'Slumdog,' 'Button' lead BAFTA race (Variety)

LONDON — Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” and David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” leads the field in the nominations for the British Academy Film Awards with 11 apiece.

The noms were announced by British actresses Gemma Arterton and Hayley Atwell Thursday ayem at BAFTA’s 195 Piccadilly, London headquarters.

The 11 noms from 13 longlist mentions for “Slumdog” keeps up the awards season momentum for Boyle’s Mumbai-set thriller, which collected in all four Golden Globe categories it was up for last weekend.

Globe winners Boyle, Simon Beaufoy — for adapted screenplay — and composer A.R. Rahman are all BAFTA nommed.

Next best after “Slumdog” and “Button” are “The Dark Knight” with nine noms — including a posthumous recognition for supporting actor Heath Ledger — and Clint Eastwood’s “Changeling,” with eight.

Best film prize nominees are “Slumdog,” “Button,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Milk” and “The Reader.” Director nominees are the same, other than “Milk” helmer Gus Van Sant misses out and Eastwood comes in.

In total, “Frost/Nixon” has six noms, “The Reader” has five and “In Bruges,” “Milk” and “Revolutionary Road” all boast four.

“Button” and “Frost/Nixon” lead in the BAFTA longlists revealed by Daily Variety last week, with 14 mentions each.

Best Brit film is a shootout between “Slumdog,” “Hunger,” “In Bruges,” “Man on Wire” and “Mamma Mia!,” the biggest grossing pic of 2008 — and all time — at the U.K. box office.

“The Baader Meinhof Complex,” “Gomorrah,” “I’ve Loved You So Long,” “Persepolis” and “Waltz With Bashir” contest the film not in the English-language prize.

In the actor category, 18-year-old newcomer Dev Patel (“Slumdog”) takes on Hollywood heavyweights Frank Langella (“Frost/Nixon”), Sean Penn (“Milk”), Mickey Rourke (“The Wrestler”) and Brad Pitt (“Button”).

Pitt also is in the running for the supporting actor kudos for his comic turn in “Burn After Reading,” alongside Robert Downey Jr. (“Tropic Thunder”), Brendan Gleeson (“In Bruges”), Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Doubt”) and Ledger.

Kate Winslet is nommed twice in the actress category for her turns in “Revolutionary Road” and “The Reader.” At the Globes, she picked up prizes for both roles.

Angelina Jolie (“Changeling”), Kristin Scott Thomas (“I’ve Loved You So Long”) and Meryl Streep (“Doubt”) provide the competition on BAFTA night.

The nominees for the Carl Foreman award for special achievement by a Brit director, writer or producer in their first feature are producers Simon Chinn (“Man on Wire”), Solon Papadopoulos and Roy Boulter (both “Of Time and the City”) and Judy Craymer (“Mamma Mia!”), writer Garth Jennings (“Son of Rambow”) and writer/director Steve McQueen (“Hunger”).

“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” collected nine longlist noms but missed out on any noms.

The awards, which will be hosted by Jonathan Ross for the third year, will take place Feb. 8 at London’s Royal Opera House.

TV coverage in the U.K., which will include the addition of a red carpet standalone show for the first time, will be extended across three BBC channels — BBC One, Two and Three.

BAFTA nominations
BEST FILM
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” — Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Cean Chaffin
“Frost/Nixon” — Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard
“Milk” — Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen
“The Reader” — Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti, Redmond Morris
“Slumdog Millionaire” — Christian Colson

DIRECTOR
“Changeling” — Clint Eastwood
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” — David Fincher
“Frost/Nixon” — Ron Howard
“The Reader” — Stephen Daldry
“Slumdog Millionaire” — Danny Boyle

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Burn After Reading” — Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
“Changeling” — J. Michael Straczynski
“I’ve Loved You So Long” — Philippe Claudel
“In Bruges” — Martin McDonagh
“Milk” — Dustin Lance Black

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” — Eric Roth
“Frost/Nixon” — Peter Morgan
“The Reader” — David Hare
“Revolutionary Road” — Justin Haythe
“Slumdog Millionaire” — Simon Beaufoy

LEADING ACTOR
Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon”
Dev Patel, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Sean Penn, “Milk”
Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”

LEADING ACTRESS
Angelina Jolie, “Changeling”
Kristin Scott Thomas, “I’ve Loved You So Long”
Meryl Streep, “Doubt”
Kate Winslet, “The Reader”
Kate Winslet, “Revolutionary Road”

