BAFTA Film Awards: ‘Oppenheimer’ Wins Seven Honors, ‘Poor Things’ Gets Five

“And the BAFTA goes to… Oppenheimer” Those words were on BAFTA Film Awards ceremony presenters’ lips a total of seven times in London on Sunday at the ceremony, hosted by Scottish actor David Tennant (Doctor Who, Inside Man) at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in the British capital.

Those included the lips of Michael J. Fox, who unveiled the best film award for Oppenheimer after coming on stage to a huge welcome and standing ovation.

The wins for Oppenheimer included the best actor award for Cillian Murphy, best supporting actor nod for Robert Downey Jr., director award for Christopher Nolan and best film, for Nolan and other members of the film team. The two BAFTAs for Nolan mean that third time was the charm for the big-name British export who had previously never won a British Academy award.

Meanwhile, Downey’s award came 31 years after he won a best actor BAFTA for the 1993 film Chaplin.

Oppenheimer had led the pack coming into the night with 13 nominations. However, the BAFTA record winner remains Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the 1969 film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, with nine BAFTAs.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ black-comedy science fantasy Poor Things, which had been nominated 11 times, also had a strong BAFTA evening, winning five of the famous BAFTA mask trophies, including one for Emma Stone as best actress. Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest was honored three times out of nine noms. 

But Martin Scorsese’s Western crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon, which had also reached nine nods, ended up winless, as did Barbie and Maestro.

German star Sandra Hüller also left without a trophy after having been nominated for The Zone of Interest in the best supporting actress category and as best leading actress for her role in Anatomy of a Fall. In the end, the best supporting actress trophy went to Da’Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers, while Stone was honored with the best actress BAFTA. The latter’s win in a very competitive field of nominees, which included Fantasia Barrino (The Color Purple) and Vivian Oparah (Rye Lane) means that BAFTA viewers continue to have to wait for the first-ever Black best actress winner. 

Stone enchanted the crowd with an acceptance speech, in which she thanked her mother, for giving her life and being the best person she knows, and her dialect coach, for not laughing when he had to teach her how to say “water” the British rather than the American way, given that her character was British. “Thank you, England, for accepting me,” she added.

She also drew laughs when she thanked Poor Thing screenwriter Tony McNamara for the line “I must go punch that baby.” Said Stone: “It was life-changing for me.”

Downey Jr. also had the BAFTA crowd in stitches with his acceptance speech that ran through several famous names he has encountered during his career. “When I was 15, I wanted to be Peter O’Toole,” he shared. “When I was 25, I worked for Richard Attenbourgh and Anthony Hopkins. When I was 35, I finally understood why Dickie thought Tony would be a better role model for me than Peter. He continued: “I then played a guy named Tony in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) for about 12 years. And then recently, that dude Chris Nolan suggested I attempt an understated approach as a last-ditch effort to perhaps resurrect my dwindling credibility.”

Another memorable moments of the night was the best animation film win for The Boy and The Heron from Japanese anime legend Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki. The winners weren’t in attendance though.

But actor-writer-director Samantha Morton, known for playing Alpha in The Walking Dead, was on hand to accept the BAFTA Fellowship, the organization’s highest honor, dedicating it to children in need.

Meanwhile, several performances earned rave reviews. Singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor performed her 2001 smash hit “Murder on the Dancefloor,” featured in Emerald Fennell’s BAFTA-nominated film Saltburn, having the audience moving along to the beats in their seats.

And two Ted Lasso stars brought very different moods to the stage. Nick Mohammed, known as the Richmond FC’s “wunderkind” Nate Shelley, performed a few minutes of comedy as Mr. Swallow, his alter ego from England’s Leeds – on roller skates. And Hannah Waddingham sang a very emotional and heartfelt rendition of “Time After Time,” adding a somber note to the proceedings.

Last year, Netflix’s German antiwar epic All Quiet on the Western Front made good on its record number of BAFTA nominations with a haul of seven wins, including for best film, best director and best adapted screenplay.

The 77th BAFTA film awards ceremony kicked off late Sunday afternoon local time. BAFTA chair Sara Putt welcomed attendees by highlighting that BAFTA was working with a focus on “championing talent,” emphasizing that “we constantly work to remove barriers.” She also welcomed Prince William, the Prince of Wales, who serves as president of BAFTA in the audience and wished improving health to his wife Kate Middleton and King Charles III.

Putt also said the past year has been one of “immense challenge for our industry and the world.” But she added with delight that audiences rediscovered cinemas “turbo-boosted by Barbenheimer.”

A video showing Tennant doing video calls with the likes of his Good Omens and Staged co-star Michael Sheen, who asked Tennant to dog sit, Stanley Tucci, Tom Hiddleston and Judi Dench followed. The host then hit the stage, dressed in a kilt, with Sheen’s dog in hand and playing surprised to see Sheen sitting in the front row. In the end, the host dropped the dog in Sheen’s lap.

In his opening monologue, Tennant quipped that the stars in their nice outfits reminded him of characters from Saltburn, but he added that he hoped the ceremony wouldn’t end like the film.

Check out the winners in each category, highlighted in bold, below.

Best Film

ANATOMY OF A FALL Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
THE HOLDOVERS Mark Johnson
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Dan Friedkin, Daniel Lupi, Martin Scorsese, Bradley Thomas
OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas (WINNER)
POOR THINGS Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone

Leading Actress

FANTASIA BARRINO The Color Purple
SANDRA HÜLLER Anatomy of a Fall
CAREY MULLIGAN Maestro
VIVIAN OPARAH Rye Lane
MARGOT ROBBIE Barbie
EMMA STONE Poor Things (WINNER)

Leading Actor

BRADLEY COOPER Maestro
COLMAN DOMINGO Rustin
PAUL GIAMATTI The Holdovers
BARRY KEOGHAN Saltburn
CILLIAN MURPHY Oppenheimer (WINNER)
TEO YOO Past Lives

EE Rising Star Award (voted for by the public)

PHOEBE DYNEVOR
AYO EDEBIRI
JACOB ELORDI
MIA MCKENNA-BRUCE (WINNER)
SOPHIE WILDE

Director

ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh
ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet
THE HOLDOVERS Alexander Payne
MAESTRO Bradley Cooper
OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan (WINNER)
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer

Make Up & Hair

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Kay Georgiou, Thomas Nellen
MAESTRO Sian Grigg, Kay Georgiou, Kazu Hiro, Lori McCoy-Bell
NAPOLEON Jana Carboni, Francesco Pegoretti, Satinder Chumber, Julia Vernon
OPPENHEIMER Luisa Abel, Jaime Leigh McIntosh, Jason Hamer, Ahou Mofid
POOR THINGS Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, Josh Weston (WINNER)

Costume Design

BARBIE Jacqueline Durran
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Jacqueline West
NAPOLEON Dave Crossman, Janty Yates
OPPENHEIMER Ellen Mirojnick
POOR THINGS Holly Waddington (WINNER)

Outstanding British Film

ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
HOW TO HAVE SEX Molly Manning Walker, Emily Leo, Ivana MacKinnon, Konstantinos Kontovrakis
NAPOLEON Ridley Scott, Mark Huffam, Kevin J. Walsh, David Scarpa
THE OLD OAK Ken Loach, Rebecca O’Brien, Paul Laverty
POOR THINGS Yorgos Lanthimos, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone, Tony McNamara
RYE LANE Raine Allen-Miller, Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo, Damian Jones, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia
SALTBURN Emerald Fennell, Josey McNamara, Margot Robbie
SCRAPPER Charlotte Regan, Theo Barrowclough
WONKA Paul King, Alexandra Derbyshire, David Heyman, Simon Farnaby
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer, James Wilson, Ewa Puszczyńska (WINNER)

British Short Animation

CRAB DAY Ross Stringer, Bartosz Stanislawek, Aleksandra Sykulak (WINNER)
VISIBLE MENDING Samantha Moore, Tilley Bancroft
WILD SUMMON Karni Arieli, Saul Freed, Jay Woolley

British Short Film

FESTIVAL OF SLAPS Abdou Cissé, Cheri Darbon, George Telfer
GORKA Joe Weiland, Alex Jefferson
JELLYFISH AND LOBSTER Yasmin Afifi, Elizabeth Rufai (WINNER)
SUCH A LOVELY DAY Simon Woods, Polly Stokes, Emma Norton, Kate Phibbs
YELLOW Elham Ehsas, Dina Mousawi, Azeem Bhati, Yiannis Manolopoulos

Production Design

BARBIE Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Jack Fisk, Adam Willis
OPPENHEIMER Ruth De Jong, Claire Kaufman
POOR THINGS Shona Heath, James Price, Zsuzsa Mihalek (WINNER)
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Chris Oddy, Joanna Maria Kuś, Katarzyna Sikora

Sound

FERRARI Angelo Bonanni, Tony Lamberti, Andy Nelson, Lee Orloff, Bernard Weiser
MAESTRO Richard King, Steve Morrow, Tom Ozanich, Jason Ruder, Dean Zupancic
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE — DEAD RECKONING PART ONE Chris Burdon, James H. Mather, Chris Munro, Mark Taylor
OPPENHEIMER Willie Burton, Richard King, Kevin O’Connell, Gary A. Rizzo
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Johnnie Burn, Tarn Willers (WINNER)

Original Score

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Robbie Robertson
OPPENHEIMER Ludwig Göransson (WINNER)
POOR THINGS Jerskin Fendrix
SALTBURN Anthony Willis
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE Daniel Pemberton

Documentary

20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath (WINNER)
AMERICAN SYMPHONY Matthew Heineman, Lauren Domino, Joedan Okun
BEYOND UTOPIA Madeleine Gavin, Rachel Cohen, Jana Edelbaum
STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE Davis Guggenheim, Jonathan King, Annetta Marion
WHAM! Chris Smith

Adapted Screenplay

ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh
AMERICAN FICTION Cord Jefferson (WINNER)
OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan
POOR THINGS Tony McNamara
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer

Supporting Actress

EMILY BLUNT Oppenheimer
DANIELLE BROOKS The Color Purple
CLAIRE FOY All of Us Strangers
SANDRA HÜLLER The Zone of Interest
ROSAMUND PIKE Saltburn
DA’VINE JOY RANDOLPH The Holdovers (WINNER)

Supporting Actor

ROBERT DE NIRO Killers of the Flower Moon
ROBERT DOWNEY JR. Oppenheimer (WINNER)
JACOB ELORDI Saltburn
RYAN GOSLING Barbie
PAUL MESCAL All of Us Strangers
DOMINIC SESSA The Holdovers

Cinematography

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Rodrigo Prieto
MAESTRO Matthew Libatique
OPPENHEIMER Hoyte van Hoytema (WINNER)
POOR THINGS Robbie Ryan
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Lukasz Zal

Editing

ANATOMY OF A FALL Laurent Sénéchal
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Thelma Schoonmaker
OPPENHEIMER Jennifer Lame (WINNER)
POOR THINGS Yorgos Mavropsaridis
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Paul Watts

Casting

ALL OF US STRANGERS Kahleen Crawford
ANATOMY OF A FALL Cynthia Arra
THE HOLDOVERS Susan Shopmaker (WINNER)
HOW TO HAVE SEX Isabella Odoffin
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Ellen Lewis, Rene Haynes

Film Not in the English Language

20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath
ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet, Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
PAST LIVES Celine Song, David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
SOCIETY OF THE SNOW J.A. Bayona, Belen Atienza
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer (WINNER)

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

BLUE BAG LIFE Lisa Selby (Director), Rebecca Lloyd-Evans (Director, Producer), Alex Fry (Producer)
BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT Christopher Sharp (Director) [also directed Moses Bwayo]
EARTH MAMA Savanah Leaf (Writer, Director, Producer), Shirley O’Connor (Producer), Medb Riordan (Producer) (WINNER)
HOW TO HAVE SEX Molly Manning Walker (Writer, Director)
IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? Ella Glendining (Director)

Animated Film

THE BOY AND THE HERON Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki (WINNER)
CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET Sam Fell, Leyla Hobart, Steve Pegram
ELEMENTAL Peter Sohn, Denise Ream
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Avi Arad, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Amy Pascal, Christina Steinberg

Special Visual Effects

THE CREATOR Jonathan Bullock, Charmaine Chan, Ian Comley, Jay Cooper
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 Theo Bialek, Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE — DEAD RECKONING PART ONE Neil Corbould, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland, Alex Wuttke
NAPOLEON Henry Badgett, Neil Corbould, Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet
POOR THINGS Simon Hughes (WINNER)

Original Screenplay

ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet, Arthur Harari (WINNER)
BARBIE Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach
THE HOLDOVERS David Hemingson
MAESTRO Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer
PAST LIVES Celine Song