Britain: American Civil War epic Cold Mountain, already a hot tip for the Oscars, led the charge yesterday for the BAFTAS, Britain's equivalent of Hollywood's top accolades.
Starring Jude Law and Nicole Kidman, the film scooped 13 nominations, one more than The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the last in the Tolkien fantasy trilogy.
Girl with a Pearl Earring, starring Colin Firth as the painter Vermeer, was nominated in 10 categories.
One big surprise at the BAFTAS -- widely seen as a pointer to the Oscars - was the omission in the Best Actress category of Kidman, who swept all before her last year with The Hours. Instead, this year's two tipped leading women were Uma Thurman and Scarlett Johansson.
Cold Mountain co-star Law was pitted against Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, Bill Murray and Benicio Del Toro in a hotly-contested battle for the Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).
The other top Cold Mountain nominations were for Best Film, Best Director for Anthony Minghella, and Best Supporting Actress for Rene Zellweger.
Lord of the Rings could end its three years of box-office success on a triumphant note - especially for Ian McKellen who plays the wizard Gandalf. He is up for the Best Supporting Actor award.
The battle for Best Film award offered an intriguing mix: Cold Mountain and Lord of the Rings were joined in the last five by the Russell Crowe naval saga Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Lost in Translation with Bill Murray and Tim Burton's Big Fish. "Internationally the BAFTAS have grown in importance over the last five years," said comic actor Stephen Fry who will be hosting the British film industry's big night on February 15th.
The BAFTAS were once staged after the Oscars but have been switched to the run-up, ensuring that a galaxy of Hollywood stars flies to London to give their movies top international exposure before a television audience of one billion.
The BAFTAS have thus become an invaluable publicity tool for the big studios in the build-up to the Oscars.
Ticket sales at the British box office fell for the first time in more than a decade in 2003, mirroring a movie-going downturn in North America where receipts and attendance both dipped. - (Reuters)