The Surprises & Snubs Of The 2019 BAFTA Nominations

Just one week after the BAFTA 2019 Rising Star nominees were announced, we’ve been given the full list of nominations for next month's ceremony. Although, surprise surprise, things are looking good for Olivia Colman’s raucous royal drama, The Favourite, there are quite a few entries for Britain's biggest film awards that we really didn't see coming.

Let's start with Bohemian Rhapsody. It's fine. It's an enjoyable film (if you're into that sort of thing) but it's also not all that. I'm sorry. Queen are great, Freddie Mercury deserved a better film and the bad taste left by the controversy it attracted (director Bryan Singer was fired from the project when allegations of rape surfaced and the film was criticised for glossing over much of Mercury's life, save for a fleeting reference to his bisexuality) still lingers. So when it beat the likes of Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman and If Beale Street Could Talk at the Golden Globes last week, we were quite taken aback, to say the least. And, not being funny, but how did it slip into the running and Widows didn't?

But alas, Bohemian Rhapsody is at the forefront of the upcoming BAFTA ceremony as one of this year's second most nominated films. What, in the name of cinematic righteousness, is going on? The music biopic is one of four films to receive seven nominations (five behind The Favourite's 12). It's joined by First Man, a film that hasn't earned much excitable pre-awards season chat and didn't make much of a dent on UK cinema, so the logic for positioning Gosling's man on the moon movie as such a hot contender is lost on me.

The success of A Star Is Born, which also has seven nominations, is less surprising. The months of hype and the song "Shallow" making impromptu appearances on mainstream radio are proof enough of its popularity. Needless to say, it's a shame that the same award recognition wasn't afforded to the game-changing, record-breaking Black Panther. But, you know. Whatever.

Roma is undoubtedly the most pleasant surprise to find high up on the list with seven nominations, too. It seems people are slowly waking up to the moving and beautifully shot drama; if you haven't seen it yet, it comes highly recommended and we're rooting for its well deserved win somewhere down the line. It's up for Best Film, Film Not in the English Language, Director, Original Screenplay, Cinematography and Editing.

I don't know about you, but I've spent a long time waiting for Steve McQueen's heist masterpiece Widows to gain the official recognition it deserves. Finally, Viola Davis has been recognised for her stellar performance as Veronica, and is nominated for the BAFTA for Leading Actress. Frustratingly, her chances of winning seem slim beside Olivia Colman, who just won the award at the Golden Globes, but this smidgeon of recognition for a woman and a film that was so well received by literally everyone is as much as we're going to get. McQueen deserves more, you guys.

Davis' brilliant co-star Cynthia Erivo is in the running for the public voted Rising Star award, though, alongside the British breakout star of Black Panther, Letitia Wright, who was also recently named the highest earning actor at the box office in 2018 and is a really exciting addition to the lineup. As exciting performances go, however, someone who is noticeably missing from the BAFTA nominations is recent award-winner, Regina King.

King's outstanding turn in the only twice-nominated If Beale Street Could Talk is the type to linger with you for a while. The gravity of her performance was proved when King took home the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture at the Golden Globes last week, and so her snub from BAFTA's parallel category is really disappointing. In fact, the breadth of talent celebrated by this year's awards feels a bit blah. The deserved recognition for British talent (Olivia Colman, Letitia Wright, Rachel Weisz, Cynthia Erivo) and really good films (Cold War, Widows, Roma) can't help but be overshadowed by the number of nominations for films that haven't yet been released in the UK (Beautiful Boy, Mary Queen of Scots, Green Book).

The BAFTA ceremony takes place on Sunday 10th February and will be hosted by Joanna Lumley. We'll just have to wait to see whether the awards themselves celebrate the films and performances that we are truly excited about. In the meantime, see the full list of nominees below.

Bradley Cooper - A Star Is Born
Christian Bale - Vice
Rami Malek - Bohemian Rhapsody
Steve Coogan - Stan & Ollie
Viggo Mortensen - Green Book

Glenn Close - The Wife
Lady Gaga - A Star Is Born
Melissa McCarthy - Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Olivia Colman - The Favourite
Viola Davis - Widows

Adam Driver - BlacKkKlansman
Mahershala Ali - Green Book
Richard E Grant - Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell - Vice
Timothée Chalamet - Beautiful Boy

Amy Adams - Vice
Claire Foy - First Man
Emma Stone - The Favourite
Margot Robbie - Mary Queen of Scots
Rachel Weisz - The Favourite

Jessie Buckley
Cynthia Erivo
Barry Keoghan
Lakeith Stanfield
Letitia Wright

Spike Lee - BlacKkKlansman
Paweł Pawlikowski - Cold War
Yorgos Lanthimos - The Favourite
Alfonso Cuarón - Roma
Bradley Cooper - A Star Is Born

Apostasy - Daniel Kokotajlo (writer/director)
Beast - Michael Pearce (writer/director), Lauren Dark (producer)
A Cambodian Spring - Chris Kelly (writer/director/producer)
Pili - Leanne Welham (writer/director), Sophie Harman (producer)
Ray & Liz - Richard Billingham (writer/director), Jacqui Davies (producer)

Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen