Carol and The Danish girl hope to win big at 2016 BAFTAs
Cate Blanchett and Eddie Redmayne are hopefuls in this evening’s BAFTAs.
The two are nominated in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories for their roles in Carol and The Danish Girl, respectively.
Redmayne hopes for a BAFTA double, as he is nominated in the same category which he won last year for The Theory of Everything.
The star played transgender pioneer Lili Elbe, who was believed to be the first recipient of reassignment surgery.
He is up against Bryan Cranston, Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael Fassbender.
Blanchett is nominated for her critically acclaimed role in lesbian love story Carol.
She hopes to see of Dame Maggie Smith, who is nominated for the Lady in the Van, as well as Alicia Vikander, Redmayne’s co-star in The Danish Girl.
Vikander – who has won universal praise for her role as Gerda Wegener in the biopic – is also nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in sci-fi thriller Ex Machina.
She faces Kate Winslet – who recently took part in a stunning androgynous photo shoot – nominated for her role in Steve Jobs.
Carol, which also stars Rooney Mara as Blanchett’s co-star is also up for Best Film, and eight other gongs.
The Danish Girl is shortlisted for Outstanding British Film.
Tom Hooper, the director of The Danish Girl, has said that he cast Redmayne in the lead role because of the actor’s ‘gender fluidity’.
He then went on to say that he hopes the casting of Redmayne in the role will highlight the lack of diversity in Hollywood.
Redmayne has been very outspoken on the subject of transgender issues since his casting, saying that it is “shocking” that trans issues haven’t improved much since Lili Elbe and calling for people to become more educated on trans issues.
