The film nominees for the 2025 British Academy Of Film And Television Arts Awards were announced Wednesday, featuring several anticipated nominees as well as several surprises and snubs.
Wednesday’s BAFTA announcement comes amid a tumultuous award season that was thrown out of balance last week with onslaught of the Los Angeles-area wildfires.
While some industry organizations like the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild of America announced its slate of nominees, other awards bodies like the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and Producer Guild of America postponed their nomination announcements.
BAFTA, meanwhile, proceeded with its nominations with the papal thriller Conclave scoring the most with 12. The winners of the 2025 BAFTA Film Awards will be announced at the organization’s ceremony set for Sunday, Feb. 16, at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
Here’s a rundown of the nominations in the top six categories of the 2025 BAFTAs, which includes the surprise nominations in the categories as well as the snubs.
Best Film
Anora
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The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Biggest Surprises And Snubs: Since the Academy Awards have 10 Best Picture nominees, the fact that several major awards players didn’t make BAFTA’s final shortlist isn’t too much of a surprise.
If you want to call them snubs, though, such high-profile films as A Real Pain, Dune: Part Two, Nickel Boys, The Piano Lesson, Sing Sing, The Substance and Wicked might not be vying for the British equivalent of the Oscars’ biggest prize, but all have a decent chance to land a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards.
Best Director
Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)
Sean Baker (Anora)
Edward Berger (Conclave)
Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)
Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)
Denis Villeneuve (Dune: Part Two)
Surprises And Snubs: Unlike the Oscars and Directors Guild of America—which each nominated five directors for their top award—the BAFTA Awards nominate six.
Two of the six BAFTA Best Director nominees—Fargeat and Villeneuve—missed the cut for the DGA Awards in lieu of James Mangold’s nomination for A Complete Unknown. Surprisingly, though, Mangold didn’t even make the long list of potential nominees, which seems odd given A Complete Unknown earned a Best Film nomination.
Apart from Mangold, perhaps the biggest snub in BAFTA’s Best Director category is Jon M. Chu, who continues to be shut out of the nominations by all the major awards bodies for his work on Wicked.
Best Leading Actor
Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)
Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)
Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)
Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)
Hugh Grant (Heretic)
Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice)
Surprises And Snubs: Only five actors are nominated in the Oscars and Screen Actors Guild’s acting categories, while the BAFTAs nominate six in each.
The biggest surprises are the nominations of Hugh Grant and Sebastian Stan, who, unlike the other four nominees in the Leading Actor category, were nominated for Outstanding Male Actor in a Leading Role by the Screen Actors Guild. Both Grant and Stan, were, however, nominated for Best Actor in the Musical or Comedy and Drama categories, respectively, at the Golden Globes.
The biggest snub in the category is the omission of Daniel Craig, who earned a SAG Award nomination for his leading role in Queer. Craig was nominated for his role in the Motion Picture Drama category at the Golden Globes and is still awaiting the outcome of his nomination for Best Actor at the Critics Choice Awards.
Best Leading Actress
Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)
Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)
Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths)
Mikey Madison (Anora)
Demi Moore (The Substance)
Saoirse Ronan (The Outrun)
Surprises And Snubs: After being nominated for a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award—but missing out on a SAG Award nomination—Marianne Jean-Baptiste is making a comeback for her role in Hard Truths.
The most surprising nomination in the category, though, comes with the recognition of Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun, considering her name has largely been absent from the major competition.FORBESWhy Demi Moore’s Golden Globe For ‘The Substance’ Is Rare Horror WinBy Tim Lammers
The biggest snubs in the category include several high-profile performers like Golden Globe winner Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here) and Golden Globe nominees Angelina Jolie (Maria), Nicole Kidman (Babygirl), Kate Winslet (Lee) and Zendaya (Challengers). Additionally, all five performers missed out on SAG nominations last week.
The only Golden Globe and SAG nominee who didn’t go on to earn a Leading Actress nomination from the BAFTAs was Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl).
Best Supporting Actor
Yura Borisov (Anora)
Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing)
Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)
Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)
Jeremy Strong, (The Apprentice)
Surprises And Snubs: After both were shut out of the SAG nominations, Clarence Macklin and Guy Pearce made comebacks. Both actors had the momentum of being nominated by the Critics Choice Awards, while Pearce scored an additional nomination from the Golden Globes.
The biggest snub in the category came with the omission of Denzel Washington (Gladiator II) from the list after being nominated by the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes. It’s the second big snub Washington has faced in a week after missing the nomination cut for the SAG Awards.
Best Supporting Actress
Selena Gomez (Emilia Pérez)
Ariana Grande (Wicked)
Felicity Jones (The Brutalist)
Jamie Lee Curtis (The Last Showgirl)
Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)
Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)
Surprises And Snubs: After missing out on SAG Award nominations, Selena Gomez, Felicity Jones and Isabella Rossellini each made surprises appearances in the BAFTAs’ supporting actress category.
The biggest snubs in the category, however, came with the omissions of SAG nominees Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown) and Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson)—the latter of whom also received a Critics Choice Awards nomination.
Also missing the cut was Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards nominee Margaret Qualley (The Substance), while Critics Choice Awards nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys) was also snubbed by the BAFTAs.
Credit: Forbes