The biggest night for British film proved to be a major one for Christopher Nolan. After reigniting the summer box office alongside Barbie, his atomic bomb biopic Oppenheimer led the way at the BAFTAs 2024, earning seven awards on the night – including the most hotly-contested categories. As well as Best Film, a Directing win for Nolan himself, and Acting awards for Cillian Murphy (Leading) and Robert Downey Jr. (Supporting), it bagged the likes of Best Score for Ludwig Goransson, Editing, and Cinematography for Hoyte Van Hoytema.
Nolan called it “an incredible honour” to be recognised on home turf in the UK. The ceremony took place at the Royal Festival Hall, “where my mum and dad used to drag me to make me get some culture,” he remembered. “Some of it stuck.” As well as thanking the “fearless and peerless” Cillian Murphy, and his producer – and wife – Emma Thomas (“I love you”) in his Director speech, he spoke about the film’s timely messages. “I do just want to say that our film ends on what I think is a dramatically necessary note of despair,” he said. “But in the real world there are all kinds of individuals and organisations who have [worked to reduce] the number of nuclear weapons in the world.”
In her speech for Best Film, Thomas hailed the film’s director (and her husband), Christopher Nolan. “He is inspired and inspiring,” she said. “He’s often infuriating. He’s always right. I’m always grateful to him for letting me come along for this ride.” Leading actor Cillian Murphy made sure to thank his “Oppen-homies” in his speech, calling Robert Oppenheimer “this colossally knotty, complex character”. To his director, he said: “Thank you for seeing something in me that I didn’t even see myself,” noting that Nolan was “always pushing me, and always demanding excellence.”
In his Supporting Actor speech, Downey Jr. jokingly nodded to his time playing Iron Man. “I then played a guy named Tony in the MCU for about 12 years,” he said, “and then recently that dude, Chris Nolan, suggested I attempt an understated approach as a last-ditch effort to resurrect my dwindling credibility.” Evidently, it worked.
Behind Oppenheimer was Poor Things, which earned five awards on the night – including Leading Actress for Emma Stone, and recognition for Production Design, Costume Design, Make Up & Hair, and VFX. Shouting out her director, she said: “Yorgos, thank you for our friendship and the gift of Bella [Baxter]. I am so thankful for her.” She also thanked screenwriter Tony McNamara, “for the line, ‘I must go punch that baby’. It was life-changing for me.”
Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest won in three categories – including, almost paradoxically, Film Not In The English Language and Outstanding British Film. “Foreign film… British film… stunned!” said producer James Wilson. He spoke of the film’s multifaceted creation, noting that it was a “coming together of people in the UK, it was shot entirely in Poland, with a largely German cast.” Its third win came in the Sound category. The Holdovers won two awards, bagging Casting and Supporting Actress for Da’Vine Joy Randolph. “You represent everything that is true and good about this craft,” she said of co-star Paul Giamatti. “I am proud to call you a friend.”
Elsewhere, Anatomy Of A Fall won the award for Original Screenplay, American Fiction came away with Adapted Screenplay, Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy And The Heron won Animated Feature, 20 Days In Mariupol won Documentary, and Earth Mama was named Outstanding British Debut.
The EE BAFTA Rising Star award – voted for the public – went to How To Have Sex star Mia McKenna-Bruce, who won out amid a hotly-contested group, also including Jacob Elordi, Ayo Edebiri, Phoebe Dynevor and Sophie Wilde. “I’m really obsessed with all of you,” she told her fellow nominees. “It’s an honour to stand alongside you in this.” She thanked How To Have Sex director Molly Manning-Walker “for making me and so many other people feel seen with your film.”
Samantha Morton received the prestigious BAFTA Fellowship award, delivering an emotional speech. “For me, this is really nothing short of a miracle. When I first saw Ken Loach’s Kes on a huge telly that was wheeled into my classroom, I was forever changed,” she said, remembering being bowled over at “seeing poverty and people like me on my screen”. She dedicated her award “to every child in care today. Or has been in care, or is suffering, or who didn’t survive”, and said she made films for her younger self. “You’ll have a life beyond what the government statistics have laid out for you. Because you matter,” she said. Meanwhile, June Givanni – of the June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive – won Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema. “We could not do what we do without the great visionary work that filmmakers gift to us,” she said. “This award is for us.”
During the ceremony – hosted by David Tennant – there were doggy guests, a special performance from Sophie Ellis-Bextor of the Saltburn-revived smash ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’, and an In Memoriam section soundtracked by Hannah Waddingham, singing ‘Time After Time’ – including remembrances for Carl Weathers, Michael Gambon, Tina Turner, and Lee Sun-Kyun.
Notably, there were no wins for Barbie, Maestro, Past Lives, Killers Of The Flower Moon, Saltburn, Rye Lane or All Of Us Strangers.
