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BAFTAs Announced: What Does This Mean for Oscar?

The British Academy of Film and Television Awards (BAFTAs) were announced last night. The BAFTAs are essentially the British Oscars and are sometimes a good indicator of what will take home the little golden man. According to the Los Angeles Times, Joe Wright’s Atonement won Best Picture, besting what has become the Academy Award’s frontrunner, No Country for Old Men. Atonement, which led all films with 14 nominations, was also nominated for Best British Film, but lost to This Is England. Question: How does a film win the British Academy’s award for best overall film, but not the regional award? Also, does anyone else find it strange that they consider The Bourne Ultimatum a British film as well, considering its producers are mostly American and the first film was directed by American Doug Liman?

Those crazy Brits. Anyway…

As far as other notable wins—Daniel Day Lewis, Diablo Cody, and Javier Bardem kept their streaks alive with wins for There Will Be Blood, Juno, and No Country for Old Men, respectively. The Coen Brothers took home the award for Direction, mirroring their recent win at the DGAs.

Where things get interesting is when you look at the actresses. Marion Cotillard beat legendary British actress Julie Christie for Best Actress for La Vie En Rose. Christie and Cotillard had both won Golden Globes, but Christie took home the SAG. Cotillard’s win here evens the table as far as major awards, and also makes Ellen Page’s chances of winning for Juno seem that much more slim.

The other interesting race, for Supporting Actress, got a little tighter with Tilda Swinton taking home the award for Michael Clayton, a movie that seems to be getting all the important nominations this year, but a film that no one considers a major threat. Swinton’s win makes the Supporting Actress race wide open. With Cate Blanchett (I’m Not There) winning the Globe and various critics awards and Ruby Dee bringing home the SAG for American Gangster, this is a fun category to keep your eye on—it’s like the Democratic primaries; too close to call. I have a wager going with my girlfriend on this category. She’s pulling for Blanchett, thinking that she HAS to take home one of her two Oscar nominations (I reminded her to look at what happened to Julianne Moore in 2003); I’m pulling for Amy Ryan to be the upset for Gone Baby Gone.

Another note about the BAFTAs is that last year they predicted who would win all 4 acting award. In other words, they were the only other Awards show that picked Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine over Eddie Murphy.

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