LONDON (AP) — Wickedly funny royal comedy-drama “The Favourite” lived up to its name Wednesday, leading the race for the British Academy Film Awards.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ film received 12 nominations for the U.K. equivalent of the Oscars, including best film, best director and best actress, for Olivia Colman. Colman won a Golden Globe on Sunday for her performance as Britain’s 18th-century Queen Anne.
Colman’s co-stars, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz, received supporting-actress nominations as the two women competing for the monarch’s patronage.
Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” lunar drama “First Man,” autobiographical Mexican story “Roma” and musical melodrama “A Star Is Born” each received seven nominations for the prizes, considered an indicator of likely success at Hollywood’s Academy Awards in what’s shaping up to be an unpredictable awards season.
Best-picture nominees for the British awards, known as BAFTAs, are “BlacKkKlansman,” ”The Favourite,” ”Green Book,” Roma” and “A Star is Born.”
Nominees for best British film — a separate category — are Channel Islands thriller “Beast,” ”Bohemian Rhapsody,” ”The Favourite,” fashion documentary “McQueen,” Laurel and Hardy biopic “Stan and Ollie” and crime thriller “You Were Never Really Here.”
Best-actress nominees are Colman, Glenn Close for “The Wife,” Lady Gaga for “A Star is Born,” Melissa McCarthy for “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” and Viola Davis for “Widows.”
Best-actor contenders are Bradley Cooper for “A Star is Born,” Christian Bale for “Vice,” Rami Malek for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Steve Coogan for “Stan and Ollie” and Viggo Mortensen for “Green Book.”
The winners will be announced Feb. 10 at a ceremony in London hosted by “Absolutely Fabulous” star Joanna Lumley.