The Favourite, lesbian comedy drama, leads BAFTA nominations
Olivia Colman (left) and Emma Stone starring in The Favourite. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Lesbian comedy-drama The Favourite—starring Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone—has led this year’s BAFTA nominations.
The Favourite has been shortlisted for 12 awards, including Best Film, Outstanding British Film, and Original Screenplay.
It joins a number of LGBT+ themed movies in the running for accolades at the 2019 annual awards, also including Bohemian Rhapsody, which is up for seven categories, and Green Book.
LGBT+ films including The Favourite dominate BAFTA nominees
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite follows the reign of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) when England is at war with France.
It portrays two cousins, Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and Abigail (Emma Stone), who fight it out to be court favourites of Queen Anne, including their lesbian affairs with the monarch.
Lead actor Colman has been BAFTA nominated for Leading Actress, while Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone are both in the running for Supporting Actress.
Other gongs The Favourite has been nominated for are: Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design, Make Up & Hair, Editing, and Lanthimos for Director.
Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, meanwhile, is in the running for Outstanding British Film, Cinematography, Editing, Sound, Costume Design, and Make Up & Hair.
Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Leading actor for Rami Malek is also up for his role as Freddie Mercury.
Comedy-drama Green Book, meanwhile, is up for Best Film and Original Screenplay, while Viggo Mortensen has been nominated for Leading Actor and Mahershala Ali for Supporting Actor.
Ali portrays black, queer musician Don Shirley in the film, who embarks on a tour of America’s southern states in the era of Jim Crow laws, accompanied by his bodyguard and driver Tony Vallelonga (Mortensen).
The EE British Academy Film Awards, set to be hosted by Joanna Lumley, will be held on Sunday, February 10 at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody and Timothée Chalamet all up for BAFTAs
Bradley Cooper’s film A Star Is Born has been shortlisted for seven categories: Leading Actor, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Original Music, Sound, Best Film and Leading Actress for Lady Gaga.
Cooper was nominated in five out of the seven categories.
Timothée Chalamet has received a nomination for Supporting Actor for his part in Beautiful Boy.
Elsewhere, Spike Lee has been shortlisted for Director and Adapted Screenplay for BlacKkKlansman, which is also up for Best Film, Original Music and Supporting Actor for Adam Driver.
Margot Robbie has received a nomination for Supporting Actress for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in Mary Queen of Scots.
It comes after the winners of the Golden Globes 2019 were revealed on Sunday night (January 6), which was dominated by LGBT+ themed shows and films, including Bohemian Rhapsody, which bagged two awards, The Favourite, Killing Eve, and A Very English Scandal.
