'King's Speech' Leads BAFTA Nominations

JAN 18, 2011 -The King's Speech leads the race for the British Academy Film Awards, Britain's equivalent of the Oscars, with 14 nominations, including Best Picture. Colin Firth is the Best Actor front-runner for his performance as stuttering monarch King George VI, with Geoffrey Rush nominated for Best Supporting Actor as the unconventional speech therapist who treated him. Helena Bonham Carter is up for Best Supporting Actress for playing the king's wife, the Queen Mother Elizabeth.


Psychosexual ballet thriller Black Swan has 12 nominations, and mind-bending saga Inception, with nine. Endurance story 127 Hours and Coen brothers Western True Grit have eight nominations each.

Firth, 50, won a Best Actor trophy at Sunday's Golden Globes in Los Angeles, and the latest nomination gives him extra momentum going into the Oscars. A win would be Firth's second BAFTA in a row – he took the acting prize last year for A Single Man.

The Social Network, has six nominations including best picture; Aaron Sorkin's screenplay; and David Fincher's direction. Jesse Eisenberg received a best actor nomination for his turn as Facebook's college-student founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Annette Bening and Julianne Moore are both best-actress nominees for The Kids Are All Right, along with Natalie Portman for Black Swan, Noomi Rapace for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit.

Elusive graffiti artist Banksy is nominated for outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer for directing the faux documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop. Pete Postlethwaite (pic, right), who died earlier this month, is nominated posthumously in the Best Supporting Actor category for his role as an Irish-American gangster in The Town.

The British awards, known as BAFTAs, will be handed out at London's Royal Opera House on Feb. 13, two weeks before the Academy Awards in Hollywood, and are considered an important indicator of likely Oscar success. Last year, Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker won six BAFTAs, including Best Picture – then repeated the feat at the Oscars.

Here's a list of the nominations:

BEST FILM

Black Swan
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

127 Hours
Another Year
Four Lions
The King's Speech
Made In Dagenham

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

THE ARBOR – Director, Producer – Clio Barnard, Tracy O’Riordan
EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP – _Director, Producer – Banksy, Jaimie D’Cruz
FOUR LIONS – Director/Writer – Chris Morris
MONSTERS – Director/Writer – Gareth Edwards
SKELETONS – Director/Writer – Nick Whitfield

DIRECTOR

127 HOURS – Danny Boyle
BLACK SWAN – Darren Aronofsky
INCEPTION – Christopher Nolan
THE KING’S SPEECH – Tom Hooper
THE SOCIAL NETWORK – David Fincher

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

BLACK SWAN – Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz, John McLaughlin
THE FIGHTER – Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson
INCEPTION – Christopher Nolan
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT – Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg
THE KING’S SPEECH – David Seidler

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

127 HOURS – Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO – Rasmus Heisterberg, Nikolaj Arcel
THE SOCIAL NETWORK – Aaron Sorkin
TOY STORY 3 – Michael Arndt
TRUE GRIT – Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Biutiful
Girl With The Golden Tattoo
I am Love
Of Gods And Men
The Secret In Their Eyes

ANIMATED FILM

Despicable Me
How To Train Your Dragon
Toy Story 3

LEADING ACTOR

JAVIER BARDEM – Biutiful
JEFF BRIDGES – True Grit
JESSE EISENBERG – The Social Network
COLIN FIRTH – The King’s Speech
JAMES FRANCO – 127 Hours

LEADING ACTRESS

ANNETTE BENING – The Kids Are All Right
JULIANNE MOORE – The Kids Are All Right
NATALIE PORTMAN – Black Swan
NOOMI RAPACE – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
HAILEE STEINFELD – True Grit

SUPPORTING ACTOR

CHRISTIAN BALE – The Fighter
ANDREW GARFIELD – The Social Network
PETE POSTLETHWAITE – The Town
MARK RUFFALO – The Kids Are All Right
GEOFFREY RUSH – The King’s Speech

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

AMY ADAMS – The Fighter
HELENA BONHAM CARTER – The King’s Speech
BARBARA HERSHEY – Black Swan
LESLEY MANVILLE – Another Year
MIRANDA RICHARDSON – Made in Dagenham

ORIGINAL MUSIC

127 HOURS – AR Rahman
ALICE IN WONDERLAND – Danny Elfman
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON – John Powell
INCEPTION – Hans Zimmer
THE KING’S SPEECH – Alexandre Desplat

CINEMATOGRAPHY

127 HOURS – Anthony Dod Mantle, Enrique Chediak
BLACK SWAN – Matthew Libatique
INCEPTION – Wally Pfister
THE KING’S SPEECH – Danny Cohen
TRUE GRIT – Roger Deakins

EDITING

127 HOURS – Jon Harris
BLACK SWAN – Andrew Weisblum
INCEPTION – Lee Smith
THE KING’S SPEECH – Tariq Anwar
THE SOCIAL NETWORK – Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter

PRODUCTION DESIGN

ALICE IN WONDERLAND – Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara
BLACK SWAN – Thérèse DePrez, Tora Peterson
INCEPTION – Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Doug Mowat
THE KING’S SPEECH – Eve Stewart, Judy Farr
TRUE GRIT – Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh

COSTUME DESIGN

ALICE IN WONDERLAND – Colleen Atwood
BLACK SWAN – Amy Westcott
THE KING’S SPEECH – Jenny Beavan
MADE IN DAGENHAM – Louise Stjernsward
TRUE GRIT – Mary Zophres

SOUND

127 HOURS
BLACK SWAN
INCEPTION
THE KING’S SPEECH
TRUE GRIT

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

ALICE IN WONDERLAND
BLACK SWAN
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1
INCEPTION
TOY STORY 3

MAKE UP & HAIR

ALICE IN WONDERLAND
BLACK SWAN
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1
THE KING’S SPEECH
MADE IN DAGENHAM

SHORT ANIMATION

THE EAGLEMAN STAG – Michael Please
MATTER FISHER – David Prosser
THURSDAY – Matthias Hoegg

SHORT FILM

CONNECT
LIN
RITE
TURNING
UNTIL THE RIVER RUNS RED

ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING AWARD

GEMMA ARTERTON
ANDREW GARFIELD
TOM HARDY
AARON JOHNSON
EMMA STONE