The nomination for the EE Baftas have been announced, with some of cinema’s biggest names up for awards.
However, it’s not hard to notice that everyone nominated for an acting award at the Baftas has one pretty stark thing in common.
Not one person of colour has been nominated in any of the male or female acting categories, with 18 white stars up for best actor, best actress, best supporting actor and best supporting actress.
In the leading actor category, Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), Adam Driver (Marriage Story), Taron Egerton (Rocketman), Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) and Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes) will fight it out.
Supporting actor sees Tom Hanks (A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood), Anthony Hopkins (The Two Popes), Brad Pitt (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood) and Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, both for The Irishman, nominated.
Jessie Buckley (Wild Rose), Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story), Saoirse Ronan (Little Women), Charlize Theron (Bombshell) and Renee Zellwegger (Judy) are up for leading actress – while on the supporting side, Scarlett is up again for Jojo Rabbit, Florence Pugh is up for Little Women, Laura Dern is nominated for Marriage Story, and Margot Robbie is nominated twice, for Bombshell and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
Film fans have noted that Awkwafina – who became the first Asian person to win best actress at the Golden Globes for her role in The Farewell – was snubbed, as well as awards season favourites including Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers) and Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) and critically acclaimed Lupita Nyong’o for Us.
Film critic Guy Lodge also pointed out that Marianne Jean Baptiste and Ruthxjiah Bellenea – who won best supporting actress for The Last Tree at the British Independent Film Awards – were left out of proceedings.
And Variety writer Adam B. Vary wrote: ‘Rather than nominate any people of colour, the BAFTAs nominated two white women twice. That’s one way to go, I guess!’
Rather than nominate any people of color, the BAFTAs nominated two white women twice. That’s one way to go, I guess! pic.twitter.com/50DY2SDsVF
— Adam B. Vary (@adambvary) January 7, 2020
The BAFTA acting nominations are that white, they nominated the same white woman twice. #EEBAFTAs
— Doug Jamieson (@itsdougjam) January 7, 2020
When Margot Robbie and Scarlett Johansson each get two noms, over names like Lupita Nyong'o, Jennifer Lopez, Awkwafina and Cynthia Erivo — or talent in British films like Marianne Jean-Baptiste or BIFA winner Ruthxjiah Bellenea — it makes BAFTA look almost stubbornly limited.
— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) January 7, 2020
Those BAFTA nominations are beyond a joke. It’s not funny to ignore the creative efforts of women and PoC artists. It’s not a hashtag. It’s another reminder that this industry does not welcome or want us and does not think we are good enough.
— Nadia Latif (@HerrDirector) January 7, 2020
This #BaftasSoWhite scandal comes four years after Amanda Berry, the chief executive of Bafta, admitted that the awards didn’t feature enough black and ethnic minority nominees.
She told the Telegraph in 2016: ‘Not enough films are being made with diverse talent in front of the camera. Our industry isn’t diverse enough, so the pool of people to draw award winners from isn’t diverse enough.
‘I want the awards to be as diverse as they possibly can be. But people can only vote on what they’ve seen.’
That same year, the Oscars were boycotted by a number of industry figures after no black actors were nominated for the second year in a row.
As well as the whiteness of the acting categories, not a single female director has been nominated for best director at the Baftas – despite calls for Greta Gerwig to be nominated for Little Women.
Sam Mendes (1917), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Todd Phillips (Joker), Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino) and Bong Joon-ho (Parasite) will instead battle it out.
However, there is more diversity in the Rising Star category, with Awkwafina, Kelvin Harrison Jr and Micheal Ward nominated alongside Kaitlyn Dever and Jack Lowden.
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