"Gravity" Floats Away With 11 BAFTA Nominations

"Gravity" leads all films this year with 11 nominations including best film and outstanding British film.         

              

The space blockbuster "Gravity" crashed into cloud 9 Wednesday morning after receiving 11 EE British Academy Film Award (BAFTAs) nominations, the most of any film this year.

"Gravity" was nominated for best film, outstanding British film, best director, best actress for its star, Sandra Bullock, and best original screenplay, and six technical nods. The film was a co-production between the British company Heyday Films and the Mexican company Esperanto films.

In addition to his nomination for directing, Alfonso Cuarón earned the most individual nominations this year with five, earning his four other nominations as a producer, writer and editor of the film. He shares his nomination for outstanding British film with producer David Heyman and co-writer, his son, Jonas Cuarón. This bring Alfonso's total BAFTA nominations up to nine.

Not far behind in nominations was "12 Years a Slave" and "American Hustle" earning 10 each, both competing for best film and best director. While "12 Years" sought three acting nods (actor- Chiwetel Ejiofor, supp. actor- Michael Fassbender and supp actress- Lupita Nyong'o), "American Hustle" earned a nomination in all of the acting categories (leads Amy Adams and Christian Bale, supporting for Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper). The "American Hustle" cast earned the same nominations at the Golden Globes, with Adams and Bale competing in the comedic races.

Movie review: 'Rush' Runs on Empty

Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl portray dueling F1 racers John Hunt and Niki Lauda in 'Rush'. (Universal Pictures)

In their first collaboration since the Oscar-nominated "Frost/Nixon" in 2008, director Ron Howard and screenwriter Peter Morgan team up for an action movie of sorts. Their first effort was a political power struggle, this time it's the feud between the top two Formula One racers in the 1976 season; James Hunt and Niki Lauda.

The two drivers couldn't be more different. Hunt is a somewhat privileged English guy who likes the partying lifestyle and the ladies (one of the first scenes is him having sex with a nurse after being treated for fighting over another man's woman). Lauda, from a wealthy Austrian family of bankers, is a more shut-in personality. He doesn't like parties, he's disciplined, and he takes the world of racing very seriously.

Naturally, this makes a great premise for Morgan whose writing often deals with two opposites going head-to-head in some sort of battle (see "The Queen," "The Last King of Scotland," "Longford," etc.).

The story of Hunt and Lauda's feud would be largely unknown to those that don't follow the world of racing, which is a shame because it was probably one of the best sports feuds of the '70s, if not of all time. When the movie starts we see them preparing for the 1976 German Grand Prix at Nüburgring, the race that almost killed Lauda, and it was a boring way to introduce two people who don't like each other. It even shows it in the trailer and TV spots.