Ralph Fiennes has beaten box-office juggernauts Gladiator 2 and Wicked to win 12 BAFTA nominations including best actor and best film for his movie Conclave.
The British actor, 62, won his first and only BAFTA 32 years ago for his hit holocaust film, Schindler’s List, and is tipped to win again for his role in the thriller about finding a new Pope based in the Vatican City.
Back on home soil, Conclave has been nominated for twice as many gongs at the BAFTAs than it was earlier this month at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles.
The hit thriller starring Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini is about a secretive and high-stakes election of a new Pope, where power, ambition, and personal secrets collide among the warring cardinals.
It has beaten the Golden Globes’ big winner, the Spanish drama Emilia Perez, which has come in second in the number of nominations with 11 BAFTA nods after sweeping up 10 gongs in the US award ceremony.
Gladiator 2 has yet again been snubbed by Award judges after it was shunned for Best Film and its leading man, the Irish star Paul Mescal, 28, failed to make the BAFTA longlist for Best Actor.
Ralph Fiennes has beaten box-office juggernauts Gladiator 2 and Wicked to win 12 BAFTA nominations including best actor and best film for his movie Conclave
Emilia Perez has come in second in the number of nominations with 11 BAFTA nods after sweeping up 10 gongs in the US award ceremony
Gladiator 2 has yet again been snubbed by Award judges after it was shunned for Best Film and its leading man, the Irish star Paul Mescal, failed to make the BAFTA longlist for Best Actor
It comes after Ridley Scott’s epic was snubbed at the Golden Globes in the US earlier this month after it was nominated for just two awards and failed to take any home.
Denzel Washington, 70, who reprised his role as Macrinus from the 2000 original, was long-listed as a supporting actor but has been bumped off the nominations list by BAFTA judges.
British actress, Kate Winslet, 49, has similarly dropped out of the running for a BAFTA for her role as Lee Miller in the war photographer’s biopic after being included in the longlist last month.
Demi Moore, 62, who picked up her first acting accolade ever at the Globes for her role in Substance has been nominated for Leading Actress along with Wicked’s Cynthia Erivo, 38, and Saoirse Ronan, 30, for the Outrun.
Film industry insiders believe the Ghost star’s admission into the BAFTA shortlist will raise her hopes of securing her first Oscar.
During her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, the mother of four said: ‘Thirty years ago, I had a producer tell me that I was a “popcorn” actress and that I could do movies that were successful but I couldn’t be acknowledged. But tonight I learned, I do belong.’
Elsewhere in the BAFTA nominations, the Succession brothers, Jeremy Strong and Keiran Culkin will battle it out for Supporting Actor for their performances in A Real Pain and the Trump biopic, The Apprentice.
Strong, 46, is known for being difficult to work with on set for his ‘F***ing annoying’ acting methods – according to Brian Cox who he starred opposite alongside the younger Culkin brother, 42, in the HBO hit series.
Conclave has been nominated for twice as many gongs at the BAFTAs than it was earlier this month at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles
Emilia Perez, starring Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez in its female-led ensemble cast, is making significant headway this awards season
Chair of BAFTA Sara Putt (left) and BAFTA Chair of Film Anna Higgs (right) attend the EE BAFTA Film Awards 2025 nominations on Wednesday
Hosts Will Sharpe and Mia McKenna-Bruce speak onstage during the EE BAFTA Film Awards 2025 Nominations Announcement at BAFTA on Wednesday
British actress, Kate Winslet has dropped out of the running for a BAFTA for her role as Lee Miller in the war photographer’s biopic after being included in the longlist last month
Meanwhile, Adrien Brody’s film The Brutalist has received nine BAFTA nominations, followed by Dune 2 and Wicked – both getting seven nominations
Pamela Anderson’s latest film, The Last Showgirl, tipped as her glorious return to the silver screen has only managed to secure one nomination
American singer and actress Ariana Grande (right) wins a Best Suppor5ting Actress nomination for her starring role in Wicked
Meanwhile, Adrien Brody’s film The Brutalist has received nine BAFTA nominations, followed by Dune 2 and Wicked – both getting seven nominations.
Pamela Anderson’s latest film, The Last Showgirl, tipped as her glorious return to the silver screen has only managed to secure one nomination for Jamie Lee Curtis in the category for Best Supporting Actress.
In the same category, The Brutalist star Felicity Jones is the only British actress nominated this year as American actresses Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez are both nominated for Emilia Perez.
Also getting nominated for this prize is US singer and actress Ariana Grande for Wicked and Italian-born US star Isabella Rossellini.
American stars lead the supporting actor category with Kieran Culkin up for the prize for A Real Pain, Edward Norton for A Complete Unknown and Jeremy Strong for The Apprentice.
The other nominees in this section are Russian actor Yuriy Borisov for Anora, US star Clarence Maclin for Sing Sing, and American actor Guy Pearce for The Brutalist.
American stars lead the Best Supporting Actor category, with Kieran Culkin (left) up for the prize for A Real Pain
Timothee Chalamet is up for leading actor for his role as Bob Dylan in the biopic, A Complete Unknown, which celebrated its London premiere on Tuesday night
Timothee Chalamet, 29, is up for leading actor for his role as Bob Dylan in the biopic, A Complete Unknown, which celebrated its London premiere on Tuesday night.
A firm fixture by his side at award ceremonies, his girlfriend the beauty mogul Kylie Jenner is expected to make the Transatlantic flight to London in February to support her new boyfriend.
Other nominees for leading actor include British stars Hugh Grant for Heretic, Ralph Fiennes for Conclave, as well as US actor Adrien Brody for The Brutalist.
Hollywood stars Sebastian Stan for The Apprentice and Colman Domingo for Sing Sing are also among the nominated stars in the category.
The Leading Actress category includes British star Cynthia Erivo for Wicked and Marianne Jean-Baptiste for Hard Truths among those nominated with American actress Demi Moore for The Substance.
Also getting a nod in this category is US-born Irish actress Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun, American actress Mikey Madison for Anora, and Spanish actress Karla Sofia Gascon for Emilia Perez.
Other nominees for leading actor include British stars Hugh Grant for Heretic (pictured)
Wicked star Cynthia Erivo (right) has been nominated in the category for Best Leading Actress
Jeremy Strong (left) and Sebastian Stan (right) have both received nominations for their respective roles in Donal Trump biopic The Apprentice (pictured)
BAFTA chairwoman Sara Putt told the PA news agency the nominations list was “just such a brilliant variety”.
She added: ‘But then also, when you look at the 10 films in best film, I think you’ve got six different genres in there.
‘You’ve got sci-fi, you’ve got comedy, you’ve got horror… you’ve got straight drama, you’ve got musicals, and to see horror, with Nosferatu and The Substance and Heretic, all getting nominated.
‘You know, films with music in them that you can go from Wicked through to Kneecap. It’s an amazing list with real breadth and depth, which is very exciting.’