The biggest night for British film proved to be a major one for Christopher Nolan. After reigniting the summer box office alongside Barbie, his atomic bomb biopic Oppenheimer led the way at the BAFTAs 2024, earning seven awards on the night – including the most hotly-contested categories. As well as Best Film, a Directing win for Nolan himself, and Acting awards for Cillian Murphy (Leading) and Robert Downey Jr. (Supporting), it bagged the likes of Best Score for Ludwig Goransson, Editing, and Cinematography for Hoyte Van Hoytema.
Nolan called it “an incredible honour” to be recognised on home turf in the UK. The ceremony took place at the Royal Festival Hall, “where my mum and dad used to drag me to make me get some culture,” he remembered. “Some of it stuck.” As well as thanking the “fearless and peerless” Cillian Murphy, and his producer – and wife – Emma Thomas (“I love you”) in his Director speech, he spoke about the film’s timely messages. “I do just want to say that our film ends on what I think is a dramatically necessary note of despair,” he said. “But in the real world there are all kinds of individuals and organisations who have [worked to reduce] the number of nuclear weapons in the world.”
In her speech for Best Film, Thomas hailed the film’s director (and her husband), Christopher Nolan. “He is inspired and inspiring,” she said. “He’s often infuriating. He’s always right. I’m always grateful to him for letting me come along for this ride.” Leading actor Cillian Murphy made sure to thank his “Oppen-homies” in his speech, calling Robert Oppenheimer “this colossally knotty, complex character”. To his director, he said: “Thank you for seeing something in me that I didn’t even see myself,” noting that Nolan was “always pushing me, and always demanding excellence.”
In his Supporting Actor speech, Downey Jr. jokingly nodded to his time playing Iron Man. “I then played a guy named Tony in the MCU for about 12 years,” he said, “and then recently that dude, Chris Nolan, suggested I attempt an understated approach as a last-ditch effort to resurrect my dwindling credibility.” Evidently, it worked.
Behind Oppenheimer was Poor Things, which earned five awards on the night – including Leading Actress for Emma Stone, and recognition for Production Design, Costume Design, Make Up & Hair, and VFX. Shouting out her director, she said: “Yorgos, thank you for our friendship and the gift of Bella [Baxter]. I am so thankful for her.” She also thanked screenwriter Tony McNamara, “for the line, ‘I must go punch that baby’. It was life-changing for me.”
Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest won in three categories – including, almost paradoxically, Film Not In The English Language and Outstanding British Film. “Foreign film… British film… stunned!” said producer James Wilson. He spoke of the film’s multifaceted creation, noting that it was a “coming together of people in the UK, it was shot entirely in Poland, with a largely German cast.” Its third win came in the Sound category. The Holdovers won two awards, bagging Casting and Supporting Actress for Da’Vine Joy Randolph. “You represent everything that is true and good about this craft,” she said of co-star Paul Giamatti. “I am proud to call you a friend.”
Elsewhere, Anatomy Of A Fall won the award for Original Screenplay, American Fiction came away with Adapted Screenplay, Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy And The Heron won Animated Feature, 20 Days In Mariupol won Documentary, and Earth Mama was named Outstanding British Debut.
The EE BAFTA Rising Star award – voted for the public – went to How To Have Sex star Mia McKenna-Bruce, who won out amid a hotly-contested group, also including Jacob Elordi, Ayo Edebiri, Phoebe Dynevor and Sophie Wilde. “I’m really obsessed with all of you,” she told her fellow nominees. “It’s an honour to stand alongside you in this.” She thanked How To Have Sex director Molly Manning-Walker “for making me and so many other people feel seen with your film.”
Samantha Morton received the prestigious BAFTA Fellowship award, delivering an emotional speech. “For me, this is really nothing short of a miracle. When I first saw Ken Loach’s Kes on a huge telly that was wheeled into my classroom, I was forever changed,” she said, remembering being bowled over at “seeing poverty and people like me on my screen”. She dedicated her award “to every child in care today. Or has been in care, or is suffering, or who didn’t survive”, and said she made films for her younger self. “You’ll have a life beyond what the government statistics have laid out for you. Because you matter,” she said. Meanwhile, June Givanni – of the June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive – won Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema. “We could not do what we do without the great visionary work that filmmakers gift to us,” she said. “This award is for us.”