The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has unveiled the longlists for its 2024 film awards, with Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” and Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” leading the pack with 15 nods each.
“Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” Top Diverse Longlists
Nolan’s biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, “the father of the atomic bomb,” scored mentions across the board, including Best Film, Director, Lead Actor for Cillian Murphy, and Supporting Actress for Emily Blunt. Gerwig’s reinvented take on the classic Mattel doll earned nods for Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Director, Original Screenplay, Lead Actress for Margot Robbie, and Supporting Actor for Ryan Gosling.
Martin Scorsese’s semi-autographical “Maestro” tied Christopher Nolan with 11 longlist nominations, making this Nolan’s biggest haul yet from the British academy.
Other top longlisted films include Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking” with 10 nods, Sam Mendes’ empire drama “Maestro” with 11, and the Daniels’ indie sci-fi hit “Everything Everywhere All At Once” with nine nods.
In the performance categories, Austin Butler (“Elvis”), Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) and Bill Nighy (“Living”) all scored Lead Actor nods, while Cate Blanchett (“Tár”), Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”), Viola Davis (“The Woman King”) and Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) were among the Lead Actress honorees.
Diverse Stories Earn Nominations
The longlists reflected an impressively global and diverse range of stories and creators. Indian film “RRR” scored nods for Director and Film Not in the English Language, Korean dark comedy “Decision to Leave” was spotlighted for its Original Screenplay, and Iranian drama “Holy Spider” earned a spot on the Foreign Language list.
The supporting performance lists also showed the depth of talent from underrepresented communities that caught voters’ eyes, including Hong Chau (“The Whale”) and Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere”) in Supporting Actress and Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”) in Supporting Actor.
Record Number of Women Directors Make the Cut
In the Directing category, five of the 15 longlisted helmers were women: Gerwig for “Barbie,” Polley for “Women Talking,” Gina Prince-Bythewood for “The Woman King,” Maria Schrader for “She Said,” and Charlotte Wells for “Aftersun.”
This ties the record set last year for the most women directors recognized in a single year and continues an encouraging upward trajectory for representation behind the camera at BAFTA.
What Happens Next?
The longlist stage is the first step in BAFTA’s selection process for nominees. These initial longlists of 15 in most categories will next be winnowed down to six official nominees per category, which will be announced on January 19.
Final voting will take place in February, with the awards ceremony scheduled for February 19 at the Royal Festival Hall in London.
Based on pedigree and precursors, frontrunners are expected to include “Oppenheimer,” “Barbie,” and “Everything Everywhere All At Once” for Best Film, with tight races shaping up in the acting categories between favorites like Colin Farrell, Ana de Armas, Michelle Yeoh and Austin Butler.
But with voting yet to begin, some surprise contenders could still enter the mix to shake up the race before all is said and done.
Pundits Analyze the Longlists’ Implications
Industry experts have been weighing in on what the diverse, surprising longlists might mean for the impending nominations and BAFTAs ceremony next month:
“The longlists solidify ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Barbie’ as forces to be reckoned with in the Best Film category, but I’m intrigued by the strong showing for ‘Women Talking’ and ‘Aftersun’ — both more modest indies that could gain momentum with voters.”
– Anne Thompson, IndieWire
“Don’t count out crowd-pleaser ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ just yet – scoring longlist spots across the board, including for Michelle Yeoh, boosts its chances to make a splash with nominations on the 19th.”
– Guy Lodge, Variety
“Seeing five incredible female directors longlisted this year gives me so much hope. The BAFTAs feel like they’re turning a real corner.”
– Jacqueline Coley, Rotten Tomatoes
Full Longlists for Select Categories:
Best Film
- Aftersun
- Álbum de familia
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- Babylon
- The Banshees of Inisherin
- Barbie
- Blonde
- The Blue Caftan
- Broker
- Close
Outstanding British Film
- Aftersun
- Barbie
- Blue Jean
- Brian And Charles
- Empire of Light
- Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
- Lady Chatterley’s Lover
- Living
- Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical
- The Swimmers
Director
- Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin
- Park Chan-wook – Decision To Leave
- Sam Mendes – Empire Of Light
- Sarah Polley – Women Talking
- Todd Field – Tár
Lead Actor
- Austin Butler – Elvis
- Bill Nighy – Living
- Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin
- Daryl Mccormack – Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
- Paul Mescal – Aftersun
- Brendan Fraser – The Whale
Lead Actress
- Ana de Armas – Blonde
- Cate Blanchett – Tár
- Danielle Deadwyler – Till
- Emma Thompson – Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
- Michelle Williams – The Fabelmans
- Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All At Once
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