The 2015 EE BAFTA Awards were handed out in London Sunday night and while the broadcast aired hours later in the United States, it didn't stop us from chronicling the twists and turns of a show often seen as a bellwether for the Academy Awards.
It took home only three BAFTAs, but “Boyhood” was the biggest winner of the night as it won Best Film and Richard Linklater earned Director honors. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” took home five statues including Original Screenplay for Wes Anderson, Production Design, Costumes, Original Music and Make Up & Hair. “Whiplash” earned three BAFTAs including J.K. Simmons for Supporting Actor, Editing and a somewhat surprising win in Sound. Expected Oscar winners Julianne Moore took Leading Actress and Patricia Arquette took Supporting Actress. Eddie Redmayne earned a key win over rival Michael Keaton by claiming the Lead Actor BAFTA for “The Theory of Everything.” The latter also won Best British Film and Adapted Screenplay.
“The LEGO Movie,” which was famously snubbed in the Best Animated Feature race for Oscar, won the BAFTA equivalent.
A complete list of this year's BAFTA winners, along with immediate analysis after each announcement, as follows…
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
“”71,” Yann Demange, Angus Lamont, Robin Gutch, Gregory Burke
“The Imitation Game,” Morten Tyldum, Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky, Teddy Schwarzman, Graham Moore
“Paddington,” Paul King, David Heyman
“Pride,” Matthew Warchus, David Livingstone, Stephen Beresford
“The Theory of Everything,” James Marsh, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten – WINNER
“Under the Skin,” Jonathan Glazer, James Wilson, Nick Wechsler, Walter Campbell
Lowdown: Not a good moment for “The Imitation Game” here although it's worth noting “Theory” is a substantially bigger hit in the UK.
ORIGINAL MUSIC
“Birdman,” Antonio Sanchez
“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Alexandre Desplat – WINNER
“Interstellar,” Hans Zimmer
“The Theory of Everything,” Jóhann Jóhannsson
“Under the Skin,” Mica Levi
Lowdown: Wes Anderson's hit gets some BAFTA love and Desplat wins his second award from the organization. The first was for “The King's Speech.”
DOCUMENTARY
“20 Feet from Stardom,” Morgan Neville, Caitrin Rogers, Gil Friesen
“20,000 Days on Earth,” Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard
“CITIZENFOUR,” Laura Poitras – WINNER
“Finding Vivian Maier,” John Maloof, Charlie Siskel
“Virunga,” Orlando von Einsiedel, Joanna Natasegara
Lowdown: Can anyone stop Laura Poitras' doc on the road to Oscar? At this point, it's right up there with Julianne Moore as one of the biggest locks of the night.
MAKE UP & HAIR
“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Frances Hannon – WINNER
“Guardians of the Galaxy,” Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White
“Into the Woods,” Peter Swords King, J. Roy Helland
“Mr. Turner,” Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener
“The Theory of Everything,” Jan Sewell
Lowdown: Another win for “Grand Budapest” over some impressive competition. The film may end up with a slew of below the line wins on Oscar night.
PRODUCTION DESIGN
“Big Eyes,” Rick Heinrichs, Shane Vieau
“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock – WINNER
“The Imitation Game,” Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
“Interstellar,” Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
“Mr. Turner,” Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts
Lowdown: Did we just remark that “Grand Budapest” might take home a few below the line wins on Oscar night? Three wins so far for Wes Anderson's opus.
BRITISH SHORT FILM
“Boogaloo and Graham,” Brian J. Falconer, Michael Lennox, Ronan Blaney – WINNER
“Emotional Fusebox,” Michael Berliner, Rachel Tunnard
“The Karaman Line,” Campbell Beaton, Dawn King, Tiernan Hanby, Oscar Sharp
“Slap,” Islay Bell-Webb, Michelangelo Fano, Nick Rowland
“Three Brothers,” Aleem Khan, Matthieu de Braconier, Stephanie Paeplow
Lowdown: I got nothing here. Hopefully the filmmakers charmed everyone with one of those honestly enthusiastic speeches short winners are known for.
