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'Atonement' gets 14 BAFTA nominations
2008-01-17
"Atonement", the film adaptation of Ian McEwan's award-winning novel about life and love in World War II, on Wednesday received 14 nominations at Britain's showpiece film awards, the BAFTAs. The romantic drama, which won best picture at the US Golden Globes on Monday, was put forward in the top categories of best film and best British film, with Keira Knightley and James McAvoy also up for best actress and actor. Joe Wright was nominated for best director while the film secured slots for the adapted screenplay, music, cinematography, editing, producing design, sound, costume design and make-up and hair categories. Saoirse Ronan receives a supporting actress nomination for the film. Elsewhere, Joel and Ethan Coen's bleak "No Country for Old Men" and Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood", starring Daniel Day-Lewis as a ruthless oil baron, each received nine nominations. "La Vie en Rose", about the life of legendary French singer Edith Piaf, has seven, including a best actress nomination for Marion Cotillard. Her performance has already won her a Golden Globe. "The Bourne Ultimatum", the third in the action series starring Matt Damon, has six nominations, with "American Gangster", "The Lives of Others" and "Michael Clayton" getting five each. Cate Blanchett -- who is in the best supporting actress category for the Bob Dylan biopic "I'm Not There" -- is up against Knightley in the leading actress category for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age". Screen icon Julie Christie also features for her acclaimed performance as an Alzheimer's sufferer in "Away from Her", alongside Ellen Page for "Juno". McAvoy, George Clooney ("Michael Clayton"); Daniel Day-Lewis ("There Will Be Blood"); Viggo Mortensen ("Eastern Promises"); and Ulrich Muehe ("The Lives of Others") will fight it out for best actor. The British Academy Film Awards -- which normally play second fiddle to the Golden Globes -- could be one of the film industry's main events of the year because of the ongoing industrial action by screenwriters in the United States. A threatened actor's boycott in support of strikers forced the cancellation of the Globes' traditional red carpet extravaganza and lavish champagne dinner. It was replaced by a low-key news conference. The Globes normally provide a form guide for the Oscars, which are set to take place in Hollywood on February 24.
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