Back when the BAFTA Awards were given out after the Oscars, the British group marched to the beat of their own drummer and often gave out trophies that were totally out of sync with American trends. Many times, the difference in the award results were simply having a British actor win instead of an American Oscar winner. However, in other years there were strange upset choices that helped make the BAFTAS a unique and surprising show. Click through our photo gallery above highlighting the Top 7 shocking BAFTA Awards upsets of all time, from Emmanuelle Riva (“Amour”) to Jamie Lee Curtis (“Trading Places”).
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The BAFTAs will pass out their annual awards this Sunday, February 12. The British award for excellence in film has become in recent years an important preliminary award on the way to an Oscar. That importance has come about mostly because the awards are now given out prior to the Academy Awards. That placement has now made it normal policy for most award aspiring films to be released in the UK the same year as they are released in the US. That hasn’t always been the case, though.
BAFTA Awards: Full list of nominations
In past years, delays in British film releases have made them ineligible for a BAFTA even as they were sweeping American awards. Such actors as Halle Berry (“Monster’s Ball”) and Charlize Theron (“Monster”) had to wait a year for a BAFTA nom even when they were unstoppable for American trophies. Denzel Washington has had a number of his films be ineligible the year of their American release, which explains in part why he has never received a BAFTA nomination. This year though is not one of those years as “Fences” earned a nomination for Viola Davis, and so Washington’s exclusion was simply due to not receiving enough votes.
Predict the BAFTA winners now; change them till February 12
Be sure to make your BAFTA predictions. Weigh in now with your picks so that Hollywood insiders can see how their films are faring in our Oscar odds. You can keep changing your predictions right up until just before winners are announced on February 12. And join in the fierce debate over the BAFTAs and Oscars taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our forums.
