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Cancelled Globes and fears over Oscars mean London show is in world's spotlight as Mark Brown reports
When the red carpet is unrolled at the Baftas it will be a battle between a very British wartime romance and two films Britain has not even seen yet - and, with the possible absence of the Oscars, the film world's only chance of glitz and designer-label glamour this year.
Atonement, last year's majestic adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel, garnered the biggest number of Bafta film nominations ahead of the ceremony at the Royal Opera House in London. It was nominated 14 times, including for best film, best director, best lead actor and best lead actress.
The director, Joe Wright, speaking from Los Angeles said: "I'm just very, very happy. This film, perhaps more than anything I've done, was a team effort and everybody put their hearts and souls into it, and to have everyone nominated is just so, so lovely. I'm very proud of everybody involved. I've always wanted to make British films about the British experience and for a British audience. To be accepted in this way by the British film industry is just a huge vote of confidence."
Wright has rapidly gone from being new boy to establishment and it is easy to forget that only seven years ago he was directing episodes of the Bob and Rose comedy drama on British TV. "It's weird isn't it? Years ago it was my ambition to just make a film and probably something small scale at that."
Not far behind Atonement is the sweeping There Will Be Blood - directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and released on February 15 - and its titanic central performance by Daniel Day Lewis as an amoral American oil pioneer.
It gained nine nominations, including film, director, lead actor and music, with Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood nominated for one of the year's most unusual but effective scores.
The Coen brothers' No Country For Old Men, perhaps their darkest film yet, which is released on Friday, also has nine nominations. These include best film, director, two in the best supporting actor category for Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem, and Kelly Macdonald (Trainspotting) for best supporting actress. "It's a lovely start to the year, and I'm delighted," she said.
The Baftas this year could be belle of the ball when it comes to awards ceremonies.
The Hollywood writers' strike over digital revenue streams last weekend meant the Golden Globes became a dull list-reading Press conference.
This year's Oscars are still in the balance. Organisers are working on a plan B in case the writers are still on strike, which could involve pre-taped acceptance speeches from artists reluctant to cross a picket line.
That would leave London as the place to be seen, although the Bafta organisers would never dream of saying so in public.
"I would hate to think about benefiting from somebody else's misfortunes," the Bafta's chairperson, Hilary Bevan Jones, said.
There should be no shortage of Hollywood names at the ceremony and there are plenty of stars on the shortlist.
In the best actor category James McAvoy (Atonement) who only three years ago was playing the posh boyfriend in TV's Shameless, is up against Hollywood heavyweights George Clooney, for Michael Clayton, and the favourite, Day Lewis. Ulrich Muhe is also nominated for The Lives of Others, as is Viggo Mortensen for his role as a Russian henchman in Eastern Promises.
In the best actress category Keira Knightley, still only 22, is nominated for Atonement alongside Julie Christie, who won her first Oscar 20 years before Knightley was born (for Darling).
Christie is clear favourite and odds on to also take an Oscar for her role as an Alzheimer's sufferer in Away From Her.
The category also includes Cate Blanchett for her reprisal of Elizabeth I, Ellen Page in Juno, and Marion Cotillard for her role as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose.
Paul Greengrass, who won the Bafta for best director last year with United 93, features again for his big-budget spy caper The Bourne Ultimatum, which has six nominations, including best director and best British film.
There are notable absences: Harry Potter is nominated only in the special visual effects category and there are only three nominations for Tim Burton's new collaboration with Johnny Depp, a version of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, for hair, costume and make-up. Ang Lee may well be feeling disappointed too.
After 10 nominations in the longlist, his epic Lust, Caution only appears twice in the shortlist, for best film in a foreign language and best costume.
Not many think Atonement will win all the awards but if you want a punt - bookies Ladbrokes is offering odds of a million to one that it will sweep the board.
l The Orange British Academy Film Awards will be held on Sunday, February 10 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.
