Intro for January 27, 2026

Dear Gossips,

The BAFTA nominations were announced this morning, hosted by David Jonsson and Aimee Lou Wood. There is overlap between the British Academy and the Oscar Academy, so not only are the BAFTAs themselves considered prestigious, the BAFTAs can be useful for predicting how the Oscars might swing. Not all the time and in all categories but this is a significant stop in award season.

While the BAFTAs allow for one more slot (six compared to five) in the directing and acting categories, their equivalent of “best picture” at the Oscars is much more narrow – the Oscars can nominate up to ten films while the BAFTAs best film category has five spots. One Battle After Another and Sinners lead the way with nominations with 14 and 13 respectively. And Hamnet and Marty Supreme are in there too, along with Sentimental Value rounding out the contenders for the big prize. You will note, the Screen Actors Guild really is the outlier here where Sentimental Value is concerned. The film was shut out for SAG nominations but has eight BAFTA noms and nine Oscar nominations.

Hamnet is historical fiction but it’s also now history because with its eleven nominations it is now the most nominated film directed by a woman in BAFTA history. Congratulations to Chloé Zhao!

In the acting categories, with the added spot at the BAFTAs, Chase Infiniti is in after not making the cut with an Oscar nomination. Everyone else is virtually the same. On the best actor side, though, Wagner Moura did not make the BAFTA longlist so it’s not exactly a surprise that his name wasn’t called this morning but given that he also did not get nominated for a SAG, the presumed frontrunner continues to be Timothée Chalamet. Still, there’s the sense that some Oscar watchers aren’t convinced that the Oscar Academy will vote for an actor as young as Timmy to actually win, the age thing is a thing. So it’ll be interesting to see how Wagner’s campaign plays this over the next few weeks. Here in Toronto, more screenings of The Secret Agent have been added and from what I’ve heard, they’re all sold out or near sold out. Just a reminder of the true value of award season and especially the Oscars – awareness for films, and bringing out the audience. It is definitely happening for The Secret Agent, and the more people seeing the movie, especially in Hollywood, only boosts Wagner’s chances.

Probably the biggest BAFTA snub is Amy Madigan. Right up until the Golden Globes, she seemed to be in the lead for best supporting actress – and then Teyana Taylor won the Globe, was nominated for a SAG, and now also a BAFTA, but Amy’s been left off the BAFTA ballot. Wunmi Mosaku is in though! So, like Teyana, Wunmi has a SAG, Oscar, and BAFTA nomination…which is exactly right.

For the full list of BAFTA nominees, please click here. Sarah may have some more thoughts on this later.

Yours in gossip,

Lainey