Denis Villeneuve’s Canadian Dune team leads BAFTA nominations
Global News
Denis Villeneuve and his Canadian collaborators behind Dune received several nods, with the Québécois filmmaker named in the best film and adapted screenplay categories.
Sci-fi epic Dune and Jane Campion’s dark Western The Power Of The Dog lead the nominations for this year’s British Academy Film Awards, with Benedict Cumberbatch, Leonardo DiCaprio and Lady Gaga among those up for leading actor awards.
Denis Villeneuve and his Canadian collaborators behind Dune received several nods, with the Québécois filmmaker named in the best film and adapted screenplay categories.
Two of the director’s longtime Montreal-born collaborators were also recognized with Patrice Vermette among the production design nominees for Dune, and Donald Mowat contending for best makeup and hair.
The blockbuster saga, starring Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya, received eleven nominations in total, including cinematography and original score. The Power of the Dog, set in 1920s Montana and starring Cumberbatch as a ranch owner, follows close behind with eight nominations, including best director and best film.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife gave Vancouver visual effects supervisor Aharon Bourland her first BAFTA nomination in the special visual effects category.
Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical Belfast, which tells of a childhood in Northern Ireland during the bloody conflict known as The Troubles, was also nominated for best film and five other categories.
Branagh did not make it onto the best director list, but he said Thursday that the nominations were “an amazing tribute to a remarkable part of the world.” He said: “We are humbly and delightfully gobsmacked!”
The other two contenders for best film are Don’t Look Up, the disaster comedy starring DiCaprio, and coming-of-age drama Licorice Pizza.