By Yasmin Rufo, BBC News
Oppenheimer (2023), directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Cillian Murphy. Photo: Universal Pictures - Atlas Enter / Collection ChristopheL via AFP
Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer leads this year's Bafta Film Award nominations with a total of 13.
They include one for Cillian Murphy for playing J Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist described as the father of the atomic bomb.
Oppenheimer's summer box office rival Barbie received five nominations, level with cult hit drama Saltburn.
Elsewhere, Poor Things has 11 nods, while Killers of the Flower Moon and The Zone of Interest both have nine.
The top nominees:
- 13 - Oppenheimer
- 11 - Poor Things
- 9 - Killers of the Flower Moon and The Zone of Interest
- 7 - Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers and Maestro
- 6 - All of Us Strangers
- 5 - Barbie and Saltburn
Barbenheimer battle
Nolan's three-hour epic Oppenheimer, which has already won eight Critics Choice Awards and five Golden Globes, is up for best film, director and adapted screenplay, among other awards.
Its star Murphy said: "I couldn't be happier that the British Academy recognised so many of my collaborators on Oppenheimer, especially Chris Nolan. Working on the film was an experience I'll never forget."
Robert Downey Jr is also nominated for his supporting role and is the frontrunner to win at the Oscars.
However, despite being the top grossing film of 2023 and getting glowing reviews, Barbie, about the doll's feminist awakening, missed out on a nomination for best film.
Barbie (2023), directed by Greta Gerwig, starring Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures - Heyday F / Collection ChristopheL via AFP
Greta Gerwig failed to make the shortlist for best director, which features only one woman, Justine Triet for Anatomy of a Fall.
Barbie's nominations included best actress for Margot Robbie and best supporting actor for Ryan Gosling.
Other directors nominated include Britain's Andrew Haigh for All of Us Strangers and Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest.
The Zone of Interest is also nominated for outstanding British film and best adapted screenplay. The German-language film follows the life of a Nazi commandant who lives with his family near the Auschwitz concentration camp.
All of Us Strangers, a romantic fantasy film that has earned an acting nomination for Paul Mescal, although his co-star Andrew Scott missed out.
The film is also up for outstanding British film, alongside Wonka and Napoleon.
Which other actors are nominated?
Bradley Cooper is nominated for both best leading actor and director for Maestro, his biopic of US conductor Leonard Bernstein.
The film tracks Bernstein's relationship with actress Felicia Montealegre, played by Carey Mulligan, who is up for best leading actress.
Saltburn's Barry Keoghan has also made it onto the shortlist for best actor, and Rosamund Pike and Jacob Elordi have received nominations for their supporting roles.
Emerald Fennell's psychological thriller is also nominated for outstanding British film.
The story follows a wealthy university student who takes a friend home for the summer, and has sparked a reaction for its explicit scenes.
Elordi has also been nominated for the EE Bafta rising star award, which recognises promising younger talent.
The other nominees in the best actor category are Teo Yoo for Past Lives, Colman Domingo for Rustin and Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers.
Poor Things (2023) directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, starring Emma Stone. Photo: Searchlight Pictures - Element P / Collection ChristopheL via AFP
In the leading actress list, Emma Stone is nominated for her role in Poor Things.
Stone plays Bella, a woman brought back to life using the brain of her unborn child by an unconventional scientist.
But despite the film's 11 nominations, Yorgos Lanthimos missed out on a nod for best director.
German actress Sandra Huller has two nominations - one for lead actress in Anatomy of a Fall, and the other for supporting actress in The Zone of Interest.
The other nominee for lead actress is Vivian Oparah for British romantic comedy Rye Lane. It is the first time she has been nominated for a Bafta.
Other first-time nominees include Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks for a new musical film version of Alice Walker's classic 1982 novel The Color Purple, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa, both for The Holdovers.
Who missed out?
Killers of the Flower Moon has nine nominations, including one for Robert De Niro in the supporting actor category, the star's first acting nomination for 33 years. The 80-year-old American actor has never won a Bafta.
But the epic film's director Martin Scorsese, lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio and lead actress Lily Gladstone all failed to make the cut.
In January, Gladstone won the Golden Globe for best actress, making her the first indigenous actress to win the award, and is among the favourites for the Oscars.
British film One Life, which stars Sir Anthony Hopkins as a stockbroker who helped save 669 mostly Jewish children from the Nazis in the run-up to World War Two, failed to be nominated.
The Bafta Film Awards 2024 will take place on 18 February at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in London. The ceremony will be hosted by David Tennant.
- This story was first published by the BBC.
