Much as I enjoy my Dissociative Identity Disorder, it’s really been disorienting this month trying to put myself inside the heads of various guild members and critics groups. I’m not up to playing the What Will BAFTA Do? guessing game tonight so I’ll just throw together a post naming the nominees I hope BAFTA chooses, and keep my fingers crossed.
I’m in no more in the mood to give you my reasons that I imagine you’re in the mood to hear them. Anyway, my calculations are not that complex. My choices are based on the movies I enjoyed the most, and on the filmmakers whose work I personally feel is the best of the year. (Looking at my list you might wonder if I really dislike ‚ÄúMamma Mia!‚Äù and ‚ÄúThe Baader Meinhof Complex‚Äù so much. Nope. Just didn’t see them. See how simple?)
I will say that overall I have higher hopes for Revolutionary Road and The Reader than does Daniel. Another major deviation you’ll see between our lists is that I tend to give The Dark Knight more credibility with BAFTA for reasons I tried to explain last July.
So I’ll take a different approach than our reliable Mr. Kenealy, and simply make a BAFTA wish list. If I were Rupert Evert, I’d ring up Wentworth Miller and after we wrestled around on the hand-knotted worsted for a bit, this is how we’d tick off my ballot (we’d monkey with the rules by allowing a 6th alternate longshot, because we’re rascals):
BEST FILM
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight ”
“Milk”
“Revolutionary Road”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
alt – “The Reader”
DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
David Fincher, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Sam Mendes, “Revolutionary Road”
Christopher Nolan, “The Dark Knight ”
Gus Van Sant, “Milk”
alt. – Martin McDonagh, “In Bruges””
LEADING ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio – “Revolutionary Road”
Colin Farrell – “In Bruges”
Frank Langella – “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn – “Milk”
Mickey Rourke – “The Wrestler”
alt. – Brad Pitt – “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
LEADING ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway – “Rachel Getting Married”
Sally Hawkins – “Happy-Go-Lucky”
Keira Knightley – “The Duchess”
Meryl Streep – “Doubt”
Kate Winslet – “Revolutionary Road”
alt – Cate Blanchett – “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin – “Milk”
Ralph Fiennes – “The Duchess”
Philip Seymour Hoffman – “Doubt”
David Kross – “The Reader”
Heath Ledger – “The Dark Knight”
alt. – Robert Downey Jr. – “Tropic Thunder”
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – “Doubt”
Emma Thompson- “Brideshead Revisited”
Marisa Tomei – “The Wrestler”
Pen√©lope Cruz – “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis – “Doubt”
alt. – Charlotte Rampling – “The Duchess”
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“In Bruges”
“Milk”
“Rachel Getting Married”
“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
“Wall-E”
alt. – ‚ÄúWaltz With Bashir‚Äù
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight ”
“Doubt”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
alt. – “Gomorrah”
MAKE UP & HAIR
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Duchess”
“Milk”
“Tropic Thunder”
alt – “The Reader”
VISUAL EFFECTS
“Cloverfield”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Hancock”
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army”
alt. – “Iron Man”
SOUND
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”
“Iron Man”
“Wall-E”
alt. – “Quantum of Solace”
EDITING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Man on Wire”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“The Wrestler”
alt. – “The Reader”
COSTUME DESIGN
“Brideshead Revisited”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Duchess”
“Revolutionary Road”
“Milk”
alt. – “Sex and the City”
PRODUCTION DESIGN
“Brideshead Revisited”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Reader”
“Revolutionary Road”
alt. – “Milk”
CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Doubt”
“Revolutionary Road”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
alt. – “Milk”
ANIMATED FILM
“Persepolis”
“Wall-E”
“Waltz With Bashir”
alt. – ‚ÄúKung Fu Panda‚Äù
MUSIC
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Revolutionary Road”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“Wall-E”
alt. – “Burn After Reading”