Enduring with a wry smile the loud, punctuated-by-gunfire announcements of which picture shows Americans would most like to toss in the back of their trucks, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts gently tapped the nearest teacup and haltingly named the films it would like to bestow awards upon, if it's not too great a bother. Interestingly, BAFTA gave the majority of its accolades this year to Lincoln, apparently relating to the film's raucous scenes of lawmakers using parliamentary procedure to insult each other, relishing any artwork where men wear proper frilly wigs, or perhaps just appreciating how it paints an America in disarray after that foolish revolution business.
Strangely, the movie that absolutely dominated the UK last year—right down to kicking the Queen out of a helicopter—didn't qualify for Best Film, though Skyfall did qualify for Best British Film, an honor that seems rather superfluous given that it already owns all British films ever. A similar fate befell fellow domestic hit The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, while the natural inclination toward polite humility even prevented BAFTA from nominating Britain's own Tom Hooper for Best Director, despite Les Miserables earning a Best Picture nod. (Though it bears noting that Steven Spielberg was similarly frozen out.)
All in all, BAFTA seemed distinctly in love with America this year, throwing a rare nomination for Best Director to Quentin Tarantino, and even becoming the first group to put Ben Affleck in the Best Actor category. Maybe last year's unabashed celebration of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was deemed unseemly, and this is meant as sort of a polite redress. Or maybe it's just that AMERICA RULEZ.
BEST FILM
ARGO Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney
LES MISÉRABLES Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh
LIFE OF PI Gil Netter, Ang Lee, David Womark
LINCOLN Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy
ZERO DARK THIRTY Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, Megan Ellison
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
ANNA KARENINA Joe Wright, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster, Tom Stoppard
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL John Madden, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Ol Parker
LES MISÉRABLES Tom Hooper, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh, William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin
SKYFALL Sam Mendes, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
BART LAYTON (Director), DIMITRI DOGANIS (Producer) The Imposter
DAVID MORRIS (Director), JACQUI MORRIS (Director/Producer) McCullin
DEXTER FLETCHER (Director/Writer), DANNY KING (Writer) Wild Bill
JAMES BOBIN (Director) The Muppets
TINA GHARAVI (Director/Writer) I Am Nasrine
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
AMOUR Michael Haneke, Margaret Ménégoz
HEADHUNTERS Morten Tyldum, Marianne Gray, Asle Vatn
THE HUNT Thomas Vinterberg, Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Morten Kaufmann
RUST AND BONE Jacques Audiard, Pascal Caucheteux
UNTOUCHABLE Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache, Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun
DOCUMENTARY
THE IMPOSTER Bart Layton, Dimitri Doganis
MARLEY Kevin Macdonald, Steve Bing, Charles Steel
McCULLIN David Morris, Jacqui Morris
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
WEST OF MEMPHIS Amy Berg
ANIMATED FILM
BRAVE Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
FRANKENWEENIE Tim Burton
PARANORMAN Sam Fell, Chris Butler
DIRECTOR
AMOUR Michael Haneke
ARGO Ben Affleck
DJANGO UNCHAINED Quentin Tarantino
LIFE OF PI Ang Lee
ZERO DARK THIRTY Kathryn Bigelow
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
AMOUR Michael Haneke
DJANGO UNCHAINED Quentin Tarantino
THE MASTER Paul Thomas Anderson
MOONRISE KINGDOM Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
ZERO DARK THIRTY Mark Boal
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
ARGO Chris Terrio
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
LIFE OF PI David Magee
LINCOLN Tony Kushner
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK David O. Russell
LEADING ACTOR
BEN AFFLECK Argo
BRADLEY COOPER Silver Linings Playbook
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS Lincoln
HUGH JACKMAN Les Misérables
JOAQUIN PHOENIX The Master
LEADING ACTRESS
EMMANUELLE RIVA Amour
HELEN MIRREN Hitchcock
JENNIFER LAWRENCE Silver Linings Playbook
JESSICA CHASTAIN Zero Dark Thirty
MARION COTILLARD Rust and Bone
SUPPORTING ACTOR
ALAN ARKIN Argo
CHRISTOPH WALTZ Django Unchained
JAVIER BARDEM Skyfall
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN The Master
TOMMY LEE JONES Lincoln
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
AMY ADAMS The Master
ANNE HATHAWAY Les Misérables
HELEN HUNT The Sessions
JUDI DENCH Skyfall
SALLY FIELD Lincoln
ORIGINAL MUSIC
ANNA KARENINA Dario Marianelli
ARGO Alexandre Desplat
LIFE OF PI Mychael Danna
LINCOLN John Williams
SKYFALL Thomas Newman
CINEMATOGRAPHY
ANNA KARENINA Seamus McGarvey
LES MISÉRABLES Danny Cohen
LIFE OF PI Claudio Miranda
LINCOLN Janusz Kaminski
SKYFALL Roger Deakins
EDITING
ARGO William Goldenberg
DJANGO UNCHAINED Fred Raskin
LIFE OF PI Tim Squyres
SKYFALL Stuart Baird
ZERO DARK THIRTY Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg
PRODUCTION DESIGN
ANNA KARENINA Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
LES MISÉRABLES Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson
LIFE OF PI David Gropman, Anna Pinnock
LINCOLN Rick Carter, Jim Erickson
SKYFALL Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock
COSTUME DESIGN
ANNA KARENINA Jacqueline Durran
GREAT EXPECTATIONS Beatrix Aruna Pasztor
LES MISÉRABLES Paco Delgado
LINCOLN Joanna Johnston
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN Colleen Atwood
MAKE UP & HAIR
ANNA KARENINA Ivana Primorac
HITCHCOCK Julie Hewett, Martin Samuel, Howard Berger
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater
LES MISÉRABLES Lisa Westcott
LINCOLN Lois Burwell, Kay Georgiou
ORIGINAL MUSIC
ANNA KARENINA
ARGO
LIFE OF PI
LINCOLN
SKYFALL
BEST SOUND
DJANGO UNCHAINED
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
LIFE OF PI
SKYFALL
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
THE AVENGERS
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
LIFE OF PI
PROMETHEUS
BEST DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR, OR PRODUCER
THINA GARAVI (writer/director), "I Am Nasrine"
BART LAYTON (writer) and DIMITRI DOGANIS (producer), "The Imposter"
DAVID MORRIS (director) and JACQUI MORRIS (director/producer), "McCullin"
JAMES BOBIN (director), "The Muppets"
DEXTER FLETCHER (writer/director) and DANNY KING (writer), "Wild Bill"
RISING STAR AWARD
Elizabeth Olsen
Andrea Riseborough
Suraj Sharma
Juno Temple
Alicia Vikander