'One Battle After Another' leads BAFTA nominations, 'Sinners' also recognised

LONDON – Action-packed dark comedy “One Battle After Another” led nominations for the BAFTA Film Awards on Tuesday, with vampire thriller and box office smash “Sinners” also widely recognised at Britain’s top movie honours.

“One Battle After Another”, in which Leonardo DiCaprio plays a washed-up revolutionary whose daughter is kidnapped, secured 14 nods, of which five were for its cast including DiCaprio and Chase Infiniti, who plays his daughter, in the leading acting categories. Their co-stars Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro were nominated in supporting acting categories.

The critically-acclaimed movie also secured a best director nod for Paul Thomas Anderson and is up for the awards’ top prize, best film, alongside “Sinners”, “Hamnet”, “Marty Supreme” and “Sentimental Value”.

“Sinners”, celebrating blues music and Black culture in the Segregation-era U.S. South, received 13 nods, including for actor Michael B. Jordan who plays twins returning to their hometown to set up a juke joint. Director Ryan Coogler was nominated in the directing and original screenplay categories while cast member Wunmi Mosaku is up for supporting actress.

“Hamnet”, which fictionalises the relationship between William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes and the death of their son, followed with 11 nods.

Jessie Buckley was nominated for leading actress for playing Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes Hathaway, while Paul Mescal received a supporting actor nod for his portrayal of the bard. Chloe Zhao was the only woman in the best director category. Adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling 2020 novel of the same name, the film follows the highs and lows of their love story as well as the grief over the loss of their son Hamnet, which leads Shakespeare to write “Hamlet”.

COMPETITION FOR BEST DIRECTOR

Alongside Anderson and Coogler, Zhao face competition from Josh Safdie for table tennis tale “Marty Supreme”, Yorgos Lanthimos for “Bugonia” and Joachim Trier for Norwegian family drama “Sentimental Value” for the best director prize.

“Marty Supreme” secured 11 nominations in total, including expected recognition for Timothee Chalamet in the title role.

The leading actor category also includes Robert Aramayo for playing a Tourette syndrome campaigner in “I Swear”, Ethan Hawke as lyricist Lorenz Hart in “Blue Moon” and Jesse Plemons for “Bugonia”, in which his character kidnaps a female pharmaceuticals boss, played by Emma Stone, believing she is an alien.

Stone was recognised in the leading actress category, alongside Rose Byrne for her portrayal of a mother whose life is unravelling in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”, Kate Hudson for “Song Sung Blue”, the story of a Neil Diamond tribute band, and Renate Reinsve for “Sentimental Value”.

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were snubbed in the acting categories for their performances in “Wicked: For Good”.

The musical sequel was only nominated for costume design and makeup & hair, although that was better than the Academy Awards, where it has scored zero nods. Its predecessor received seven BAFTA nominations.