Britain’s top film awards may look a lot like their U.S. counterparts this year, with Oscar frontrunners “12 Years a Slave,” “Gravity” and “American Hustle” picking up numerous nominations for the 2014 EE British Academy Film Awards.
In nominations announced by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) on Wednesday morning in London, Steve McQueen’s searing pre-Civil-War drama will compete for Best Film with Alfonso Cuaron’s spectacular space adventure and David O. Russell’s Abscam-inspired caper film.
Other nominees in the category are Paul Greengrass’ “Captain Phillips” and Stephen Frears’ “Philomena.”
Also read: Winners and Losers From the Guild Nominations
“Gravity” and “Philomena” also qualified in the Best British Film category, where they will be competing against “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” “Rush,” “Saving Mr. Banks” and “The Selfish Giant.”
“Gravity” led all films with 11 nominations, followed by “12 Years a Slave” and “American Hustle” with 10 and “Captain Phillips” with nine. “Saving Mr. Banks” and Steven Soderbergh’s “Behind the Candelabra,” an HBO movie in the United States that debuted as a theatrical release in the UK, received five each.
BAFTA voters chose the same five directors that the Directors Guild of America voters did on Tuesday: McQueen, Cuaron, Russell, Greengrass and Martin Scorsese for “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
In the acting categories, most of the Oscar favorites landed nominations, though Robert Redford (“All Is Lost”) and Matthew McConaughey (“Dallas Buyers Club”) were passed over for Leading Actor in favor of Christian Bale in “American Hustle,” Bruce Dern in “Nebraska,” Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” Chiwetel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave” and Tom Hanks in “Captain Phillips.”
For Leading Actress, the biggest surprise was that Amy Adams was nominated for “American Hustle” but Meryl Streep was not for “August: Osage County.” Other nominees in the category were Emma Thompson for “Saving Mr. Banks,” Judi Dench for “Philomena,” Sandra Bullock for “Gravity” and Cate Blanchett for “Blue Jasmine.”
Supporting nominees included Daniel Bruhl for “Rush,” Barkhad Abdi for “Captain Phillips,” Matt Damon for “Behind the Candelabra,” Sally Hawkins for “Blue Jasmine” and Oprah Winfrey for “The Butler” — but not Tom Hanks for “Saving Mr. Banks,” Jared Leto for “Dallas Buyers Club” or June Squibb for “Nebraska.”
The absence of “Dallas Buyers Club” from the nominations led some to assume that it was not eligible because it doesn’t open in the UK until February — but films that debut before the BAFTA ceremony are eligible, and voters reportedly did have screeners of the film.
Other surprises in the nominations: “Gravity” received a screenplay nod, something it didn’t get from the Writers Guild, while the documentary “The Act of Killing” was not just nominated in the doc category, but also as Best Film Not in the English Language.
Also read: ‘Act of Killing’ Director on Filming His Shocking Documentary: It Gave Me Nightmares
On Monday, BAFTA announced that the nominees for its EE Rising Star Award were Dane DeHaan, George MacKay, Lupita Nyong’o, Will Poulter and Lea Seydoux.
The method for determing BAFTA nominations and winners changed this year. Previously, the entire voting membership of abou 6,500 voted for nominations, with members of Specialist Chapters in each field choosing winners. That process was the opposite of the Oscar system, in which indivudual branches nominate and the entire membership chooses winners – and this year, the BAFTA system was changed to match the Oscar process, with individual chapters choosing the nominees and everyone picking the winners.
Last year, all five of the BAFTA nominees in the Best Film category also received Oscar Best Picture nominations, and “Argo” won both awards.
Oscar and BAFTA winners also matched in 9 other categories, including Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Supporting Actor (Christoph Waltz), Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway), Original Screenplay (“Django Unchained”), Cinematography (“Life of Pi”), Animated Film (“Brave”) and Foreign Film (“Amour).
The nominations were announced in London by actors Like Evans and Helen McCrory. The show will take place on Feb. 16 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and will be hosted by Stephen Fry.
