LONDON (AP) — Papal thriller “ Conclave ” leads the race for the 78th British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, with genre-bending musical “ Emilia Pérez ” facing a test of whether a multi-pronged backlash has made the former prize favorite an awards-season pariah.
A plethora of movie stars — including Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet, Timothée Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan — are due on the red carpet at London’s Royal Festival Hall. The awards, known as BAFTAs, will be watched for clues about who will triumph at Hollywood’s Academy Awards next month.
“Conclave” is nominated in 12 categories, including best picture, best director for Edward Berger and best actor for Ralph Fiennes, playing a cardinal corralling conniving clergy as they elect a new pope.
Mexico-set melodrama “Emilia Pérez” has 11 nominations, including best picture and best director for Jacques Audiard.
Best actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón, who stars as the film’s titular transgender ex-cartel boss, isn't expected to attend the ceremony. Gascón has withdrawn from promoting the film, which has 13 Oscar nominations, amid controversy over her social media posts disparaging Muslims, George Floyd and diversity at the Oscars.
Audiard has called the remarks “absolutely hateful.” The musical, shot in France with a largely non-Mexican cast, has also faced criticism from Mexicans for what some see as its cliched and exploitative depiction of the country. Some LGBTQ+ groups have derided its portrayal of trans people.
The British prizes may give hints of who will win at the Oscars on March 3, in an unusually hard-to-call awards season.
The best-film contenders are “Conclave,” “Emilia Pérez,” Brady Corbet’s 215-minute architecture epic " The Brutalist,” the James Mangold-directed Bob Dylan biopic “ A Complete Unknown ” and Sean Baker’s Brighton Beach tragicomedy “ Anora.”
“Anora,” about an exotic dancer entangled with a Russian oligarch's son, is emerging as a best picture favorite after winning the top prizes last week at the Producers Guild Awards and the Directors Guild Awards.
“The Brutalist” has nine BAFTA nominations, while “Anora,” the sci-fi epic “Dune: Part Two” and musical “Wicked” have seven each.
“A Complete Unknown” received six nominations, as did the Irish-language hip-hop drama “Kneecap.”
Nominees in the category of outstanding British film include Andrea Arnold’s “Bird,” Steve McQueen’s “Blitz,” Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” and “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” which is also up for best animated feature.
The leading actor favorite is “The Brutalist” star Adrien Brody, who faces stiff competition from Fiennes and Chalamet, who plays the young Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.”
The other male actors nominated are Hugh Grant for his creepy role in the horror film “ Heretic,” Colman Domingo in real-life prison drama “ Sing Sing ” and Sebastian Stan for his portrayal of a young Donald Trump in “ The Apprentice.”
Stan, who is also Oscar nominated, said that it was “incredibly validating” to get recognition for the film, which initially struggled to find an American distributor. It's an origins story that focuses on Trump's relationship with ruthless power broker Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong.
“We were told this was going to be a thankless job that was never going to lead to anything,” Stan said, describing the movie as a “fair” depiction of the president.
Whoever takes the best actress award will be a first-time BAFTA winner.
Nominees are Gascón, Demi Moore for body-horror film “ The Substance,” Mikey Madison for “Anora,” Ronan for “The Outrun,” Cynthia Erivo for “Wicked” and Marianne Jean-Baptiste for Mike Leigh drama “Hard Truths.” Erivo or Jean-Baptiste would be the first non-white performer to win the leading actress BAFTA.
British stars on the red carpet had high praise for Jean-Baptiste's blistering performance as a woman beset by depression, and for Moore, already a Golden Globe winner for “The Substance.”
“I’m very excited for Demi Moore tonight," said “Game of Thrones” and “Severance” star Gwendoline Christie. She said that Moore's “visceral" performance “transcends so many different boundaries.”
Britain’s film academy introduced changes to increase the awards’ diversity in 2020, when no women were nominated as best director for the seventh year running and all 20 nominees in the lead and supporting performer categories were white.
Most winners are chosen by members of the 8,000-strong U.K. academy of industry professionals, with one — the Rising Star Award —- selected by public vote from a shortlist of nominees. This year's contenders are performers Mikey Madison, Marisa Abela, Jharrel Jerome, David Jonsson and Nabhaan Rizwan.
“Willow” and “Return of the Jedi” actor Warwick Davis will receive the academy’s top honor, the BAFTA Fellowship, for his screen career and work to create a more inclusive film industry.
Last month’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires may cast a pall over the ceremony, hosted by former “Doctor Who” star David Tennant. Jamie Lee Curtis, a supporting actress nominee for “The Last Showgirl,” will be absent because the fires delayed filming on her current work. Co-star Pamela Anderson will accept the prize for Curtis if she wins.
The event will also be without a dash of royal glamour this year. Neither Prince William, who is honorary president of the British film academy, nor his wife Kate are attending. The awards coincide with school holidays for their three children.
The show will include a performance by grown-up boyband Take That, whose 2008 hit “Greatest Day” features on the “Anora” soundtrack. “Wicked” wizard Jeff Goldblum will play piano during the ceremony’s tribute to people who have died in the past year.
The ceremony airs on BBC in the United Kingdom and BritBox in North America, starting at 1900 GMT (2 p.m. EST).
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Hilary Fox contributed to this story