So there it is – the British awards ceremony is over, and the Oscars beckon. Can Oppenheimer carry on its momentum into the Hollywood bash? Stay tuned for a few more weeks – and read over the full list of BAFTA 2024 winners here:
BEST FILM
Anatomy Of A Fall
The Holdovers
Killers Of The Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
DIRECTOR
All Of Us Strangers - Andrew Haigh
Anatomy Of A Fall - Justine Triet
The Holdovers - Alexander Payne
Maestro - Bradley Cooper
Oppenheimer - Christopher Nolan
The Zone Of Interest - Jonathan Glazer
LEADING ACTOR
Bradley Cooper - Maestro
Colman Domingo - Rustin
Paul Giamatti - The Holdovers
Barry Keoghan - Saltburn
Cillian Murphy - Oppenheimer
Teo Yoo - Past Lives
LEADING ACTRESS
Fantasia Barrino - The Color Purple
Sandra Hüller - Anatomy Of A Fall
Carey Mulligan - Maestro
Vivian Oparah - Rye Lane
Margot Robbie - Barbie
Emma Stone - Poor Things
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert De Niro - Killers of The Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr. - Oppenheimer
Jacob Elordi - Saltburn
Ryan Gosling - Barbie
Paul Mescal - All of Us Strangers
Dominic Sessa - The Holdovers
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Emily Blunt - Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks - The Color Purple
Claire Foy - All of Us Strangers
Sandra Hüller - The Zone of Interest
Rosamund Pike - Saltburn
Da'vine Joy Randolph - The Holdovers
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Anatomy Of A Fall - Justine Triet, Arthur Harari
Barbie - Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach
The Holdovers - David Hemingson
Maestro - Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer
Past Lives - Celine Song
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
All Of Us Strangers - Andrew Haigh
American Fiction - Cord Jefferson
Oppenheimer - Christopher Nolan
Poor Things - Tony McNamara
The Zone Of Interest - Jonathan Glazer
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
All Of Us Strangers
How To Have Sex
Napoleon
The Old Oak
Poor Things
Rye Lane
Saltburn
Scrapper
The Zone Of Interest
Wonka
DOCUMENTARY
20 Days In Mariupol
American Symphony
Beyond Utopia
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Wham!
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
20 Days In Mariupol
Anatomy Of A Fall
Past Lives
Society Of The Snow
The Zone Of Interest
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Blue Bag Life - Lisa Selby, Rebecca Lloyd Evans, Alex Fry
Bobi Wine: The People's President - Christopher Sharp, Moses Bwayo
Earth Mama - Savanah Leaf, Shirley O'Connor, Medb Riordan
How To Have Sex - Molly Manning Walker
Is There Anybody Out There? - Ella Glendining
ANIMATED FILM
The Boy And The Heron
Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget
Elemental
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Killers Of The Flower Moon - Rodrigo Prieto
Maestro - Matthew Libatique
Oppenheimer - Hoyte van Hoytema
Poor Things - Robbie Ryan
The Zone Of Interest - Łukasz Żal
EDITING
Anatomy Of A Fall - Laurent Sénéchal
Killers Of The Flower Moon - Thelma Schoonmaker
Oppenheimer - Jennifer Lame
Poor Things - Yorgos Mavropsaridis
The Zone Of Interest - Paul Watts
ORIGINAL SCORE
Killers Of The Flower Moon - Robbie Robertson
Oppenheimer - Ludwig Göransson
Poor Things - Jerskin Fendrix
Saltburn - Anthony Willis
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse - Daniel Pemberton
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Barbie - Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
Killers Of The Flower Moon - Jack Fisk, Adam Willis
Oppenheimer - Ruth De Jong, Claire Kaufman
Poor Things - Shona Heath, James Price, Zsuzsa Mihalek
The Zone Of Interest - Chris Oddy, Joanna Maria Kuś, Katarzyna Sikora
COSTUME DESIGN
Barbie - Jacqueline Durran
Killers Of The Flower Moon - Jacqueline West
Napoleon - Dave Crossman, Janty Yates
Oppenheimer - Ellen Mirojnick
Poor Things - Holly Waddington
MAKE UP & HAIR
Killers Of The Flower Moon - Kay Georgiou, Thomas Nellen
Maestro - Sian Grigg, Kay Georgiou, Kazu Hiro, Lori McCoy-Bell
Napoleon - Jana Carboni, Francesco Pegoretti, Satinder Chumber, Julia Vernon
Oppenheimer - Luisa Abel, Jaime Leigh McIntosh, Jason Hamer, Ahou Mofid
Poor Things - Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, Josh Weston
SOUND
Ferrari - Angelo Bonanni, Tony Lamberti, Andy Nelson, Lee Orloff, Bernard Weiser
Maestro - Richard King, Steve Morrow, Tom Ozanich, Jason Ruder, Dean Zupancic
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One - Chris Burdon, James H. Mather, Chris Munro, Mark Taylor
Oppenheimer - Willie Burton, Richard King, Kevin O'Connell, Gary A. Rizzo
The Zone Of Interest - Johnnie Burn, Tarn Willers
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
The Creator - Jonathan Bullock, Charmaine Chan, Ian Comley, Jay Cooper
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 - Theo Bialek, Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One - Neil Corbould, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland, Alex Wuttke
Napoleon - Henry Badgett, Neil Corbould, Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet
Poor Things - Simon Hughes
CASTING
All Of Us Strangers - Kahleen Crawford
Anatomy Of A Fall - Cynthia Arra
The Holdovers - Susan Shopmaker
How To Have Sex - Isabella Odoffin
Killers Of The Flower Moon - Ellen Lewis, Rene Haynes
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
Crab Day - Ross Stringer, Bartosz Stanislawek, Aleksandra Sykulak
Visible Mending - Samantha Moore, Tilley Bancroft
Wild Summon - Karni Arieli, Saul Freed, Jay Woolley
BRITISH SHORT FILM
Festival Of Slaps - Abdou Cissé, Cheri Darbon, George Telfer
Gorka - Joe Weiland, Alex Jefferson
Jellyfish And Lobster - Yasmin Afifi, Elizabeth Rufai
Such A Lovely Day - Simon Woods, Polly Stokes, Emma Norton, Kate Phibbs
Yellow - Elham Ehsas, Dina Mousawi, Azeem Bhati, Yiannis Manolopoulos
EE RISING STAR
Phoebe Dynevor
Ayo Edebiri
Jacob Elordi
Mia McKenna-Bruce
Sophie Wilde
OUTSTANDING BRITISH CONTRIBUTION TO CINEMA
June Givanni
BAFTA FELLOWSHIP AWARD
Samantha Morton