Lincoln Leads 2013 BAFTA Nominations—but What Happened to Steven Spielberg?

Storied filmmaker's epic on the American president is the favorite at this year's British Academy Film Awards

By Josh Grossberg Jan 09, 2013 3:10 PMTags
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If Lincoln's on its way to making BAFTA history, it'll have to do it without Steven Spielberg.

The director's historical biopic on the 16th president garnered 10 nominations for the 2013 edition of the British Academy Film Awards, otherwise known as the British Oscars, including Best Film, Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis and Best Actress for Sally Field.

In perhaps the biggest snub so far in the awards season, Spielberg, however, was not nominated in the Best Director category.

Nipping at Lincoln's heels are Les Misérables and Life of Pi, tied with nine nominations apiece, including Best Picture. For their emotionally tuneful roles as Jean Valjean and Fantine, respectively, in the musical adapted of the beloved Broadway production, Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway collected nods for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. While Ang Lee took home a Best Director nomination for his adaptation of  Yann Martel's fantasy adventure novel.

Her Majesty and the rest of her British subjects along with 007 fans the world over can take pride over Skyfall capturing a whopping eight nominations—unheard for a James Bond adventure. Javier Bardem also snagged a nom for Best Supporting Actor.

Argo and Anna Karenina, meanwhile, notched six, Django Unchained and Zero Dark Thirty picked up five noms, The Master and Amour held their own with four, while Silver Linings Playbook earned three.

But the man with the top hat is clearly the one to beat this year.

Aside from Day-Lewis being a frontrunner for his landmark performance as the commander in chief, Lincoln also earned nods for Best Supporting Actor for Tommy Lee Jones, Adapted Screenplay, Original Music, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design, and Make Up and Hair.

With Spielberg sidelined in the directing race, this year may well mark the rise of Ben Affleck as one of Hollywood's most acclaimed filmmakers.

The thesp nabbed not only a Best Actor nom but one for Best Director and will compete against Amour's Michael Haneke, Django's Quentin Tarantino, Life of Pi's Lee and Zero Dark Thirty's Kathryn Bigelow.

Other notable acting noms include Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings Playbook, which scored three nominations, Helen Mirren for Hitchcock and Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty.

On the animation side, Pixar's Brave will face off against Tim Burton's Frankenweenie and Universal's ParaNorman. While Searching for Sugar Man, Marley, and West of Memphis reaped nominations in the Best Documentary category.

The 2013 BAFTA Awards ceremony, hosted once again by Stephen Fry, is set to take place on Feb. 10 at London's Royal Opera House.

Here's the complete list of nominations:

Best Film
Argo
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Outstanding British Film
Anna Karenina
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Misérables
Seven Psychopaths
Skyfall

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director Or Producer
The Imposter, Bart Layton (Director), Dimitri Doganis (Producer)
McCullin, David Morris (Director), Jacqui Morris (Director/Producer)
Wild Bill, Dexter Fletcher (Director/Writer), Danny King (Writer)
The Muppets
, James Bobin (Director)
I Am Nasrine
, Tina Gharavi (Director/Writer)

Director
Amour, Michael Haneke
Argo, Ben Affleck
Django Unchained
, Quentin Tarantino
Life of Pi
, Ang Lee
Zero Dark Thirty
, Kathryn Bigelow

Documentary
The Imposter
Marley
McCullin
Searching For Sugar Man
West of Memphis

Original Screenplay
Amour, Michael Haneke
Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
The Master
, Paul Thomas Anderson
Moonrise Kingdom
, Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty
, Mark Boal

Adapted Screenplay
Argo, Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi
, David Magee
Lincoln
, Tony Kushner
Silver Lings Playbook
, David O. Russell

Film Not In the English Language
Amour, Michael Haneke, Margaret Ménégoz
Headhunters
, Morten Tyldum, Marianne Gray, Asle Vatn
The Hunt, Thomas Vinterberg, Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Morten Kaufmann
Rust and Bone, Jacques Audiard, Pascal Caucheteux
Untouchable, Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache, Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun

Leading Actor
Ben Affleck, Argo
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Leading Actress
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Argo
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Javier Bardem, Skyfall
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Master
Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Judi Dench, Skyfall
Sally Field, Lincoln

Original Music
Anna Karenina
Argo
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

Cinematography
Anna Karenina
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

Editing
Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Production Design
Anna Karenina
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

Costume Design
Anna Karenina
Great Expectations
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Snow White and the Huntsman

Sound
Django Unchained
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Skyfall

Special Visual Effects
The Dark Knight Rises
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life of Pi
The Avengers
Prometheus

Make  Up & Hair
Anna Karenina
Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Lincoln

Short Animation
Here To Fall
I'm Fine Thanks
The Making of Longbird

Short Film
The Curse
Good Night
Swimmer
Tumult
The Voorman Problem

EE Rising Star Award
Elizabeth Olsen
Andrea Riseborough\
Suraj Sharma
Juno Temple
Alicia Vikander