'Gravity' leads at BAFTA awards with 11 nominations

Sandra Bullock-George Clooney starrer space disaster movie 'Gravity' is leading with eleven nominations at the EE British Academy Film Awards including best film, best leading actress, best director and original screenplay

Sandra Bullock-George Clooney starrer space disaster movie 'Gravity' is leading with eleven nominations at the EE British Academy Film Awards including best film, best leading actress, best director and original screenplay.

'Gravity', a strong awards contender, is followed by other favourites like Steve McQueen's '12 Years a Slave' and David O Russell's 'American Hustle' with each being nominated in ten categories. Tom Hanks starrer 'Captain Phillips' has nine nominations while his other big screen outing this year as Walt Disney in 'Saving Mr Banks' has five nods. Michael Douglas starrer Valentino Liberace biopic 'Behind the Candelabra' too has five nominations.

'Gravity'

Judi Dench's 'Philomena', 'Rush' and Martin Scorsese-Leonardo DiCaprio's 'The Wolf of Wall Street' have four nominations. Dench will compete for the best actress gong for her role in Philomena along with 'American Hustle's Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Emma Thompson (Saving Mr Banks' and Sandra Bullock (Gravity).

The best actor list is a mix of veterans versus new faces as '12 Years A Slave star Chiwetel Ejiofor will fight it out with veteran Bruce Dern (Nebraska) and Hollywood stars Christian Bale (American Hustle), Leonardo DiCaprio (Wolf of the Wall Street and Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips). Woody Allen directed 'Blue Jasmine', DiCaprio starrer 'The Great Gatsby', Coen brothers' 'Inside Llewyn Davis' and Alexander Payne's black-and-white movie 'Nebraska' have three nominations each.

'The Act of Killing', 'The Butler' and 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' have two nominations apiece. 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom' is also nominated for Outstanding British Film. Julia Roberts 'August: Osage County' and Oprah Winfrey (The Butler) are pitted against Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle), Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years A Slave) and Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine). 'Iron Man 3', 'Pacific Rim' and 'Star Trek Into Darkness' will compete in the Special Visual Effects category with 'Gravity' and 'The Hobbit'.

'The Act of Killing' has two nominations for Film Not in the English Language and Documentary. Also nominated in the Documentary category are: 'The Armstrong Lie', 'Blackfish', 'Tim's Vermeer', and 'We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks'. Lesbian drama 'Blue is the Warmest Colour', Italy's 'The Great Beauty', 'Metro Manila' and 'Wadjda' are nominated alongside The Act of Killing to complete for Film Not in the English Language. The Animated Film nominees are Despicable Me 2, Frozen and Monsters University.

The British Short Animation nominations are 'Everything I Can See From Here, I Am Tom Moody and Sleeping With the Fishes and the British Short Film nominations are Island Queen, Keeping Up With the Joneses, Orbit Ever After, Room 8 and Sea View. The nominees for the EE Rising Star Award, announced earlier this week, are Dane DeHaan, George MacKay, Lupita Nyong o, Will Poulter and Lea Seydoux. BAFTA film awards will take place on 16 February at the Royal Opera House and will be hosted by comedian Stephen Fry.

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