Mad Max: Fury Road Receives 7 BAFTA Award Nominations
The full BAFTA nominations for movies were released Friday morning, giving a look at what the British Academy of Film and Television Arts thinks was notable in 2015 film entertainment. Genre entertainment (sci-fi, fantasy, and horror) didn't have a very big showing in this year's awards, despite record-setting performances and more critical acclaim for genre than in many prior years. Notably, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was deemed eligible for this award year; it's been a question mark for some awards this season, due to its late-in-the-year and no-screenings/screeners release.
The biggest winners for genre are probably Mad Max: Fury Road and The Martian. Mad Max was nominated in seven categories, leading genre films: Cinematography, Costume Design, Editing, Make-Up and Hair, Production Design, Sound, and Special Visual Effects.
The Martian came just shy of that number, with 6 nominations, though it received non-production noms that typically receive more attention. Ridley Scott was nominated for Best Director and Matt Damon was nominated for Best Actor for the film. It also received nominations for Editing, Production Design, Sound, and Special Visual Effects.
That last category, Visual Effects, was dominated as usual by genre. Other nominees included Ant-Man, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Ex Machina, giving it a natural clean sweep. The Force Awakens also received nominations in Music for John Williams, Production Design, and Sound. Despite its over thirty box-office records, though, it received none of the nominations for individual achievement in acting, directing, or writing.
As previously reported, Taron Egerton (Kingsman: Secret Service) and John Boyega (Star Wars) both received nominations for the fan-voted Rising Star award.
Carol and Bridge of Spies led all films with nine nominations each.
Other notable nominations and surprises include Inside Out getting a nomination alongside four live-action films for Original Screenplay, and Costume Designer Sandy Powell competing against herself with Cinderella and Carol. The Supporting Actor category was dominated by comic book movie alums, with nominations for Idris Elba, Christian Bale, Benicio del Toro, and Mark Ruffalo (though none of them for a genre film).
See the full list of nominees at the BAFTA site.