A Day At BAFTA HQ: Details From EE ‘Rising Star’ Award Nominations

January kicks off the film and television awards season, where directors, stars, critics and fans gather to find out who has been deemed The Best from the past 12 months. Yesterday I ventured into London – more specifically, the BAFTA HQ in Picadilly – to attend the announcement of the nominees who are in the running for the EE 2013 Rising Star Award.

With past winners including James McAvoy, Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy and 2012’s Adam Deacon, it really isn’t surprising that this year’s list will be a tough one to call. Fighting it out against each other for this prestigious award are:

– Elizabeth Olsen: MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE (2011), SILENT HOUSE (2011), LIBERAL ARTS (2012).
– Andrea Riseborough: NEVER LET ME GO (2010), W.E. (2012), OBLIVION (2013).
– Alicia Vikander: A ROYAL AFFAIR (2012), ANNA KARENINA (2012), SEVENTH SON (2013).
– Juno Temple: ATONEMENT (2007), KILLER JOE (2011), THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012). **WINNER!!**
– Suraj Sharma: LIFE OF PI (2012).

After last year’s list consisting of five men (Deacon, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Chris O’Dowd and Eddie Redmayne) it’s certainly refreshing to see 2013’s list full of talented women! Temple, who’s had a very full and varied career so far (and she’s only 23!), attended the announcement ceremony and had this to say about being part of the list:

‘I feel so honoured to be up there with those people. They’re actors I’ve been watching and I’m inspired by them. Some of their films are so fantastic. I’m just honoured to have this nomination…I love that it’s a nomination about your body of work and what you’ve been doing, and people are excited about the decisions you’re making and what you’ve done so far in your career. It’s an encouragement to keep doing what you’re doing!’

When asked whether she has a preference on what types of films/genres she likes to work in, Juno said:

‘I want to try everything! I really do. I think you don’t know what you like until you’ve tried it and if it goes wrong, you just fall down and get back up again. I want to try new things, always…I’d love to try doing a musical at some point! But that’s the fun thing about this – you get challenged and sometimes you realise “Oh, I can do this!” or “Oh, I can’t do this!”‘

Back to the award. We had a brief discussion with the very busy Pippa Harris, the EE Rising Star award jury chair and Deputy Chair of BAFTA’s Film Committee. On the contrasting lists from 2012 and 2013, Pippa said:

‘You want a list that reflects the society we live in and the stars of the future. I’m just really excited by the five we’ve got this year because I think they’re so different. They’ve all got star potential but you couldn’t actually – I don’t think – pick out the actual winner from that list. They’ve all got a chance, they’ve all got their own followings…they’re all real contenders in the movie world these days.’

Lastly, we had very relaxed chat with film critic and author Mark Kermode. On what he thought of this year’s list, he said:

‘We did a blind vote [for the nominees shortlist], so we didn’t know. I only just found out, just now, when they announced the nominations who these were, which was lovely because you sit there and go “Oh great, them! Oh, and them! Oh, and them as well!” I think it’s a really good list. Obviously I’m biased…but I do think it’s a good list. Any one of those people would be a worthy winner.’

On what he thinks of the debate on whether film critics should have a say when it comes to award ceremonies, Mark said that he felt that there may come a point in time that BAFTA don’t want them involved anymore, but that at the moment he’s ‘very proud’ to be a part of it:

“I like doing it and I like being part of the discussion. I do think, actually, that film criticism does benefit from spending some time around people who make the films and attempting to understand how things work. I mean, in the end, film critics can’t tell film makers how to make films work. The worst type of film critics are the ones who think they’re film makers – they’re not. The worst film I’ve ever seen, I couldn’t have made. The standard is: you’re a film critic. Could you have made the film any better – no. I couldn’t make a film to save my life! I have nothing but admiration of anyone who ever gets any film made, ever!”

So we won’t be seeing Kermode’s name on the Best Director shortlist any time soon…

The official hashtag for the award is #EERisingStar and the ceremony hashtag is #EEBAFTAs, EE’s Twitter handle is @EE. For more information on the EE Rising Star Award go to ee.co.uk/bafta

• The winner will be announced at the EE British Academy Film Awards ceremony on Sunday 10 February 2013
• Nominees were selected by an influential group of jurors including Pippa Harris, Deputy Chairman of BAFTA’s Film Committee, director Kevin Macdonald, actor Benedict Cumberbatch and film critic Mark Kermode
• Voting is now open to the public at ee.co.uk/bafta