Baftas in love with Shakespeare

By Tom Sykes Tuesday, 2 March 1999

 

THE film world's affair with Shakespeare in Love continued at the 51st British Academy Film Awards yesterday, with nominations for the movie in virtually every category, including best actress for Gwynneth Paltrow and best film.

With nominations in 16 out of the 21 categories announced yesterday, Shakespeare in Love trumped another English period drama, Elizabeth, the epic saga of the reign of Elizabeth I, which was shortlisted for 12 awards.

The two films are competing against each other in nine categories including music, cinematography, production design, costume design and editing titles.

Michael Caine was nominated for best actor for his role as a music promoter in Little Voice after failing to be mentioned in the Oscar shortlists last month, despite having already collected a Golden Globe for his performance. In the same film, Brenda Blethyn and Jane Horrocks were also nominated for best supporting actress and best actress respectively.

Shakespeare in Love won nominations for Joseph Fiennes (best actor) and Dame Judi Dench (best supporting actress). She is pitched against Emily Watson for Hilary and Jackie, Gwyneth Paltrow for Shakespeare in Love and Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth. Sir Ian McKellen, who had been shortlisted for an Oscar for his role in Gods and Monsters, was not nominated for any awards. However, his co-star Lynn Redgrave was nominated for best supporting actress in the same film.

Eight, a 10-minute short which won the Jerwood Film prize sponsored by The Daily Telegraph, was nominated for best short film.

Announcing the nominations, the actress Kate Winslet said: "This year it really does feel like it's been a great year for British film."

Although the newly-married Miss Winslet has not been nominated for any Baftas this year, she said: "I remember that when I was nominated for Sense and Sensibility it was so exciting. To hold one of these awards - it's a great heavy thing - is a wonderful honour."

The glamorous award ceremony, which will be shown on BBC1, will be held at the Business Design Centre in Islington, north London, on April 11 and will be hosted by Jonathan Ross, new presenter of BBC1's Film 99.

Mr Ross joked at the announcement at the Bafta headquarters in Piccadilly yesterday that the Baftas were the "thinking person's Oscars". He only stayed for a few minutes as he was flying to Los Angeles to work on television coverage of what he called "the dumb person's Baftas".