BAFTA film head reacts to shock at ‘Barbie’ snub

nme.com:

BAFTA has responded to snubs in the recently announced nominations list.The nominees for the prestigious awards were announced this afternoon, with Oppenheimer continuing to receive high praise this award season with 13 BAFTA nominations, following another impressive evening at the Critics Choice Awards on January 15.However, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, which received high critical acclaim and broke multiple box office records, only received five nominations after being longlisted for 15 categories.The movie, which was released in July last year, missed out on the nomination for Best Film, and Gerwig has not been recognised for her directing.

Barbie has received nominations for Best Leading Actress (Margot Robbie), Best Supporting Actor (Ryan Gosling), Best Original Screenplay, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.BAFTA Head of Film, Anna Higgs, spoke about the nominations and omissions: “The field is so competitive.

This year, our entries are up, so we’ve had more films to consider, but our members have been watching more hours and more films than ever before.”She continued: “We really are trying to level the playing field and see films on their own merit, so there is a broader range of films in there.”Other high-profile omissions in leading categories include Lily Gladstone for Best Actress, for her performance in Killers Of The Flower Moon, which has already won her a Golden Globe Award and a Critics Choice Award nomination.