UNITED KINGDOM: "The Queen" rules at British film award BAFTA nominations

James Bond will take on Her Majesty at the British film awards, with "Casino Royale" garnering nine BAFTA nominations on Friday (January 12), just one behind frontrunner "The Queen". Stephen Frears was on the best director shortlist for "The Queen", and Helen Mirren, an Oscar favourite in the leading role, will compete in the best actress category against Judi Dench for her role in school sex drama "Notes on a Scandal", Penelope Cruz for her acclaimed performance in "Volver", Meryl Streep in fashion comedy "The Devil Wears Prada" and Kate Winslet in "Little Children". Daniel Craig, the controversial choice to replace Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, was vindicated with a nomination for best actor. "'Casino Royale' got nine nominations including best actor for Daniel Craig which is really one in the eye for all those people who said he wasn't the right person for the job," film critic Mark Kermode told the BBC. Craig will be up against Leonardo Di Caprio in "The Departed", Richard Griffiths in "The History Boys", Peter O'Toole in "Venus" and Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland", in which he portrays brutal Ugandan leader Idi Amin. In the best film category, "The Queen" is joined by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel", "The Departed", directed by Martin Scorsese, "The Last King of Scotland" and low-budget beauty pageant comedy "Little Miss Sunshine". Frears takes on directors Scorsese, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris ("Little Miss Sunshine"), Inarritu and Paul Greengrass for his fact-based Sept. 11 drama "United 93". In 2001 the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' annual awards were moved to before the Oscars, helping them to attract some of Hollywood's biggest stars hoping to generate buzz as the awards season reached its climax. "Pan's Labyrinth", a fantasy set in Spain during World War Two, garnered eight BAFTA nominations, "Babel", starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett exploring cultural and linguistic barriers, won seven, and crime thriller "The Departed", "Little Miss Sunshine" and "United 93" each won six. The awards will be handed out on Sunday 11 February at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London.

ITN Source | January 17, 2007

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