'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'Ben Button' Lead BAFTA Nominees with 11 Followed By 'The Dark Knight'

The 2009 BAFTA Award nominees have been announced and Slumdog Millionaire, along with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, leads the way with 11 nominations with The Dark Knight close behind with nine. However, at the top of the pile it is immediately noticeable that The Dark Knight did not get a Best Film nomination as all the usual suspects are there, but The Reader is added to the pack as one of its five nominations.

Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) is considered a lead actor at the BAFTAs and earns a nomination in the category while he is competing Stateside for a Supporting nom. I believe he is more of a lead actor than a supporting, but Fox Searchlight obviously sees the supporting category as the easier place to get him a nomination and has pushed him in the category as a result. Other than that, the usuals are there with Brad Pitt earning a nomination, and Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road) and Richard Jenkins (The Visitor) left out in the cold. Pitt also scored a supporting nomination for his role in Burn After Reading and I am sure many will be happy to see Brendan Gleeson also scoring a Supporting nom for his turn in In Bruges, the film that earned Colin Farrell a Golden Globe, but Farrell was not nominated here.

On the actress side Kate Winslet will be competing against herself in the Lead Actress category as well as Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie and Kristin Scott Thomas. I would say the choice to nominate Winslet as a lead in the category ousted Sally Hawkins, whom I am surprised to see not nominated considering she is a Brit in a Brit flick, but then again you won’t see Happy-Go-Lucky anywhere on this list of nominees, much to my surprise. As for Supporting Actress there are a couple of interesting inclusions such as Freida Pinto for Slumdog Millionaire and Burn After Reading‘s second of three nominations in Tilda Swinton. Amy Adams (Doubt), Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler) round out the category.

In the director slot the only surprise – for me at least – is Clint Eastwood for Changeling. Stephen Daldry also earned a nomination for The Reader, but considering the film was given a Best Film nomination that isn’t as much of a surprise.

The screenplay categories are all pretty much what you would expect outside of a nice inclusion as Martin McDonagh’s script for In Bruges gets a nomination in Original Screenplay.

Overall, the only big surprise for me would be the eight nominations for Changeling, there hasn’t been much talk about the film’s award chances since its release and I didn’t expect it to gain much traction across the pond. You can check out the complete list of nominees below. The awards take place in London on February 8, in a ceremony hosted by Jonathan Ross and screened live on BBC1.

2009 NOMINEES

BEST FILM

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Kathleen Kennedy / Frank Marshall / CeÃ¡n Chaffin
Frost/Nixon, Tim Bevan / Eric Fellner / Brian Grazer / Ron Howard
Milk, Dan Jinks / Bruce Cohen
The Reader, Anthony Minghella / Sydney Pollack / Donna Gigliotti / Redmond Morris
Slumdog Millionaire, Christian Colso

LEADING ACTOR

Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon
Dev Patel for Slumdog Millionaire
Sean Penn for Milk
Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler

LEADING ACTRESS

Angelina Jolie for Changeling
Kristin Scott Thomas for I’ve Loved You So Long
Meryl Streep for Doubt
Kate Winslet for The Reader
Kate Winslet for Revolutionary Road

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder
Brendan Gleeson for In Bruges
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Brad Pitt for Burn After Reading

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams for Doubt
Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Freida Pinto for Slumdog Millionaire
Tilda Swinton for Burn After Reading
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler

DIRECTOR

Changeling, Clint Eastwood
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, David Fincher
Frost/Nixon, Ron Howard
The Reader, Stephen Daldry
Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Burn After Reading, Joel Coen / Ethan Coen
Changeling, J. Michael Straczynski
I’ve Loved You So Long, Philippe Claudel
In Bruges, Martin McDonagh
Milk, Dustin Lance Black

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Roth
Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan
The Reader, David Hare
Revolutionary Road, Justin Haythe
Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

Hunger, Laura Hastings-Smith / Robin Gutch / Steve McQueen / Enda Walsh
In Bruges, Graham Broadbent / Pete Czernin / Martin McDonagh
Mamma Mia!, Judy Craymer / Gary Goetzman / Phyllida Lloyd / Catherine Johnson
Man on Wire, Simon Chinn / James Marsh
Slumdog Millionaire, Christian Colson / Danny Boyle / Simon Beaufoy

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The Baader Meinhof Complex, Bernard Eichinger / Uli Edel
Gomorrah, Domenico Procacci / Matteo Garrone
I’ve Loved You So Long, Yves Marmion / Philippe Claudel
Persepolis, Marc-Antoine Robert / Xavier Rigault / Marjane Satrapi / Vincent Parannaud
Waltz With Bashir, Serge Lalou / Gerhard Meixner / Yael Nahl Ieli / Ari Folman

ANIMATED FILM

Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi / Vincent Parannaud
WALL•E, Andrew Stanton
Waltz With Bashir, Ari Folman

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Changeling, Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight, Wally Pfister
The Reader, Chris Menges / Roger Deakins
Slumdog Millionaire, Anthony Dod Mantle

EDITING

Changeling, Joel Cox / Gary D. Roach
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Kirk Baxter / Angus Wall
The Dark Knight, Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon, Mike Hill / Dan Hanley
In Bruges, Jon Gregory
Slumdog Millionaire, Chris Dickens

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Changeling, James J. Murakami / Gary Fettis
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Donald Graham Burt / Victor J. Zolfo
The Dark Knight, Nathan Crowley / Peter Lando
Revolutionary Road, Kristi Zea / Debra Schutt
Slumdog Millionaire, Mark Digby / Michelle Day

COSTUME DESIGN

Changeling, Deborah Hopper
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Jacqueline West
The Dark Knight, Lindy Hemming
The Duchess, Michael O’Connor
Revolutionary Road, Albert Wolsky

MAKE UP & HAIR

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Jean Black / Colleen Callaghan
The Dark Knight, Peter Robb-King
The Duchess, Daniel Phillips / Jan Archibald
Frost/Nixon, Edouard Henriques / Kim Santantonio
Milk, Steven E. Anderson / Michael White

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Barba / Craig Barron / Nathan McGuinness / Edson Williams
The Dark Knight, Chris Corbould / Nick Davis / Paul Franklin / Tim Webber
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Pablo Helman
Iron Man, Shane Patrick Mahan / John Nelson / Ben Snow
Quantum of Solace, Chris Corbould / Kevin Tod Haug

SOUND

Changeling, Walt Martin / Alan Robert Murray / John Reitz / Gregg Rudloff
The Dark Knight, Lora Hirschberg / Richard King / Ed Novick / Gary Rizzo
Quantum of Solace, Eddy Joseph / Chris Munro / Mike Prestwood Smith / Mark Taylor
Slumdog Millionaire, Glenn Freemantle / Resul Pookutty / Richard Pryke / Tom Sayers / Ian Tapp
WALL•E, Ben Burtt / Tom Myers / Michael Semanick / Matthew Wood

MUSIC

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alexandre Desplat
The Dark Knight, Hans Zimmer / James Newton Howard
Mamma Mia!, Benny Andersson / BjÃ¶rn Ulvaeus
Slumdog Millionaire, A. R. Rahman
WALL•E, Thomas Newman

SHORT ANIMATION

CODSWALLOP Greg McLeod / Myles McLeod
VARMINTS Sue Goffe / Marc Craste
WALLACE AND GROMIT: A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH Steve Pegram / Nick Park / Bob Baker

SHORT FILM