The nominees:
BEST FILM
12 YEARS A SLAVE Anthony Katagas, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen
AMERICAN HUSTLE Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman
PHILOMENA Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman, Jonás Cuarón
MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM Justin Chadwick, Anant Singh, David M. Thompson, William Nicholson
PHILOMENA Stephen Frears, Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward, Jeff Pope
RUSH Ron Howard, Andrew Eaton, Peter Morgan
SAVING MR. BANKS John Lee Hancock, Alison Owen, Ian Collie, Philip Steuer, Kelly Marcel, Sue Smith
THE SELFISH GIANT: Clio Barnard, Tracy O’Riordan
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
COLIN CARBERRY (Writer), GLENN PATTERSON (Writer) Good Vibrations
KELLY MARCEL (Writer) Saving Mr. Banks
KIERAN EVANS (Director/Writer) Kelly + Victor
PAUL WRIGHT (Director/Writer), POLLY STOKES (Producer) For Those in Peril
SCOTT GRAHAM (Director/Writer) Shell
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
THE ACT OF KILLING Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen
BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR Abdellatif Kechiche, Brahim Chioua, Vincent Maraval
THE GREAT BEAUTY Paolo Sorrentino, Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima
METRO MANILA Sean Ellis, Mathilde Charpentier
WADJDA Haifaa Al-Mansour, Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul
DOCUMENTARY
THE ACT OF KILLING Joshua Oppenheimer
THE ARMSTRONG LIE Alex Gibney
BLACKFISH Gabriela Cowperthwaite
TIM’S VERMEER Teller, Penn Jillette, Farley Ziegler
WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS Alex Gibney
ANIMATED FILM
DESPICABLE ME 2 Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
FROZEN Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
MONSTERS UNIVERSITY Dan Scanlon
DIRECTOR
12 YEARS A SLAVE Steve McQueen
AMERICAN HUSTLE David O. Russell
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Paul Greengrass
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Martin Scorsese
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
AMERICAN HUSTLE Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
BLUE JASMINE Woody Allen
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
NEBRASKA Bob Nelson
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
12 YEARS A SLAVE John Ridley
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Richard LaGravenese
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Billy Ray
PHILOMENA Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Terence Winter
LEADING ACTOR
BRUCE DERN Nebraska
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR 12 Years a Slave
CHRISTIAN BALE American Hustle
LEONARDO DICAPRIO The Wolf of Wall Street
TOM HANKS Captain Phillips
LEADING ACTRESS
AMY ADAMS American Hustle
CATE BLANCHETT Blue Jasmine
EMMA THOMPSON Saving Mr. Banks
JUDI DENCH Philomena
SANDRA BULLOCK Gravity
SUPPORTING ACTOR
BARKHAD ABDI Captain Phillips
BRADLEY COOPER American Hustle
DANIEL BRÜHL Rush
MATT DAMON Behind the Candelabra
MICHAEL FASSBENDER 12 Years a Slave
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
JENNIFER LAWRENCE American Hustle
JULIA ROBERTS August: Osage County
LUPITA NYONG’O 12 Years a Slave
OPRAH WINFREY The Butler
SALLY HAWKINS Blue Jasmine
ORIGINAL MUSIC
12 YEARS A SLAVE Hans Zimmer
THE BOOK THIEF John Williams
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Henry Jackman
GRAVITY Steven Price
SAVING MR. BANKS Thomas Newman
CINEMATOGRAPHY
12 YEARS A SLAVE Sean Bobbitt
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Barry Ackroyd
GRAVITY Emmanuel Lubezki
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Bruno Delbonnel
NEBRASKA Phedon Papamichael
EDITING
12 YEARS A SLAVE Joe Walker
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Christopher Rouse
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger
RUSH Dan Hanley, Mike Hill
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Thelma Schoonmaker
PRODUCTION DESIGN
12 YEARS A SLAVE Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker
AMERICAN HUSTLE Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Howard Cummings
GRAVITY Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woodlard
THE GREAT GATSBY Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn
COSTUME DESIGN
AMERICAN HUSTLE Michael Wilkinson
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Ellen Mirojnick
THE GREAT GATSBY Catherine Martin
THE INVISIBLE WOMAN Michael O’Connor
SAVING MR. BANKS Daniel Orlandi
MAKE UP & HAIR
AMERICAN HUSTLE Evelyne Noraz, Lori McCoy-Bell
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Kate Biscoe, Marie Larkin
THE BUTLER Debra Denson, Beverly Jo Pryor, Candace Neal
THE GREAT GATSBY Maurizio Silvi, Kerry Warn
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater
SOUND
ALL IS LOST Richard Hymns, Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor, Micah Bloomberg, Gillian Arthur
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro, Oliver Tarney
GRAVITY Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Niv Adiri, Chris Munro
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Peter F. Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff
RUSH Danny Hambrook, Martin Steyer, Stefan Korte, Markus Stemler, Frank Kruse
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
GRAVITY Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould, Nikki Penny
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds
IRON MAN 3 Bryan Grill, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick
PACIFIC RIM Hal Hickel, John Knoll, Lindy De Quattro, Nigel Sumner
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton, Patrick Tubach, Roger Guyett
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
EVERYTHING I CAN SEE FROM HERE Bjorn-Erik Aschim, Friederike Nicolaus, Sam Taylor
I AM TOM MOODY Ainslie Henderson
SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES James Walker, Sarah Woolner, Yousif Al-Khalifa
BRITISH SHORT FILM
ISLAND QUEEN Ben Mallaby, Nat Luurtsema
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES Megan Rubens, Michael Pearce, Selina Lim
ORBIT EVER AFTER Chee-Lan Chan, Jamie Stone, Len Rowles
ROOM 8 James W. Griffiths, Sophie Venner
SEA VIEW Anna Duffield, Jane Linfoot
THE EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
DANE DEHAAN
GEORGE MACKAY
LUPITA NYONG’O
WILL POULTER
LÉA SEYDOUX