The conventional wisdom at the BAFTA Awards is to bet on the Brits, but does that always hold true? Tom O’Neil warns in our latest predictions slugfest, “Why do we just have to automatically assume the British movie wins? … It doesn’t always go to the British movie.” Just look at recent champs like “Argo” (2012), “Boyhood” (2014) and “La La Land” (2016) — none of them British. So did he give Chris Beachum, Susan Wloszczyna and Daniel Montgomery second thoughts about predicting “The Favourite” for Best Picture? Find out by watching above.
“I think it might wind up winning a ton of BAFTA Awards,” says Beachum about “The Favourite.” “It just feels like the type of thing they normally choose.” Indeed, as Wloszczyna notes, “It’s about royalty. You can’t get more British than that.” The film tells a fictionalized version of the story of Queen Anne (played by Olivia Colman), whose advisors (Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz) battle for her affections. The film is currently predicted to win six awards in addition to Best Picture. Would it really win that many without claiming the top prize?
Montgomery has been wondering the same thing, He thinks it’s a two-way race between “The Favourite” and “Roma” that’s almost too close to call. “I’ve been split back and forth between these two for so long,” he explains. “I switched to ‘Roma.’ I switched back to ‘The Favourite.’ I might switch back to ‘Roma’ … I think it’s really neck-and-neck.”
“Roma” is the current Oscar front-runner. It won two Golden Globes. It won the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Picture. And it took the Directors Guild Award for Alfonso Cuaron. “The Favourite” hasn’t notched nearly as many wins in the awards derby thus far. Is the home field advantage for the British film really strong enough to overcome all that — forgive the pun — “Romentum”?
Be sure to make your BAFTA predictions so that studio executives and top name stars can see how their films are faring in our odds. You can keep changing your predictions until just before winners are announced on February 10. And join in the fierce debate over the 2019 BAFTAs taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our film forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
