It’s the biggest night in the British film calendar and – this year – comes served with a dash of controversy, thanks to the exorcism of Bryan Singer’s name from the Bohemian Rhapsody nominations.
An all male directorial line up makes for a disheartening read but there’s relief in seeing recognition for Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here. Significant snubs this year, meanwhile, include Debora Granik’s Leave No Trace and Steve McQueen’s Widows.
Of those nominated, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite leads the pack with twelve, while Bohemian Rhapsody, First Man, Roma and A Star is Born have seven apiece.
As previously announced, Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley will receive the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award and Raging Bull editor Thelma Schoonmaker will be honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship.
As for the winners, only time – and Joanna Lumley – will tell. But that’s not stopped us guessing.
BEST FILM
BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee)
The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)
Green Book (Peter Farrelly)
Roma (Alfonso Cuarón)
A Star is Born (Bradley Cooper)
Perhaps not the strongest line up in BAFTA history but the Best Film category does at least boast Roma, Netflix’s Alfonso Cuarón triumph. Roma was named film of the year by the London Critic’s Circle and should repeat that success here.
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Beast (Michael Pearce)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Dexter Fletcher)
The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)
McQueen (Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui)
Stan & Ollie (Jon S. Baird)
You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay)
Last year, Three Billboards won the BAFTA double but with Roma out of the way here, the field’s open. Bohemian Rhapsody would likely be a public favourite – albeit critical shock – but our pick is The Favourite.
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Daniel Kokotajlo (Apostasy)
Michael Pearce and Lauren Dark (Beast)
Chris Kelly (A Cambodian Spring)
Leanne Welham and Sophie Harman (Pili)
Richard Billingham and Jacqui Davies (Ray & Liz)
Did you see Beast? If so, our prediction warrants no justification. Whomever wins here, expect great things from their future.
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Capernaum (Nadine Labaki)
Cold War (Paweł Pawlikowski)
Dogman (Matteo Garrone)
Roma (Alfonso Cuarón)
Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
If the BAFTA voters do as we think they will and name Roma Best Film, we’re inclined to imagine that the love will be shared over in the Foreign Language category with Pawel Pawlikowski’s equally deserving Cold War.
DOCUMENTARY
Free Solo (Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin)
McQueen (Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui)
RBG (Julie Cohen and Betsy West)
They Shall Not Grow Old (Peter Jackson)
Three Identical Strangers (Tim Wardle, Grace Hughes-Hallett and Becky Read)
Out of a strong field, Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old has technological wow factor enough to creep ahead. Don’t bet against Free Solo though.
ANIMATED FILM
Incredibles 2 (Brad Bird)
Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman)
Much of this year’s awards buzz has arisen with Black Panther’s Best Picture Oscar nod. A more likely super-winner, however, will be Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – on both sides of the Atlantic.
DIRECTOR
Spike Lee (BlacKKKlansman)
Paweł Pawlikowski (Cold War)
Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite)
Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)
Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born)
If Bradley Cooper was ’embarrassed’ by his lack of an Oscar nomination, he can at least console himself with a BAFTA nod. He won’t win though. This one’s got Cuarón’s name all over it.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Janusz Głowacki and Paweł Pawlikowski (Cold War)
Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (The Favourite)
Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga (Green Book)
Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)
Adam McKay (Vice)
Davis and McNamara’s script for The Favourite stands out in this race. ‘Did you just look at me? Look at me! How dare you!’ You’d struggle to say it lacked originality.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel and Kevin Willmott (BlacKKKlansman)
Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Josh Singer (First Man)
Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters and Eric Roth (A Star is Born)
Moonlight failed to win a single BAFTA in 2017 so there’s a right to be wronged two years later. Can You Ever Forgive Me could seize this one but Jenkins’ Beale Street script is gorgeous.
LEADING ACTRESS
Glenn Close (The Wife)
Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born)
Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
Viola Davis (Widows)
Another *Close* call but, whilst we think Glenn has the Oscar, Olivia Colman is a British national treasure and should comfortably win the BAFTA. Deservedly so.
LEADING ACTOR
Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)
Christian Bale (Vice)
Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)
Steve Coogan (Stan & Ollie)
Viggo Mortensen (Green Book)
Love it or hate it, Bohemian Rhapsody looks set to come away from the 2019 BAFTAs with at least one gong. Most likely, it’ll be for Rami Malek’s outstanding turn as Freddie Mercury.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams (Vice)
Claire Foy (First Man)
Emma Stone (The Favourite)
Margot Robbie (Mary Queen of Scots)
Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)
An odd one. In a couple of weeks, Regina King will – barring a major upset – win the Oscar for Supporting Actress. How, then, she’s escaped a BAFTA nomination is a mystery. By reverse logic, Claire Foy – who isn’t nominated for the Oscar – is the favourite here. Stone and Weisz are contenders – Weisz won at the London Critics Circle – but could rule each other out. Adams is an outsider and Robbie a very long shot.
