By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
LONDON (Reuters) – A German remake of anti-war classic “All Quiet on the Western Front” leads the contenders at the British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, the country’s highest accolade for the industry.
Based on the 1928 novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque about the horrors of World War One from the perspective of a young German soldier, the Netflix drama overtook other award season favourites to gather 14 nominations.
It will compete for the night’s top prize – best film – alongside dark comedy “The Banshees of Inisherin”, the biopic “Elvis”, dimension-hopping “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and music drama “Tár”.
“Banshees”, about two feuding friends on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, and “Everything Everywhere” each have received 10 nominations.
The latter’s Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert were named the best film directors of 2022 at the Directors Guild of America awards on Saturday.
Competition is tight in the leading actor category, which includes “Banshees”‘s Colin Farrell, Brendan Fraser for “The Whale”, in which he plays a sick obese man trying to reconnect with his daughter, as well as Austin Butler for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in “Elvis”.
Bill Nighy (“Living”), Paul Mescal (Aftersun”) and Daryl McCormack (“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”) complete the leading actor nominees list.
Michelle Yeoh, who has already won awards for her portrayal of a laundromat owner unexpectedly introduced to an alternate multiverse in “Everything Everywhere”, and Cate Blanchett, who plays a gay conductor of a Berlin orchestra whose career comes tumbling down due to an abuse scandal in “Tár”, are the two favourites for the leading actress prize.
Celebrities and Britain’s Prince and Princess of Wales will attend the awards ceremony at London’s Royal Festival Hall overlooking the River Thames.
One person who will stay away is Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev, who features in nominated documentary “Navalny” about jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
Grozev, whom Russia put on a wanted list in December, said on Twitter on Friday he and his family had been “banned by British police from attending”.
“The reason stated: we ‘represent a public security risk’,” he wrote.
In response, London’s Metropolitan’s Police said “police do not and cannot ban anyone from attending a private event,” adding that decisions on attendance were for event organisers.
“We cannot comment on the safety of an individual or the advice they may have been given,” it said.
“However, the situation that journalists face around the world and the fact that some journalists face the hostile intentions of foreign states whilst in the UK is a reality that we are absolutely concerned with.”
BAFTA Chief Executive Jane Millichip said while Grozev would not attend the ceremony, the film’s nominated producers would.
“There’s quite a party from the ‘Navalny’ doc coming,” she told Reuters on the red carpet.
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; editing by Barbara Lewis)
