'Casino,' 'Queen' lead pack
British Academy Film Awards announces longlist

By ADAM DAWTREY

LONDON -- The two most commercially successful British movies of the year, "Casino Royale" and "The Queen," have emerged at the top of the longlists for the British Academy Film Awards, with 14 entries apiece.

They are closely followed by a more eclectic bunch of multilingual pics, including "Pan's Labyrinth," "Babel," "Children of Men" and "The Departed," which all have 13 nods.

"The Last King of Scotland" and "Little Miss Sunshine" picked up 12, and "Volver" and "Dreamgirls" tied on 10.

This is the result of the first round of BAFTA voting, when the choices are narrowed down to 15 contenders in each category. The five nominees will be selected in the second round, which ends Jan. 12.

But given the number of films in the longlists, it's the omissions that are as significant as the inclusions. So the surprise news is that "Dreamgirls" didn't make the cut for best film, despite its plentiful entries in other sections.

The other entries on the best film list include "Bobby" (eight nods), "The Devil Wears Prada" (nine), "Flags of Our Fathers" (eight), "The History Boys (five), "Notes on a Scandal" (nine) and "United 93" (seven).

"The Devil Wears Prada" was the only best film entry not to make the list for best director, where it was replaced by "Apocalypto" (nine nods).

There was no place for "Factory Girl" in any of the lists, despite the strenous efforts of the Weinstein Co. to qualify the movie for BAFTA, and to courier last-minute screeners out to voters at great expense.

Nor was there any recognition for such critically-acclaimed low-budget Brit pics as "Red Road" and "London to Brighton," which didn't send out screeners.

The acting longlists also throw up some BAFTA quirks, with voters often refusing to follow guidance from distribs on which roles should be regarded as supporting.

So Cate Blanchett is pitched against her "Notes on a Scandal" co-star Judi Dench in the main actress category, where she also faces Emma Thompson from "Stranger Than Fiction," Jodie Whittaker from "Venus," Juliette Binoche from "Breaking and Entering" and Eva Green from "Casino Royale," all arguably supporting performances.

http://www.variety.com/awardcentral_art ... =1985&cs=1

Go Royale and Children of Men!

And for Dreamgirls to end up with less shortlist noms than LMS AND miss BP is bad. Sad to see your countrymen have failed you, Loyal. Levy's gonna go nuts.

I hope we get an actual list soon.

What the hell is with Bobby?

Oh, and go Casino.

Dreamgirls not making the top 15 is kind of brutal.

And Letters got nothing? I'm guessing nobody has seen this.

Letters is not eligible; the same for Curse of the Golden Flower and a few other films. There was a report on it.

Go Apocalypto!

Here's what Picture and Director basically look like:

PICTURE
Casino Royale
The Queen
Pan's Labyrinth
Babel
Children of Men
The Departed
The Last King of Scotland
Little Miss Sunshine
Volver
Bobby
The Devil Wears Prada
Flags of Our Fathers
The History Boys
Notes on a Scandal and
United 93

DIRECTOR
Mel Gibson - Apocalypto
Martin Campbell - Casino Royale
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Guillermo del Toro - Pan's Labyrinth
Alejandro Gonzales-Inarritu - Babel
Alfonso Cuaron - Children of Men
Martin Scorsese - The Departed
Kevin McDonald - The Last King of Scotland
Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Ferris - Little Miss Sunshine
Pedro Almodovar - Volver
Emilio Estevez - Bobby
Clint Eastwood - Flags of Our Fathers
Nicholas Hytner - The History Boys
Richard Eyre - Notes on a Scandal
Paul Greengrass - United 93

BAFTA is one of those things where it's not the inclusions, but the ommissions that mean something. Dreamgirls not being able to make Best Picture or Best Director on a big list of 15 for each is pretty weak when it got noms elsewhere.

Peace,
Mike.

Casino Royale: Proof that a quality blockbuster can always sneak into the awards. It obviously won't go any further, but interesting nonetheless.

That pesky Babel keeps showing up, too.

Nice to see love for all of my favorites, including Volver.

Great for Children of Men. As this is just the shortlist, I'd expect some massive changes in number of nominations in the final ballot. Films like CoM and the Queen will likely remain high in noms (8 or 9), whereas Casino Royale could dip as low as 2 or 3.

I'd love to see Casino Royale and Craig nominated for a BAFTA.

It's definately deserving IMO.

