Atom bomb epic 鈥淥ppenheimer鈥� won seven prizes, including best picture, director and actor, at the 77th British Academy Film Awards on Sunday. Gothic fantasia 鈥淧oor Things鈥� took five prizes.
Christopher Nolan was named best director for 鈥淥ppenheimer,鈥� and Cillian Murphy won the best actor prize for playing J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.
Emma Stone was named best actress for 鈥淧oor Things,鈥� which also won several craft and design prizes at Britain鈥檚 equivalent of the Oscars.
鈥淥ppenheimer鈥� had 13 nominations but missed out on the record of nine trophies, set half a century ago by 鈥淏utch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.鈥�
It won the best film race against 鈥淧oor Things,鈥� 鈥淜illers of the Flower Moon,鈥� 鈥淎natomy of a Fall鈥� and 鈥淭he Holdovers.鈥�
鈥淥ppenheimer鈥� also won trophies for editing, cinematography and musical score, as well as the best supporting actor prize for Robert Downey Jr.
Da鈥橵ine Joy Randolph was named best supporting actress for playing a boarding school cook in 鈥淭he Holdovers鈥� and said she felt a 鈥渞esponsibility I don鈥檛 take lightly鈥� to tell the stories of underrepresented people like her character Mary.
鈥淥ppenheimer鈥� faced stiff competition in what was widely considered a vintage year for cinema and an awards season energized by the end of actors鈥� and writers鈥� strikes that shut down Hollywood for months.
Holocaust drama 鈥� The Zone of Interest鈥� 鈥� a British-produced film shot in Poland with a largely German cast 鈥� was named both best British film and best film not in English, a first.
Jonathan Glazer鈥檚 unsettling drama takes place in a family home just outside the walls of Auschwitz.
鈥淲alls aren鈥檛 new from before or since the Holocaust and it seems stark right now that we should care about innocent people being killed in Gaza or Yemen or Mariupol or Israel,鈥� producer James Wilson said. 鈥淭hank you for recognizing a film that asks us to think in those spaces.鈥�
Historical epic 鈥淜illers of the Flower Moon鈥� had nine nominations for the awards, officially called the EE BAFTA Film Awards, but went home empty-handed.
The ceremony, hosted by 鈥淒octor Who鈥� star David Tennant 鈥� who entered wearing a kilt and sequined top while carrying a dog named Bark Ruffalo 鈥� is a glitzy, British-accented appetizer for Hollywood鈥檚 Academy Awards, closely watched for hints about who might win at the Oscars on March 10.
The prize for original screenplay, went to French courtroom drama 鈥淎natomy of a Fall.鈥� The film about a woman on trial over the death of her husband was written by director Justine Triet and her partner, Arthur Harari.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a fiction, and we are reasonably fine,鈥� Triet joked.
Cord Jefferson won the adapted screenplay prize for the satirical 鈥淎merican Fiction,鈥� about the struggles of an African-American novelist
Jefferson said he hoped the success of the movie 鈥渕aybe changes the minds of the people who are in charge of greenlighting films and TV shows, allows them to be less risk-averse.鈥�
Ukraine war documentary 鈥�20 Days in Mariupol,鈥� produced by The Associated Press and PBS 鈥淔rontline,鈥� won the prize for best documentary.
鈥淭his is not about us,鈥� said filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov, who captured the harrowing reality of life in the besieged city with an AP team. 鈥淭his is about Ukraine, about the people of Mariupol.鈥�
Chernov said the story of the city and its fall into Russian occupation 鈥渋s a symbol of struggle and a symbol of faith. Thank you for empowering our voice and let鈥檚 just keep fighting.鈥�
Other leading award contenders included 鈥淭he Holdovers鈥� and Leonard Bernstein biopic 鈥淢aestro鈥� 鈥� each with seven nominations 鈥� and grief-flecked love story 鈥淎ll of Us Strangers鈥� with six. Barbed class-war dramedy 鈥淪altburn 鈥� had five nominations but won nothing.
鈥� Barbie,鈥� one half of 2023鈥檚 鈥淏arbenheimer鈥� box office juggernaut and the year鈥檚 top-grossing film, also went home empty-handed from five nominations.
鈥淏arbie鈥� director Greta Gerwig failed to get a directing nomination for either the BAFTAs or the Oscars, in what was seen by many as a major snub.
Britain鈥檚 film academy introduced changes to increase the awards鈥� diversity in 2020, when no women were nominated as best director for the seventh year running and all 20 nominees in the lead and supporting performer categories were white. However, Triet was the only woman among this year鈥檚 six best-director nominees.
Before the ceremony, nominees including Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Rosamund Pike, Ryan Gosling and Ayo Edebiri all walked the red carpet at London鈥檚 Royal Festival Hall, along with presenters Andrew Scott, Cate Blanchett and David Beckham.
Guest of honor was Prince William, in his role as president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He arrived without his wife, Kate, who is recovering from abdominal surgery last month.
The ceremony included musical performances by 鈥淭ed Lasso鈥� star Hannah Waddingham, singing 鈥淭ime After Time,鈥� and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, singing her 2001 hit 鈥淢urder on the Dancefloor,鈥� which shot back up the charts after featuring in 鈥淪altburn.鈥�
Actress Samantha Morton received the academy鈥檚 highest honor, the BAFTA Fellowship, and film curator June Givanni, founder of the June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive, was honored for outstanding British contribution to cinema.
Sunday鈥檚 ceremony was being broadcast on BBC One in the U.K. from 1900GMT, and on streaming service BritBox in the U.S., Canada, Australia and South Africa.
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Hilary Fox contributed to this story.
Jill Lawless, The Associated Press
