Atonement Makes Bloody Good Show at Brit Oscars

Keira Knightley-starring flick earns a leading 14 noms at BAFTA Film Awards

The BAFTAs are looking to atone for the sins of omission of the Hollywood Foreign Press.

Less than a week Atonement only cashed in two of its leading seven nominations at the Golden Globes (Best Motion Picture Drama and Original Score), the British-made drama leads the list of big-name nominees for the 61st Annual British Academy Film Awards.

The adaptation of the acclaimed Ian McEwan novel racked up an impressive 14 nominations from the U.K.-centric awards show, including nods for both Best Film and Best British Film, and bookend Best Actress and Best Actor honors for stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.

Thirteen-year-old costar Saoirse Ronan, the character in search of the titular atonement,  snagged a Best Supporting Actress nomination, while Joe Wright scored a Best Director honor and Christopher Hampton is in the running for Best Adapted Screenplay. The balance of its nominations came in technical categories.

In addition to the homegrown favorite, this season's podium regulars No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood each racked up nine nominations, including Best Film and Best Director nods.

The two American-made movies also made their presence known in the acting categories. There Will Be Blood's Daniel Day-Lewis is competing for Best Actor, while costar Paul Dano is in the Supporting Actor race.

Dano competes against No Country for Old Men's tandem of Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones. Charlie Wilson's War's Philip Seymour Hoffman and Michael Clayton's Tom Wilkinson round out the category.

American Gangster and The Lives of Others are the other two Best Film nominees.

Other major contenders include La Vie en Rose, which scored seven nominations, and one film that's unlikely to receive as much attention at the plain-old Oscars when nominations are announced next week, The Bourne Ultimatum, which scored six BAFTA nods.

Surprisingly, the Matt Damon-powered flick made the cut for Best British Film, because the majority of the film was shot in London. The field is rounded out by Control, Eastern Promises and the aptly-titled This Is England.

Damon failed to earn any individual praise for his superspy role, leaving the Best Actor race to more traditional nominees: Michael Clayton's George Clooney, Eastern Promise's Viggo Mortensen, The Lives of Others' late Ulrich Muehe (who died in July of stomach cancer), as well as Day-Lewis and McAvoy.

The Best Actress race boasts Knightley, Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth: The Golden Age (she's also up for Best Supporting Actress for her Bob Dylan-channeling turn in I'm Not There), Away from Her's Julie Christie, La Vie en Rose's Marion Cotillard and Juno's Ellen Page.

Page was also a nominee for the annual Orange Rising Star Award, the only award of the night to be voted on by the public, honoring a young artist's promising body of work. She's joined by Shia LaBeouf, Sam Riley, Tang Wei and perennial British It Girl, Sienna Miller.

Although Page and Blanchett scored two nods apiece, they had nothing on the Coen brothers. Joel and Ethan shared four nominations for tag-teaming on No Country for Old Men: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film and Best Editing—in the latter category they are jointly credited under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes.

Finally, Ratatouille, Shrek the Third and The Simpsons Movie will vie for Best Animated Film.

With no striking writers to muck things up, the BATFA Film Awards will be handed out in London Feb. 10.

Here's a complete list of nominees:

FILM

• American Gangster
• Atonement
• The Lives of Others
• No Country for Old Men
• There Will Be Blood

BRITISH FILM

• Atonement
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• Control
• Eastern Promises
• This Is England

DIRECTOR

• Joe Wright, Atonement
• Paul Greengrass, The Bourne Ultimatum
• Florian Henckel con Donnersmarck, The Lives of Others
• Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
• Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

LEADING ACTOR

• George Clooney, Michael Clayton
• Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
• James McAvoy, Atonement
• Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises
• Ulrich Muehe, The Lives of Others

LEADING ACTRESS

• Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
• Julie Christie, Away From Her
• Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
• Keira Knightley, Atonement
• Ellen Page, Juno

SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
• Paul Dano, There Will Be Blood
• Tommy Lee Jones, No Country for Old Men
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
• Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
• Kelly Macdonald, No Country for Old Men
• Samantha Morton, Control
• Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
• Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Steven Zaillian, American Gangster
• Diablo Cody, Juno
• Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, The Lives of Others
• Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
• Shane Meadows, This Is England

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Christopher Hampton, Atonement
• Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
• David Benioff, The Kite Runner
• Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
• Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

ANIMATED FILM

• Ratatouille
• Shrek the Third
• The Simpsons Movie

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
• The Kite Runner
• The Lives of Others
• Lust, Caution
• La Vie en Rose

ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD

• Shia LaBeouf
• Sienna Miller
• Ellen Page
• Sam Riley
• Tang Wei

MUSIC

• American Gangster
• Atonement
• The Kite Runner
• There Will Be Blood
• La Vie en Rose

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• American Gangster
• Atonement
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• No Country for Old Men
• There Will Be Blood

EDITING

• American Gangster
• Atonement
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• Michael Clayton
• No Country for Old Men

PRODUCTION DESIGN

• Atonement
• Elizabeth: The Golden Age
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• There Will Be Blood
• La Vie en Rose

COSTUME DESIGN

• Atonement
• Elizabeth: The Golden Age
• Lust, Caution
• Sweeney Todd
• La Vie en Rose

SOUND

• Atonement
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• No Country for Old Men
• There Will Be Blood
• La Vie en Rose

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

• The Bourne Ultimatum
• The Golden Compass
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
• Spider-Man 3

MAKE-UP & HAIR

• Atonement
• Elizabeth: The Golden Age
• Hairspray
• Sweeney Todd
• La Vie en Rose

SHORT ANIMATION

• The Pearce Sisters
• Head Over Heels
• The Crumblegiant

SHORT FILM

• Dog Altogether
• Hesitation
• The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island
• Soft
• The Stronger

CAROL FOREMAN AWARD FOR SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT BY A BRITISH DIRECTOR, WRITER, OR PRODUCER FOR FIRST FEATURE FILM

• Chris Atkins (director/writer), Taking Liberties
• Mia Bays (producer), Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
• Sarah Gavron (director), Brick Lane
• Matt Greenhalgh (writer), Control
• Andrew Piddington (director/writer), The Killing of John Lennon