The 2015 BAFTA Nominations were announced earlier this morning, with more than a few surprises on the list.
Chief amongst them was Mike Leigh's Mr. Turner being well and truly shut out of the non-technical categories, instead scoring a nomination for Best Cinematography and Best Makeup & Hair, Best Production and Best Costume.
The film was a hot favourite to score and win in the Best British Film, however Leigh's biopic of British landscape artist JMW Turner appears to have fallen flat with BAFTA.
So - on to our rock-solid (they're totally not) predictions for who will in the non-technical categories.
BEST FILM
The nominees are...
BIRDMAN - Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, James W. Skotchdopole
BOYHOOD - Richard Linklater, Cathleen Sutherland
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
This is a tough category to call. More often than not, BAFTA votes for their own - making The Theory of Everything the most likely candidate. Outside of that, our guess is Boyhood. No, Birdman. No. Boyhood. Yes. Boyhood.
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
The nominees are...
’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
UNDER THE SKIN - Jonathan Glazer, James Wilson, Nick Wechsler, Walter Campbell
We can't stress how much of a shock it is that Mr. Turner was shut out. We really expected it to put in there. Having said that, it's a very strong year for British film so they had be ruthless. Prediction? If there was justice in the world, it would be broken in two and given to '71 AND Under The Skin. The Imitation Game's won a good few nominations at the Golden Globes. Winner on the night? Probably Imitation Game.
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
The nominees are...
ELAINE CONSTANTINE - (Writer/Director) Northern Soul
GREGORY BURKE - (Writer), YANN DEMANGE (Director) ’71
HONG KHAOU - (Writer/Director) Lilting
PAUL KATIS (Director/Producer), ANDREW DE LOTBINIÈRE (Producer) - Kajaki: The True Story
STEPHEN BERESFORD (Writer), DAVID LIVINGSTONE (Producer) - Pride
Again, tough one to call. It's a tie between '71 and Pride, they're both excellent films.
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
The nominees are...
IDA - Pawel Pawlikowski, Eric Abraham, Piotr Dzieciol, Ewa Puszczynska
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
Another tie between Ida or Leviathan, however Ida should rightfully win out. Trash looked like a great film, too, and has a British crew behind it - so following our early accusation of geographic nepotism, this also has a shot.
DOCUMENTARY
The nominees are...
20 FEET FROM STARDOM - Morgan Neville, Caitrin Rogers, Gil Friesen
20,000 DAYS ON EARTH - Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard
CITIZENFOUR - Laura Poitras
FINDING VIVIAN MAIER - John Maloof, Charlie Siskel
VIRUNGA - Orlando von Einsiedel, Joanna Natasegara
20 Feet From Stardom. And the fact it even has to go through a nomination process is offensive to us.
ANIMATED FILM
The nominees are...
BIG HERO 6 - Don Hall, Chris Williams
THE BOXTROLLS - Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable
THE LEGO MOVIE - Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
The Lego Movie will continue its awards season rampage and run away with this.
DIRECTOR
The nominees are...
BIRDMAN - Alejandro G. Iñárritu
BOYHOOD - Richard Linklater
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL - Wes Anderson
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING - James Marsh
WHIPLASH - Damien Chazelle
Smart money says go with Boyhood and Richard Linklater. BAFTA's been known to go the other way in the major categories, so you could see an upset and have James Marsh or Alejandro G. Inarritu snag it. Again, the safe bet's with Richard Linklater.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The nominees are...
BIRDMAN - Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo
BOYHOOD - Richard Linklater
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL - Wes Anderson
NIGHTCRAWLER - Dan Gilroy
WHIPLASH - Damien Chazelle
Nightcrawler, Grand Budapest and Whiplash were all excellent films - as were Birdman and Boyhood. Grand Budapest deserves to win for coining the catchphrase, "Take your hands off my lobby boy!?!", however the smart money backs either Birdman or Boyhood.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The nominees are...
AMERICAN SNIPER - Jason Hall
GONE GIRL - Gillian Flynn
THE IMITATION GAME - Graham Moore
PADDINGTON - Paul King
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING - Anthony McCarten
Gone Girl should win this - and would if it was held in any other country. Paddington, Imitation Game and Theory of Everything were big hits in the UK so they could go for either one here.
LEADING ACTOR
The nominees are...
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH - The Imitation Game
EDDIE REDMAYNE - The Theory of Everything
JAKE GYLLENHAAL - Nightcrawler
MICHAEL KEATON - Birdman
RALPH FIENNES - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jake Gyllenhaal would win this any other year, folks. Let's just get that point out of the way. Michael Keaton, on the other hand, has this locked down. Well done, Michael Keaton. We're doing the Bat-Dance in your honour.
LEADING ACTRESS
The nominees are...
AMY ADAMS - Big Eyes
FELICITY JONES - The Theory of Everything
JULIANNE MOORE - Still Alice
REESE WITHERSPOON - Wild
ROSAMUND PIKE - Gone Girl
Very tough one to call. If this was a public vote, Rosamund Pike would win. It's not, but y'know. Julianne Moore, we think, will take this one away.
SUPPORTING ACTOR
The nominees are...
EDWARD NORTON - Birdman
ETHAN HAWKE - Boyhood
J.K. SIMMONS - Whiplash
MARK RUFFALO - Foxcatcher
STEVE CARELL - Foxcatcher
Interesting that they put Steve Carrell and Mark Ruffalo both in for Best Supporting. Ruffalo's more clearly the Supporting Actor in Foxcatcher, but hey - we're not arguing. JK Simmons should win this, hands down. Whiplash was absolutely stunning.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
The nominees are...
EMMA STONE - Birdman
IMELDA STAUNTON - Pride
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY - The Imitation Game
PATRICIA ARQUETTE - Boyhood
RENE RUSSO - Nightcrawler
Great to see Rene Russo get a look here. She really was overlooked for her fantastic performance as the ice-queen news producer in Nightcrawler. If Patricia Arquette wasn't in this category - seriously, why isn't she in Best Actress?! - Russo would win it. However, the unstoppable award-winning juggernaut that is Boyhood and Patricia Arquette are likely to win here.
THE EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
The nominees are...
GUGU MBATHA-RAW
JACK O’CONNELL
MARGOT ROBBIE
MILES TELLER
SHAILENE WOODLEY
This all depends on who's prepared to tweet about being nominated the most. Shailene Woodley are her dread army of Divergent fans looks like the most likely winner. Margot Robbie and everyone who's seen Wolf of Wall Street would be the next likely candidate.
And that's our predictions for the 2015 BAFTAs! We'll know whether we're right or wrong on February 8th. Join us for the live-tweet over on @entertainmentIE!