BAFTA 2012 Nominations: The Artist, Tinker Tailor Lead the Way

Silence was the watchword at the BAFTA nominations, which were announced in London on Tuesday.

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Jack English / Focus Features

Gary Oldman as George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Silence was the watchword at this year’s BAFTA nominations, which were announced in London on Tuesday. The reason? Leading the way, with 12 nods, was Michel Hazanavicius’ silent movie, The Artist, which won a best picture award at Sunday’s Golden Globes, further solidifying its frontrunner status ahead of next week’s Oscar nominations. But before taking to the stage at Convent Garden’s Royal Opera House on Sunday February 12, they’ll need to fend off some home-grown British talent in the shape of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, itself a relatively intense, if quiet, spy thriller.

A well-received film which has gone almost unmentioned this awards season, TTSS has not been neglected by the Brits, who have bestowed an impressive 11 nominations in its direction. Both movies will compete against each other for Best Film, along with The Descendants, The Help and, surprisingly, Drive.

Tinker Tailor‘s producer, and co-chairman of Working Title Films, Tim Bevan, was slightly more sanguine: “It’s fantastic news, particularly in respect of the fact that it didn’t do so well in the American awards. For a producer, it’s about as good as it gets.” Ever the realist, Bevan must know that TTSS has a far better chance of winning Outstanding British Film, though it will have to see off the ever rising My Week With Marilyn, Shame, We Need To Talk About Kevin and Senna, the documentary inexplicably not considered worthy enough to compete for the Oscar.

In any other year, Gary Oldman’s portrayal of George Smiley would have made him the firm Best Actor favorite but George Clooney (The Descendants) and Jean Dujardin (The Artist), both Globe winners, are the more likely picks with Brad Pitt (Moneyball) and Michael Fassbender completing a strong category. And at least Oldman might show up: during the Globes, he was to be found modeling clothes at a catwalk show in Milan. Competing in the front row for Best Director is TTSS‘s Thomas Alfredson, who along with Hazanavicius, Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) and Lynne Ramsey (We Need To Talk About Kevin) will all be trying to wrest the award away from red-hot favorite Martin Scorsese for Hugo (which received nine nominations). We think we’ll need to talk about Marty because, not only did he just collect a Globe but has already won a BAFTA this year, as he’ll be awarded the prestigious Fellowship, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see him double up.

But some didn’t do as well as the BAFTA longlist suggested: Two films with a distinctly British flavor that will be licking their wounds include My Week With Marilyn (six nominations) and The Iron Lady (four). But their leading ladies, Michelle Williams and Meryl Streep, who both won Globes this past weekend, will go head-to-head for Best Actress. The streaking Streep is the clear front-runner for her portrayal of polarizing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. But, if anything, Viola Davis (The Help), might prove to be her main competition whereas Tilda Swinton (Kevin) and Berenice Bejo (The Artist) arguably make up the numbers.

Speaking of the Oscars, it must be asked whether the BAFTAs can be seen as a reliable bellwether for Hollywood’s big night. What’s undeniable is that BAFTA’s smart decision to move itself up in the awards calendar has made it more relevant (and attracts a healthy smattering of Hollywood’s A-list to turn up). Only time will tell whether Oscar follows BAFTA, but recent history does suggest that British films can benefit from the BAFTA bounce. Last year The King’s Speech won seven BAFTAs and four Oscars, including Best Picture. And in 2009, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire took home seven BAFTAs, including Best Film but went on to go one better, nabbing eight Oscars. But even if Tinker Tailor and its peers don’t translate BAFTA success into Oscar glory, at least they can take comfort in being recognized – as surprising as it sounds, Terrence Malick’s The Tree Of Life didn’t receive a single nomination despite many a rave review. Silence was indeed the watchword.

read the full list of nomination on the following page:

FULL LIST:

BEST FILM

THE ARTIST Thomas Langmann
THE DESCENDANTS Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
DRIVE Marc Platt, Adam Siegel
THE HELP Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Simon Curtis, David Parfitt, Harvey Weinstein, Adrian Hodges
SENNA Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Manish Pandey
SHAME Steve McQueen, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Abi Morgan
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tomas Alfredson, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo,
Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN Lynne Ramsay, Luc Roeg, Jennifer Fox, Robert Salerno,
Rory Stewart Kinnear

LEADING ACTOR

BRAD PITT Moneyball
GARY OLDMAN Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
GEORGE CLOONEY The Descendants
JEAN DUJARDIN The Artist
MICHAEL FASSBENDER Shame

