Acting and directing categories during awards seasons are always the hardest to determine. Who to choose and what for film is a constant battle, not to mention who deserves to be nominated.
Between the veteran nominees (Clooney, Streep, Scorcese) to newbies in the awards season (Fassbender, Refn and Oldman (!)), let’s see who deserves a BAFTA…
Click here to see part one of this article
Leading actor
Nominees:
– Brad Pitt (Moneyball)
– Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
– George Clooney (The Descendants)
– Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
– Michael Fassbender (Shame)
The winner is: Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Leading actress
– Bérénice Bejo (The Artist)
– Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
– Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)
– Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin)
– Viola Davis (The Help)
The winner is: Viola Davis (The Help)
Competing against Meryl Streep is a bit intimidating…she has been nominated 14 times! All nominees receive acclaim from Williams’ performance as the vulnerable Marilyn Monroe to Bejo’s delightful Pepy Miller. Viola Davis is my choice – her role as The Help‘s Aibileen is inspiring, emotional and understated.
Best Supporting Actress
Nominees:
– Carey Mulligan (Drive)
– Jessica Chastain (The Help)
– Judi Dench (My Week with Marilyn)
– Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
– Octavia Spencer (The Help)
The winner is: Octavia Spencer (The Help)
I love that Melissa McCarthy has been praised for her hilarious performance in Bridesmaids – its not often you see a lady who shits in a sink get nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA!
It is strange to see Mulligan get nominated for a small role in Drive in comparison to her bigger and more pivotal role in Shame and it must have been hard to choose which film to nominate Chastain for after her bumper year of The Tree of Life, The Help and The Debt. It is surely in the bag for Octavia Spencer – her performance as Minny is the more quietly funny performances and a role she was born to portray.
Best Supporting Actor
Nominees:
– Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
– Jim Broadbent (The Iron Lady)
– Jonah Hill (Moneyball)
– Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)
– Philip Seymour Hoffman (Ides of March)
The winner is: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
Broadbent, Branagh and Hoffman are all previous winners but none of them have been singled out so much as veteran actor Plummer. My money is on the veteran :)
Best Director
Nominees:
– Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
– Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive)
– Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
– Tomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
– Lynne Ramsey (We Need to Talk About Kevin)
The winner is: Nicholas Winding Refn (Drive)
This is probably the closest category – with Drive, The Artist and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in the running, the nominees have a pretty even chance of getting that prize. First things first: Scorsese shouldn’t win. He is going to receive a Fellowship to BAFTA so he doesn’t need another prize; talk about rubbing it in…!
It’s difficult to agree with Hazanavicius’s homage to silent cinema, Refn’s moody and reclusive Drive, Ramsey’s emotional turmoil drama and the grainy outlook of Tinker Tailor Solider Spy. Seeing how overshadowed Drive has been during the awards season, Refn deserves the prize for his critically acclaimed film.
Best Film
Nominees:
– The Artist
– The Descendants
– Drive
– The Help
– Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The winner is: The Artist
Ahhh, Best Film – the big prize. Always the one people want to receive and the hardest prize to award one film. All of them are equally brilliant yet each have a certain quality that makes them shine brighter than the rest. I think The Artist will win Best Film as it has managed to revive a genre most people thought was long gone, which was a gamble that has paid off handsomely.
Be sure to comment or even make your own predictions! :)