From Oscarwatch:

Best Actress - Top 15:
Annette Bening - Running with Scissors
Beyonce Knowles - Dreamgirls
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Emma Thompson - Stranger than Fiction
Eva Green - Casino Royale
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Ivana Baquero - Pan's Labyrinth
Jodie Whittaker - Venus
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Juliette Binoche - Breaking And Entering
Kate Winslet - Little Children
Kirsten Dunst - Marie Antoinette
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Renee Zellweger - Miss Potter

Best Actor - Top 15:
Cillian Murphy - The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Clive Owen - Children of Men
Daniel Craig - Casino Royale
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Greg Kinnear - Little Miss Sunshine
Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Departed
Matt Damon - The Departed
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Richard Griffiths - The History Boys
Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat
Timothy Spall - Pierrepoint
Toby Jones - Infamous
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness

Best Supporting Actor - Top 15:
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Ben Affleck - Hollywoodland
Bill Nighy - Notes On A Scandal
Brad Pitt - Babel
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Gael Garcia Bernal - Babel
Jack Nicholson - The Departed
James McAvoy - The Last King of Scotland
Leslie Phillips - Venus
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed
Michael Caine - Children of Men
Michael Sheen - The Queen
Stanley Tucci - The Devil Wears Prada
Steve Carell - Little Miss Sunshine

Best Supporting Actress - Top 15:
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Anne Hathaway - The Devil Wears Prada
Cate Blanchett - Babel
Diane Lane - Hollywoodland
Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada
Emily Watson - Miss Potter
Frances de la Tour - The History Boys
Helen McCrory - The Queen
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Judi Dench - Casino Royale
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
Sharon Stone - Bobby
Sylvia Syms - The Queen
Toni Collette - Little Miss Sunshine

Best Foreign Film - Top 15:
36 Quai des Orfevres
Apocalypto
Black Book (Zwartboek)
The Child (L'Enfant)
The Death of Mr Lazarescu (Moartea Domnului Lazarescu)
Gabrielle
Lady Vengeance (Chinjeolhan Geumjassi)
Lemming
The Page Turner (Tourneuse de pages, La)
Pan's Labyrinth (Laberinto del Fauno, El)
Paradise Now
Rang De Basanti (Paint it Yellow)
Secuestro Express
Volver
Zidane - A 21st Century Portrait (Zidane, un portrait du 21e siecle)

Best Film - Top 15:
Babel
Bobby
Casino Royale
Children Of Men
The Departed
The Devil Wears Prada
Flags Of Our Fathers
The History Boys
The Last King Of Scotland
Little Miss Sunshine
Notes On A Scandal
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen
United 93
Volver

Best Director - Top 15:
Apocalypto
Babel
Bobby
Casino Royale
Children Of Men
The Departed
Flags Of Our Fathers
The History Boys
The Last King Of Scotland
Little Miss Sunshine
Notes On A Scandal
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen
United 93
Volver

My predictions:

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Penelope Cruz - Volver

Best Actor
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Richard Griffiths - The History Boys
Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Bill Nighy - Notes On A Scandal
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson - The Departed
Michael Sheen - The Queen

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
Sylvia Syms - The Queen

Best Film
Babel
The Departed
Notes On A Scandal
The Queen
United 93

Best Director
Babel
Children Of Men
The Departed
The Queen
United 93

Cate over Kate?

And six for supporting actress?

Forgot to remove Breslin.

And I think Cate will get in mainly because BAFTA seems to like her (She's won twice and was nommed for The Talented Mr. Ripley) and Little Children didn't get any major love outside of Kate (Not even Haley could get in despite SAG and critics love), so the film seems weak wit them. If not Kate, then Meryl, but considering Devil made the shortlist for Picture (And Tucci made supporting), I doubt that.

Babel, Volver, Casino... what's not to like?

Not good for Dreamgirls.


Go Sharon Stone...? I haven't seen Bobby yet, but she's so underrated and they say it's the one of the best performances of her career - if not the best! And even the people that tear the movie apart like her, OMG!


Ok, I'm relaxing now...

Mine:

Best Actress
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Kate Winslet - Little Children
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Penelope Cruz - Volver

Best Actor
Daniel Craig - Casino Royale
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Departed
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson - The Departed
James McAvoy - The Last King of Scotland
Michael Sheen - The Queen

Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Judi Dench - Casino Royale
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
Sylvia Syms - The Queen

Best Film
Babel
Children of Men
The Departed
Notes On A Scandal
The Queen

Best Director
Babel
Children Of Men
The Departed
The Queen
United 93