'La La Land' dominates BAFTA film nominations

Pic Courtesy: Movie Still

London: After a golden run of winning seven honours at the 74th Golden Globe Awards in the US, "La La Land" has received the maximum nominations for the British Academy Film Awards with 11 nods.

The Hollywood musical is up for Best Film, while its lead actors Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are up for Best Actor and Actress awards at the gala, to be organised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) at the Royal Albert Hall here on February 12, reports bbc.com.

Philosophical sci-fi film "Arrival" and Tom Ford's dark drama "Nocturnal Animals" have nine nominations.

Ken Loach's "I, Daniel Blake" is up for both the Best Film and Best British Film awards. The drama received an additional nod for its screenplay while Hayley Squires, who plays a single mother in the film, is up for Best Supporting Actress.

"Arrival", "La La Land" and "I, Daniel Blake" are joined in the Best Film category by "Manchester By The Sea" and "Moonlight".

"Harry Potter" spin-off "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" has five nominations in all.

Emma Stone, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Amy Adams and Natalie Portman compete in the Best Actress category, while Gosling and Andrew Garfield are in competition with Casey Affleck, Jake Gyllenhaal and Viggo Mortensen for the Best Actor award.

Hugh Grant, who appears with Streep in "Florence Foster Jenkins", is joined in the supporting actor category by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Dev Patel.

"This Bafta nomination today truly means so much to me," Patel said in a statement. "My family is literally freaking out right now!"

Naomie Harris is also shortlisted for the supporting Actress ward for her work in independent film "Moonlight". Viola Davis, Nicole Kidman and Michelle Williams received nominations in that category as well.

Director Damien Chazelle ("La La Land") is BAFTA-shortlisted in both the director and original screenplay categories.

Kenneth Lonergan and Tom Ford also receive dual director and screenplay nods for "Manchester By The Sea" and "Nocturnal Animals" respectively.

Denis Villeneuve ("Arrival") joins Chazelle, Ford, Loach and Lonergan in the Best Director category.

The Disney studio dominates the animated film category, scoring three of the four nominations with "Finding Dory", "Moana" and "Zootropolis".

The nominations follow last week's unveiling of the five actors in contention for this year's Rising Star prize. A public vote will decide whether Laia Costa, Lucas Hedges, Tom Holland, Ruth Negga or Anya Taylor-Joy receive the award.

This year's nominations were announced by Dominic Cooper and "Game of Thrones" star Sophie Turner at BAFTA's central London headquarter on Tuesday.

Cooper said he could understand why people were "raving" about "La La Land", praising its "gorgeous, skilful performances".

Amanda Berry, chief executive of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, said it had been "a really exciting year for films".