'Oppenheimer' Dominates BAFTA Awards with Seven Wins, Setting the Stage for Oscars

At the 77th British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, the atomic bomb epic "Oppenheimer" took home seven honors, including best picture, director, and actor, solidifying its position as the front-runner for the Oscars the following month.

"Poor Things," a Gothic fantasy, earned five awards, while "The Zone of Interest," a Holocaust drama, took home three.


For his performance as scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, Cillian Murphy received the best actor BAFTA, while Christopher Nolan won his first Best Director BAFTA for "Oppenheimer."

Murphy expressed his gratitude for getting to portray a "colossally knotty, complex character."

Emma Stone received awards for visual effects, production design, costume design, makeup and hair, and visual effects for her portrayal of the wild and vivacious Bella Baxter in the steampunk-style visual extravaganza "Poor Things." For this role, she was voted best actor.

Despite having a field-high 13 nominations, "Oppenheimer" was unable to tie the record of nine prizes achieved by "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" in 1971.

Defying "Poor Things," "Killers of the Flower Moon," "Anatomy of a Fall," and "The Holdovers," it emerged victorious in the best picture competition. Along from winning awards for editing, cinematography, and musical score, "Oppenheimer" also garnered Robert Downey Jr.'s Best Supporting Actor nomination.

Da'Vine Playing a boarding school chef in "The Holdovers," Joy Randolph won the best supporting actress award. She said that telling the tales of overlooked individuals like her character Mary felt like a "responsibility I don't take lightly."

In what was largely regarded as a historic year for film and an awards season spurred on by the conclusion of the actors' and writers' strikes that closed down Hollywood for months, "Oppenheimer" faced fierce competition.

"The Zone of Interest," a British-produced movie with a mostly German cast that was filmed in Poland, won the prizes for best British film and best picture not in English, a first, and for its sound design, which has been called the movie's true highlight.

The disturbing play by Jonathan Glazer is set in a family house that is just outside the gates of the Auschwitz death camp, where the atrocities are spoken but not really seen.

Producer James Wilson said, "Walls are nothing new from before or since the Holocaust, and it seems stark right now that we should care about innocent people being killed in Gaza, Yemen, Mariupol, or Israel." "We appreciate you recognizing a movie that challenges our way of thinking."

The Associated Press and PBS "Frontline" documentary "20 Days in Mariupol," on the war in Ukraine, took home the best documentary award.

"This is not about us," said Mstyslav Chernov, a videographer who worked with an AP crew to document the terrifying realities of life in the besieged city. "This is about the people of Mariupol, about Ukraine."

The history of the city and its subjugation by the Russians, according to Chernov, "is a symbol of struggle and a symbol of faith." We appreciate you giving us a voice, and together, let's continue the battle.

A glamorous, British-inspired prelude to Hollywood's Oscar Awards, the gala was hosted by "Doctor Who" actor David Tennant, who made his entrance wearing a kilt and a sequined top while toting a dog called Bark Ruffalo. Many watched it in hopes of seeing a glimpse of who would win on March 10th.

The French courtroom drama "Anatomy of a Fall" won the award for original script. Justine Triet, the filmmaker, and Arthur Harari, her boyfriend, wrote the script for the movie about a woman on trial for her husband's killing.

Triet laughed, "It's fiction, and we are reasonably fine."

For the satirical film "American Fiction," which follows the hardships of an African-American author, Cord Jefferson took home the Oscar for best adapted screenplay.

With the film's popularity, Jefferson expressed his hope that "people in charge of greenlighting films and TV shows might change their minds and become less risk-averse."

"Killers of the Flower Moon," a historical epic, received nine nominations for the EE BAFTA Film Awards, but was unable to win any of them.

The biopic "Maestro" about Leonard Bernstein, which received seven nominations but no prizes, was a source of sadness as well. The melancholic romance "All of Us Strangers," which received six nominations, and the sharp class-war dramedy "Saltburn," which received five, didn't fare much better.

Out of five nominations, "Barbie," which is half of 2023's "Barbenheimer" box office blockbuster and the highest earning movie of the year, also failed to win. The filmmaker of "Barbie," Greta Gerwig, was seen by many as a significant snub when she was not nominated for a directing Oscar or BAFTA.

In 2020, when all 20 candidates in the lead and supporting performance categories were white and no woman was nominated for best director for the eighth consecutive year, the British film academy made adjustments to broaden the awards' diversity. Among the six candidates for best director this year, Triet was the only female.

The winner of the sole category selected by the general public, the Rising actress award, went to "How to Have Sex" actress Mia McKenna-Bruce.

Prior to the event, presenters Andrew Scott, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, and David Beckham strolled the red carpet at London's Royal Festival Hall alongside candidates Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Emily Blunt, Rosamund Pike, Ryan Gosling, and Ayo Edebiri.

As the head of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Prince William was the honored guest. He didn't bring his wife Kate, who was still healing from surgery on her abdomen last month.

Hannah Waddingham, star of "Ted Lasso," sang "Time After Time" during the event, while Sophie Ellis-Bextor sang her 2001 hit song "Murder on the Dancefloor," which rocketed back up the charts after appearing in "Saltburn."

The June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive creator and film curator June Givanni was recognized for her remarkable contribution to British cinema, and actress Samantha Morton was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship, the highest honor bestowed by the academy.

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