Joker leads the pack as Film BAFTA nominations are revealed
The DC Comics origin flick racked up 11 nominations in total, making it the frontrunner for this year's awards ahead of The Irishman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
The BAFTA Film Awards nominations for 2020 have been announced, with several movies earning nods across a wide array of categories.
Comic book thriller Joker leads the way with 11 nominations in total, including Best Film, Director (Todd Phillips) and Lead Actor (Joaquin Phoenix).
It's followed closely by Martin Scorsese's Netflix epic The Irishman and Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, which both picked up 10 nominations apiece.
Finally, World War I epic 1917, which recently took home Best Drama Film at the Golden Globes, received nine nominations.
Individual stars with cause to celebrate include Margot Robbie, nominated for Best Supporting Actress in recognition of her work in both Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and FOX News drama Bombshell.
Greta Gerwig's acclaimed adaptation of Little Women had a stronger showing than at the Golden Globes, with nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay (Gerwig), and nods for stars Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh, composer Alexandre Desplat and costume designer Jacqueline Durran.
However, Gerwig herself was once again snubbed in the category of Best Director, which failed to feature a single female nominee.
Marc Samuelson, chair of BAFTA's film committee, told Sky News: "There's an industry problem. BAFTA voters can only vote for the films that are put in front of them.
"BAFTA can't make the decisions for the studios and the production companies as to which stories get told and who gets hired. All BAFTA can do is keep on pushing which BAFTA will continue to do."
Elton John biopic Rocketman is another notable nominee featuring in four categories altogether, including a nod for lead actor Taron Egerton who is hot off his Golden Globes win.
British films that have been absent from the American award shows were able to break through at BAFTA, with musical drama Wild Rose recognised for its lead performance from Jessie Buckley, and Aardman's Shaun the Sheep movie entering the race for Best Animated Film.
The BAFTAs take place on Sunday 2nd February 2020
Authors
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.
