Hayley Atwell slams ‘sexist’ Bafta awards

London: Hayley Atwell has accused the Baftas of sexism for failing to include any women on the shortlist for the Rising Star award. The ‘Captain America’ star expressed her disappointment that no actresses are on the shortlist of five for the category at the British film awards.

“There were girls on the longlist and I think it’s really odd that girls haven’t made it where guys have,” a leading daily has quoted Atwell as saying at a pre-Baftas dinner at the St Pancras Renaissance hotel in London. “We’d hope that gender doesn’t really come into it and it’s about the body of work that they produce that year, but it seems that hasn’t been the case,” she said. The longlist of eight included Jessica Chastain, Felicity Jones and Jennifer Lawrence. Atwell, 29, said Jones, the former star of ‘The Archers’, deserved to have been shortlisted for her acclaimed performance in ‘Like Crazy’. “Felicity Jones should have been nominated,” she said. ANI