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
“The Bigger Picture,” Chris Hees, Daisy Jacobs, Jennifer Majka – WINNER
“Monkey Love Experiments,” Ainslie Henderson, Cam Fraser, Will Anderson
“My Dad,” Marcus Armitage
Lowdown: “Bigger Picture” is actually the only BAFTA nominee also up for Oscar. Is this a good sign for its chances?
EDITING
“Birdman,” Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione
“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Barney Pilling
“The Imitation Game,” William Goldenberg
“Nightcrawler,” John Gilroy
“The Theory of Everything,” Jinx Godfrey
“Whiplash,” Tom Cross – WINNER
Lowdown: Very nice win for “Whiplash” and Tom Cross. I still think this is one category where the Academy is going to reward the Sundance favorite on Oscar night.
SOUND
“American Sniper,” Walt Martin, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman
“Birdman,” Thomas Varga, Martin Hernández, Aaron Glascock, Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño
“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Wayne Lemmer, Christopher Scarabosio, Pawel Wdowczak
“The Imitation Game,” John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Stuart Hilliker, Martin Jensen
“Whiplash,” Thomas Curley, Ben Wilkins, Craig Mann – WINNER
Lowdown: Another nice win for “Whiplash!” It's only up for Sound Mixing at the Oscars and will have plenty of competition from “Birdman” and “Sniper” (start debating your Oscar pool picks now).
ANIMATED FILM
“Big Hero 6,” Don Hall, Chris Williams
“The Boxtrolls,” Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable
“The LEGO Movie,” Phil Lord, Christopher Miller – WINNER
Lowdown: Everything is awesome! From almost every voting body except the Academy!
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Erik Winquist, Daniel Barrett
“Guardians of the Galaxy,” Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner, Nicolas Aithadi
“The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies,” Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White
“Interstellar,” Paul Franklin, Scott Fisher, Andrew Lockley – WINNER
“X-Men: Days of Future Past,” Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer
Lowdown: This is definitely a tough pick on Oscar night. “Interstellar,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and even “Guardians” could, in theory, win. But this trophy certainly helps “Interstellar's” cause.
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Steve Carrell, “Foxcatcher”
Edward Norton, “Birdman”
Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”
Mark Ruffalo, “Foxcatcher”
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash” – WINNER
Lowdown: The quiet, steady road of Simmons' march to Oscar gold continues. Amazing to think it all began a little under a year ago at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Emma Stone, “Birdman”
Imelda Staunton, “Pride”
Keira Knightley, “The Imitation Game”
Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood” – WINNER
Rene Russo, “Nightcrawler”
Lowdown: After the DGA loss last night Arquette's win here has to be a sigh of relief for team “Boyhood.”
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Elaine Constantine (Writer/Director), “Northern Soul”
Gregory Burke (Writer), Yann Demange (Director), “”71”
Hong Khaou (Writer/Director), “Lilting”
Paul Katis (Director/Producer), Andrew de Lotbinere (Producer), “Kajaki: The True Story”
Stephen Beresford (Writer), David Livingstone (Producer), “Pride” – WINNER
Lowdown: Honestly, as wonderful as “Pride” is, it's quite shocking Demange didn't take this for “71.”
CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Birdman,” Emmanuel Lubezki -WINNER
“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Robert Yeoman
“Ida,” Lukasz Zal, Ryzsard Lenczewski
“Interstellar,” Hoyte van Hoytema
“Mr. Turner,” Dick Pope
Lowdown: First win for “Birdman” is one of its most deserving. It “appears” Lubezki will go back-to-back with Academy Award wins as well.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Birdman,” Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo
“Boyhood,” Richard Linklater
“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Wes Anderson – WINNER
“Nightcrawler,” Dan Gilroy
“Whiplash,” Damien Chazelle
Lowdown: Four wins for “Grand Budapest.” Anderson is my personal pick in this category on Oscar night, but it will be a pick 'em between “Budapest,” “Boyhood” and “Birdman.”