LEADING ACTRESS

BÉRÉNICE BEJO The Artist
MERYL STREEP The Iron Lady
MICHELLE WILLIAMS My Week with Marilyn
TILDA SWINTON We Need to Talk About Kevin
VIOLA DAVIS The Help

SUPPORTING ACTOR

CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER Beginners
JIM BROADBENT The Iron Lady
JONAH HILL Moneyball
KENNETH BRANAGH My Week with Marilyn
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN The Ides of March

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

CAREY MULLIGAN Drive
JESSICA CHASTAIN The Help
JUDI DENCH My Week with Marilyn
MELISSA MCCARTHY Bridesmaids
OCTAVIA SPENCER The Help

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

ATTACK THE BLOCK Joe Cornish (Director/Writer)
BLACK POND Will Sharpe (Director/Writer), Tom Kingsley (Director), Sarah Brocklehurst
(Producer)
CORIOLANUS Ralph Fiennes (Director)
SUBMARINE Richard Ayoade (Director/Writer)
TYRANNOSAUR Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
INCENDIES Denis Villeneuve, Luc Dery, Kim McGraw
PINA Wim Wenders, Gian-Piero Ringel
POTICHE Francois Ozon, Eric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer
A SEPARATION Asghar Farhadi
THE SKIN I LIVE IN Pedro Almodovar, Agustin Almodovar

DOCUMENTARY

GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD Martin Scorsese
PROJECT NIM James Marsh, Simon Chinn
SENNA Asif Kapadia

ANIMATED FILM

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN Steven Spielberg
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS Sarah Smith
RANGO Gore Verbinski

DIRECTOR

THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius
DRIVE Nicolas Winding Refn
HUGO Martin Scorsese
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tomas Alfredson
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN Lynne Ramsay

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius
BRIDESMAIDS Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
THE GUARD John Michael McDonagh
THE IRON LADY Abi Morgan
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS Woody Allen

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

THE DESCENDANTS Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
THE HELP Tate Taylor
THE IDES OF MARCH George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
MONEYBALL Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan

ORIGINAL MUSIC

THE ARTIST Ludovic Bource
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
HUGO Howard Shore
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Alberto Iglesias
WAR HORSE John Williams

CINEMATOGRAPHY

THE ARTIST Guillaume Schiffman
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Jeff Cronenweth
HUGO Robert Richardson
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Hoyte van Hoytema
WAR HORSE Janusz Kaminski

EDITING

THE ARTIST Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
DRIVE Mat Newman
HUGO Thelma Schoonmaker
SENNA Gregers Sall, Chris King
TINKER TAILOR SOLIDER SPY Dino Jonsater

PRODUCTION DESIGN

THE ARTIST Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
HUGO Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
WAR HORSE Rick Carter, Lee Sandales

COSTUME DESIGN

THE ARTIST Mark Bridges
HUGO Sandy Powell
JANE EYRE Michael O’Connor
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Jill Taylor
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Jacqueline Durran

MAKE UP & HAIR

THE ARTIST Julie Hewett, Cydney Cornell
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
HUGO Morag Ross, Jan Archibald
THE IRON LADY Marese Langan
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Jenny Shircore

SOUND

THE ARTIST Nadine Muse, Gerard Lamps, Michael Krikorian
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker,
Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener
HUGO Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY John Casali, Howard Bargroff, Doug Cooper, Stephen Griffiths,
Andy Shelley
WAR HORSE Stuart Wilson, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Richard Hymns

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN Joe Letteri
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler,
David Vickery
HUGO Rob Legato, Ben Grossman, Joss Williams
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White
WAR HORSE Ben Morris, Neil Corbould

SHORT ANIMATION

ABUELAS Afarin Eghbal, Kasia Malipan, Francesca Gardiner
BOBBY YEAH Robert Morgan
A MORNING STROLL Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

SHORT FILM

CHALK Martina Amati, Gavin Emerson, James Bolton, Ilaria Bernardini
MWANSA THE GREAT Rungano Nyoni, Gabriel Gauchet
ONLY SOUND REMAINS Arash Ashtiani, Anshu Poddar
PITCH BLACK HEIST John Maclean, Gerardine O’Flynn
TWO AND TWO Babak Anvari, Kit Fraser, Gavin Cullen

THE ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)

ADAM DEACON
CHRIS HEMSWORTH
CHRIS O’DOWD
EDDIE REDMAYNE
TOM HIDDLESTON

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