The Queen takes on Bond
2007-01-13 13:55
London - James Bond will take on Her Majesty at the British film awards. Casino Royale garnered nine Bafta nominations on Friday, just one behind frontrunner The Queen.
Stephen Frears was on the Best Director shortlist for The Queen, and Helen Mirren, an Oscar favourite in the leading role, was a Best Actress nominee for her portrayal of a confused monarch at the time of Princess Diana's death in 1997.
Daniel Craig, the controversial choice to replace Pierce Brosnan as superspy James Bond in Casino Royale, was vindicated with a nomination for Best Actor.
"Casino Royale has got nine nominations, including Best Actor for Daniel Craig, which is really one in the eye for all those people who said he wasn't the right person for the job," film critic Mark Kermode told the BBC.
Craig will be up against Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed, Richard Griffiths in The History Boys, Peter O'Toole in Venus and Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland, in which he portrays late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.
Queen predicted tops
Bookmaker William Hill has made Whitaker the favourite, followed by O'Toole, DiCaprio and then Craig.
Griffiths was gracious about his outsider status: "I am, naturally, thrilled to bits, as I have never been nominated for a movie award before.
"However, I will be astonished, dismayed and disappointed if it isn't awarded to Peter O'Toole."
William Hill also predicted that The Queen would walk off with the Best Film statuette, and Mirren with a Best Actress award.
She is competing with Judi Dench, nominated for her role in the school sex drama Notes on a Scandal, Penelope Cruz in Volver, Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada and Kate Winslet in Little Children.
"I'll be perfectly happy when I drop off the map as well," said Mirren, 61, of her new-found international fame.
Frears takes on Scorsese
"Win or lose, the bubble bursts and you're back to the nitty-gritty of working. I'm honestly at my happiest in a cold rehearsal room with my polystyrene cup of tea."
In 2001, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' annual awards were moved to before the Oscars to attract Hollywood stars hoping to generate last-minute buzz.
But the Baftas, with a bias towards British films, have only a patchy record of predicting who will pick up Academy Awards.
In the Best Film category, The Queen is joined by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel; The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese; The Last King of Scotland; and the low-budget beauty pageant comedy Little Miss Sunshine.
In the race to be Best Director, Frears takes on Scorsese, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine), Inarritu, and Paul Greengrass for his United 93.
Pan's Labyrinth, a fantasy set just after the end of the Spanish Civil War, garnered eight Bafta nominations, and Babel, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, gained seven.
The awards ceremony is on Febraury 11.