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
“Ida,” Pawel Pawlikowski, Eric Abraham, Piotr Dzieciol, Ewa Puszczynska – WINNER
“Leviathan,” Andrey Zvyagintsev, Alexander Rodnyansky, Sergey Melkumov
“The Lunchbox,” Ritesh Batra, Arun Rangachari, Anurag Kashyap, Guneet Monga
“Trash,” Stephen Daldry, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Kris Thykier
“Two Days, One Night,” Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Denis Freyd
Lowdown: Expected Oscar winner “Ida” gets a much needed boost after “Leviathan” took home the Golden Globe.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“American Sniper,” Jason Hall
“Gone Girl,” Gillian Flynn
“The Imitation Game,” Graham Moore
“Paddington,” Paul King
“The Theory of Everything,” Anthony McCarten – WINNER
Lowdown: Impressive win for “Theory.” This could have gone in a number of different directions. Would be shocking for Redmayne not to take Best Actor after key wins so far.
COSTUME DESIGN
“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Milena Canonero – WINNER
“The Imitation Game,” Sammy Sheldon Differ
“Into the Woods,” Colleen Atwood
“Mr. Turner,” Jacqueline Durran
“The Theory of Everything,” Steven Noble
Lowdown: Five wins for “Grand Budapest Hotel.” Quite a night for Fox Searchlight and Wes Anderson in London.
THE EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Jack O'Connell – WINNER
Margot Robbie
Miles Teller
Shailene Woodley
Lowdown: BAFTA used probably the worst photo ever of O'Connell to announce that he won online, but in the show's only publicly voted honor it's a very impressive win for the “Unbroken” star. Hollywood will take notice because, clearly, O'Connell has a real fanbase now.
DIRECTOR
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, “Birdman”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood” – WINNER
Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
James Marsh, “The Theory of Everything”
Damien Chazelle, “Whiplash”
Lowdown: It ain't over yet! Linklater may have lost DGA last night, but he takes a much needed win here from the Brits.
LEADING ACTOR
Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game”
Ralph Fiennes, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Jake Gyllenhaal, “Nightcrawler”
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything” – WINNER
Lowdown: Redmayne has won a Globe, SAG and now the BAFTA. (Whew, would have been embarrassing if he lost with Stephen Hawking in the house).
LEADING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, “Big Eyes”
Felicity Jones, “The Theory of Everything”
Julianne Moore, “Still Alice” – WINNER
Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon, “Wild”
Lowdown: After so many years of sitting in the audience at countless awards shows never winning, this has to have been a wonderful few months for the deserving Ms. Moore.
BEST FILM
“Birdman,” Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, James W. Skotchdopole
“Boyhood,” Richard Linklater, Cathleen Sutherland – WINNER
“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson
“The Imitation Game,” Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky, Teddy Schwarzman
“The Theory of Everything,” Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten
Lowdown: It ain't over yet! Again! The American Guilds might be showing support for “Birdman,” but “Boyhood” is making a charge with Oscar voting underway. It's worth nothing that the winner of the BAFTA has aligned with the Oscar winner for Best Picture since “Slumdog Millionaire” won in 2009. Before then they hadn't matched since “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” won in 2004. Much has changed over the years in terms of both Oscar's larger Best Picture pool and how BAFTA conducts its nomination and voting process. Many will also argue there is more crossover between the memberships of both organizations than ever before. Does that mean “Boyhood” should once again be considered the frontrunner? Does winning the three major guilds (SAG, PGA and DGA) mean less in the grand scheme of things? We'll find out when the Academy Awards are handed out in just two weeks.
What did you think of this year's BAFTAs? Could “The Imitation Game” end up being duplicating its BAFTA shut out at the Oscars? Share your thoughts below.