Baftas 2024: Donald Clarke on the snubs and surprises on a good day for Irish nominations

Domestic talent has, once again, fared well at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) awards.

Cillian Murphy, Barry Keoghan and Paul Mescal all received acting nominations. Element Pictures, Irish producers of Yorgos Lanthimos’s thrilling Poor Things, will be delighted to take second place on the nominations table.

Scoring 11, the off-centre feminist fantasia was just behind Oppenheimer, which landed 13. Robbie Ryan, one of Ireland’s most celebrated film professionals, lands a nomination in best cinematography for the Lanthimos film. Dubliner Medb Riordan, producer of Earth Mama, was among a wider team nominated for outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer.

Murphy was, of course, nominated for his lead turn in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. It was a tad more surprising to see Keoghan, winner here last year in the best supporting actor category, get the best actor nod for Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, but that film has been generating furious debate since its release in November.

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Much was hoped for Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers. Starring Andrew Scott as a bereaved writer who, when not dallying with Mescal’s troubled neighbour, communes with his late parents, the film was raved about after its premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in August. It did well, scoring six nominations including those for best British film and best director. Mescal, nominated here last year for Aftersun, was a slightly unexpected nominee in supporting actor. Might his chances at the Oscars have revived?

[ Bafta nominations 2024: Irish actors Cillian Murphy, Barry Keoghan and Paul Mescal shortlisted ]

One of the day’s biggest stunners, however – and there were a few – saw Scott snubbed in best actor. That looked like a sure thing. Did Keoghan edge him out? Maybe. But the real surprise inclusion there was Teo Yoo, the less celebrated of the twin leads in Celine Song’s Past Lives.

The team behind Poor Things will be delighted with nominations in major categories such as best film, British film, and for Emma Stone, best actress. But they also missed in unexpected places. No director spot? Few would have guessed Bradley Cooper, seen as somewhat fading for Maestro, would get in ahead of Lanthimos and, for Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese. More surprising still was Mark Ruffalo not getting a best supporting actor nomination for Poor Things.

There was further good news elsewhere for the Irish industry and for Murphy as Tim Mielants’s Small Things Like These, adapted by Enda Walsh from a Claire Keegan book, was announced as the opener of the prestigious Berlin Film Festival on February 15th.

The Cork actor stars opposite Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley and Emily Watson in a tale revolving around horrific disclosures concerning the Magdalene laundries. Can lightning strike twice? Two years ago An Cailín Ciúin, also adapted from a Keegan story, premiered at Berlin on its eventual way to an Oscar nomination.

It is true that the total Bafta voting body – which will determine the final result – shares many members with the American Academy but, in an attempt to increase diversity and favour domestic work, Bafta recently brought in a more complex procedure for nominations.

Three of the nominees come from a wide vote. A “nominating committee” then selects the remaining three. Fans of Raine Allen-Miller’s delightful British comedy Rye Lane will be delighted to see Vivian Oparah, its promising star, make the shortlist, but, with the best will in the world, she will not be troubling the Oscars.

Who now wins at Bafta? Stone obviously has a strong chance for Poor Things, but don’t count out Sandra Hüller, star of Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall, at a European ceremony. Gladstone can also take hope from the news that it is only two years since a winner of the best actress Oscar was not nominated for the equivalent Bafta. That was Jessica Chastain for The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

What of the other Oscar races? Murphy, who took the Golden Globe for best actor, remains favourite for best actor, but Paul Giamatti’s recent win at the Critics Choice Awards for The Holdovers confirms that he has a real battle on his hands. The 5/2 offered everywhere for Giamatti may be a tiny bit generous. If Murphy were to lose at Bafta, then expect the bookies to place them neck and neck.

[ Baftas 2024: Full list of nominations ]

Oppenheimer is scoring everywhere and now looks a big favourite for best film. Robert Downey Jr remains on track in best supporting actor for Oppenheimer. Da’Vine Joy Randolph appears nailed down in the equivalent acting race for The Holdovers. Expect fewer surprises when the Oscar nominations are read out next Tuesday.

David Tennant will host the Bafta ceremony on February 18th at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank.

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