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman)
Mahershala Ali (Green Book)
Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Sam Rockwell (Vice)
Timothée Chalamet (Beautiful Boy)
After great deliberation, we think British favouritism will win out here. Ali missed out at the BAFTAs when it came to Moonlight and ought to win this time but Richard E. Grant stands in his way. Grant’s British appeal gives him an edge but Ali’s deserves this one.
ORIGINAL MUSIC
BlacKkKlansman (Terence Blanchard)
If Beale Street Could Talk (Nicholas Britell)
Isle of Dogs (Alexandre Desplat)
Mary Poppins Returns (Marc Shaiman)
A Star is Born (Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga and Lukas Nelson)
To address the elephant in the room, Justin Hurwitz should be walking away with this one for his beautiful First Man score. Of the rest, a Poppins pick would be lovely but a gong for Britell is the more plausible outcome.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Bohemian Rhapsody (Newton Thomas Sigel)
Cold War (Łukasz Żal)
The Favourite (Robbie Ryan)
First Man (Linus Sandgren)
Roma (Alfonso Cuarón)
No obvious winner stands out here but we’re inclined to predict a strong night for Cuarón.
EDITING
Bohemian Rhapsody (John Ottman)
The Favourite (Yorgos Mavropsaridis)
First Man (Tom Cross)
Roma (Alfonso Cuarón and Adam Gough)
Vice (Hank Corwin)
Word on the street is that Bohemian Rhapsody has this one in the bag.
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Stuart Craig and Anna Pinnock)
The Favourite (Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton)
First Man (Nathan Crowley and Kathy Lucas)
Mary Poppins Returns (John Myhre and Gordon Sim)
Roma (Eugenio Caballero and Bárbara Enríquez)
Based on this season’s award trends, Black Panther would be the top pick for Production Design. Here, however, it isn’t nominated and so we see the BAFTAs applauding the visually supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Mary Poppins Returns.
COSTUME DESIGN
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Mary Zophres)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Julian Day)
The Favourite (Sandy Powell)
Mary Poppins Returns (Sandy Powell)
Mary Queen of Scots (Alexandra Byrne)
Sandy Powell should repeat her success with the British Independent Film awards, gifting her award’s cabinet a third golden mask. There’s no questioning that it would be deserved but Poppins would do the same.
MAKE UP & HAIR
Bohemian Rhapsody (Mark Coulier and Jan Sewell)
The Favourite (Nadia Stacey)
Mary Queen of Scots (Jenny Shircore)
Stan & Ollie (Mark Coulier and Jeremy Woodhead)
Vice (Kate Biscoe, Ann Pala Williams, Jamie Kelman)
If Mary Queen of Scots is to come away with a BAFTA, this will be it. And rightly so, the film’s hair and makeup is tremendous.
SOUND
Bohemian Rhapsody (John Casali, Tim Cavagin, Nina Hartstone, Paul Massey and John Warhurst)
First Man (Mary H. Ellis, Mildred Iatrou Morgan, Ai-Ling Lee, Frank A. Montaño and Jon Taylor)
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Gilbert Lake, James H. Mather, Christopher Munro and Mike Prestwood Smith)
A Quiet Place (Erik Aadahl, Michael Barosky, Brandon Procter and Ethan Van der Ryn)
A Star is Born (Steve Morrow, Alan Robert Murray, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic)
It defies semantic logic but we see Best Sound going to A Quiet Place. Krasinski’s film already has the Satellite award for Sound and we see the British Academy wanting to honour its success.
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Avengers: Infinity War (Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Kelly Port and Dan Sudick)
Black Panther (Geoffrey Baumann, Jesse James Chisholm, Craig Hammack and Dan Sudick)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Tim Burke, Andy Kind, Christian Manz and David Watkins)
First Man (Ian Hunter, Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles and J.D. Schwalm)
Ready Player One (Matthew E. Butler, Grady Cofer, Roger Guyett and David Shirk)
Each of these nominees has form and would make for a worthy winner but Infinity War’s riding the wave. Marvel’s record-breaking super-hit smashed the Visual Effects Society awards, only furthering our conviction.
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
I’m OK (Elizabeth Hobbs, Abigail Addison and Jelena Popović)
Marfa (Gary and Myles McLeod)
Roughhouse (Jonathan Hodgson and Richard Van Den Boom)
Surreal in style, brilliantly constructed and powerful in its resonance, Roughhouse really stood out in this year’s short film line up. The BAFTA surely awaits.
BRITISH SHORT FILM
73 Cows (Alex Lockwood)
Bachelor, 38 (Angela Clarke)
The Blue Door (Ben Clark, Megan Pugh and Paul Taylor)
The Field (Sandhya Suri and Balthazar de Ganay)
Wale (Barnaby Blackburn, Sophie Alexander, Catherine Slater and Edward Speleers)
A bit of wishful thinking on our part sees us predict a victory for The Blue Door. The Field is, however, a hot contender.
EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Barry Keoghan
Cynthia Erivo
Jessie Buckley
Lakeith Stanfield
Letitia Wright
The only BAFTA to be chosen by the public and so the least predictable. Each nominee has a glittering future but Wright shone so brightly in Black Panther that this is hers to lose. Find out more about the Rising Star nominees here.
The Film Blog 
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