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Downey Jr., “Tropic Thunder”
Brendan Gleeson, “In Bruges”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Doubt”
Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
Brad Pitt, “Burn After Reading”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, “Doubt”
Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Freida Pinto, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Tilda Swinton, “Burn After Reading”
Marisa Tomei, “The Wrestler”

MUSIC
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” — Alexandre Desplat
“The Dark Knight” — Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard
“Mamma Mia!” — Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus
“Slumdog Millionaire” — A.R. Rahman
“Wall-E” — Thomas Newman

CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Changeling” — Tom Stern
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” — Claudio Miranda
“The Dark Knight” — Wally Pfister
“The Reader” — Chris Menges, Roger Deakins
“Slumdog Millionaire” — Anthony Dod Mantle

EDITING
“Changeling” — Joel Cox, Gary D. Roach
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” — Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall
“The Dark Knight” — Lee Smith
“Frost/Nixon” — Mike Hill, Dan Hanley
“In Bruges” — Jon Gregory
“Slumdog Millionaire” — Chris Dickens

PRODUCTION DESIGN
“Changeling” — James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” — Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
“The Dark Knight” — Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando
“Revolutionary Road” — Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt
“Slumdog Millionaire” — Mark Digby, Michelle Day

COSTUME DESIGN
“Changeling” — Deborah Hopper
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” — Jacqueline West
“The Dark Knight” — Lindy Hemming
“The Duchess” — Michael O'Connor
“Revolutionary Road” — Albert Wolsky

SOUND
“Changeling” — Walt Martin, Alan Robert Murray, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff
“The Dark Knight” — Lora Hirschberg, Richard King, Ed Novick, Gary Rizzo
“Quantum of Solace” — Eddy Joseph, Chris Munro, Mike Prestwood Smith, Mark Taylor
“Slumdog Millionaire” — Glenn Freemantle, Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke, Tom Sayers, Ian Tapp
“Wall-E” — Ben Burtt, Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Matthew Wood

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” — Eric Barba, Craig Barron, Nathan McGuinness, Edson Williams
“The Dark Knight” — Chris Corbould, Nick Davis, Paul Franklin, Tim Webber
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” — Pablo Helman
“Iron Man” — Shane Patrick Mahan, John Nelson, Ben Snow
“Quantum of Solace” — Chris Corbould, Kevin Tod Haug

MAKE UP & HAIR
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” — Jean Black, Colleen Callaghan
“The Dark Knight” — Peter Robb-King
“The Duchess” — Daniel Phillips, Jan Archibald
“Frost/Nixon” — Edouard Henriques, Kim Santantonio
“Milk” — Steven E. Anderson, Michael White

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
“Hunger” — Laura Hastings-Smith, Robin Gutch, Steve McQueen, Enda Walsh
“In Bruges” — Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh
“Mamma Mia!” — Judy Craymer, Gary Goetzman, Phyllida Lloyd, Catherine Johnson
“Man on Wire” — Simon Chinn, James Marsh
“Slumdog Millionaire” — Christian Colson, Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
“The Baader Meinhof Complex” — Bernard Eichinger, Uli Edel
“Gomorrah” — Domenico Procacci, Matteo Garrone
“I've Loved You So Long” — Yves Marmion, Philippe Claudel
“Persepolis” — Marc-Antoine Robert, Xavier Rigault, Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Parannaud
“Waltz With Bashir” — Serge Lalou, Gerhard Meixner, Yael Nahl Ieli, Ari Folman

ANIMATED FILM
“Persepolis” — Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Parannaud
“Wall-E” — Andrew Stanton
“Waltz With Bashir” — Ari Folman

SHORT ANIMATION
“Codswallop” — Greg McLeod, Myles McLeod
“Varmints” — Sue Goffe, Marc Craste
“Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death” — Steve Pegram, Nick Park, Bob Baker

THE CARL FOREMAN AWARD
(For special achievement by a British director, writer or producer for their first feature film.)
Simon Chinn, producer — “Man on Wire”
Judy Craymer, producer — “Mamma Mia!”
Garth Jennings, writer — “Son of Rambow”
Steve McQueen, director/writer – “Hunger”
Solon Papadopoulos, Roy Boulter, producers — “Of Time and the City”

SHORT FILM
“Kingsland #1 The Dreamer,” Kate Ogborn, Tony Grisoni
“Love You More,” Adrian Sturges, Sam Taylor-Wood, Patrick Marber
“Ralph,” Olivier Kaempfer, Alex Winckler
“September,” Stewart le Marechal, Esther May Campbell
“Voyages D’affaires” (The Business Trip), Celine Quideau, Sean Ellis

THE ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Michael Cera
Noel Clarke
Michael Fassbender
Rebecca Hall
Toby Kebbell