled with a Russian oligarch's son, is emerging as a best picture favorite after winning the top prizes last week at the Producers Guild Awards and the Directors Guild Awards.
'The Brutalist' has nine BAFTA nominations, while 'Anora,' the sci-fi epic 'Dune: Part Two' and musical 'Wicked' have seven each. 'A Complete Unknown' and Irish-language hip-hop drama 'Kneecap' received six nominations apiece.
Nominees in the category of outstanding British film include Andrea Arnold's 'Bird,' Steve McQueen's 'Blitz,' Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator II' and animated adventure 'Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,' which won the award for best family and children's film.
The leading actor favorite is 'The Brutalist' star Adrien Brody, who faces stiff competition from Fiennes and Chalamet, who plays the young Dylan in 'A Complete Unknown.'
The other male actors nominated are Grant for his creepy role in the horror film ' Heretic,' Colman Domingo in real-life prison drama ' Sing Sing ' and Sebastian Stan for his portrayal of a young Donald Trump in 'The Apprentice.'
Stan, who is also Oscar nominated, said it was 'incredibly validating' to get recognition for the film, which initially struggled to find an American distributor. It's an origins story that focuses on Trump's relationship with ruthless power broker Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong.
'We were told this was going to be a thankless job that was never going to lead to anything,' Stan said, describing the movie as a 'fair' depiction of the president.
Whoever takes the best actress award will be a first-time BAFTA winner.
Nominees are Gascon, Demi Moore for body-horror film ' The Substance,' Mikey Madison for 'Anora,' Ronan for 'The Outrun,' Erivo for 'Wicked' and Marianne Jean-Baptiste for the Mike Leigh drama 'Hard Truths.' Erivo or Jean-Baptiste would be the first non-white performer to win the leading actress BAFTA.
British stars on the red carpet had high praise for Jean-Baptiste's blistering performance as a woman beset by depression, and for Moore, already a Golden Globe winner for 'The Substance.'
'I'm very excited for Demi Moore tonight," said 'Game of Thrones' and 'Severance' star Gwendoline Christie. She said Moore's 'visceral" performance 'transcends so many different boundaries.'
What's new and where to watch
Britain's film academy introduced changes to increase the awards' diversity in 2020, when 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.
Most winners are chosen by members of the 8,000-strong U.K. academy of industry professionals, with one — the Rising Star Award —- selected by public vote from a short list of nominees. This year's contenders are performers Mikey Madison, Marisa Abela, Jharrel Jerome, David Jonsson and Nabhaan Rizwan.
'Willow' and 'Return of the Jedi' actor Warwick Davis will receive the academy's top honor, the BAFTA Fellowship, for his screen career and work to create a more inclusive film industry.
BAFTA chairwoman Sara Putt sent a message of strength to everyone hit by last month's devastating Los Angeles wildfires. Jamie Lee Curtis, a supporting actress nominee for 'The Last Showgirl,' was absent because the fires delayed filming on her current work. Co-star Pamela Anderson will accept the prize for Curtis if she wins.
The event was without a dash of royal glamour this year. Neither Prince William, who is honorary president of the British film academy, nor his wife Kate, is attending. The awards coincide with school holidays for their three children.
The show will include a performance by grown-up boyband Take That, whose 2008 hit 'Greatest Day' features on the 'Anora' soundtrack. 'Wicked' wizard Jeff Goldblum will play piano during the ceremony's tribute to people who have died in the past year.
The ceremony airs on BBC in the United Kingdom and BritBox in North America and started at 1900 GMT (2 p.m. EST).
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