The Favourite rules roost with 10 nominations at London critics awards

Olivia Colman’s royal comedy leads a pack that includes Rupert Everett’s The Happy Prince, while Hollywood big-hitter Vice only scores two nods

Rachel Weisz, left, with Olivia Colman in The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, left, with Olivia Colman in The Favourite – both stars are nominated for supporting actress and actress of the year respectively. Photograph: Yorgos Lanthimos/Allstar/FILM4

The Favourite has maintained its early season momentum in the awards race as it emerged at the head of the pack in the nominations for the London Film Critics’ Circle awards. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, the comedy drama of 18th-century court intrigue scooped 10 nods, including film, director and screenwriter of the year. Colman and Weisz were also nominated for actress and supporting actress of the year respectively.

Four films, with five nominations each, followed in its wake: Pawel Pawlikowski’s decades-spanning romance Cold War, Rupert Everett’s Oscar Wilde biopic The Happy Prince, Alfonso Cuarón’s Mexico City memoir Roma and Lynne Ramsay’s mercenary thriller You Were Never Really Here. All four are nominated for film of the year, with Pawlikowski, Cuarón and Ramsay up for the director prize and Cuarón also for screenwriter of the year.

Christian Bale in Vice
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Christian Bale in Vice – Bale is nominated for actor of the year. Photograph: Allstar/ANNAPURNA PICTURES

The list is notable for the poor showing of a number of Hollywood big-hitters who presumably will be in the mix in the American awards lists: political comedy Vice, leader of the Golden Globes list, only scored two nods here, both for lead actor Christian Bale, while music-business romance A Star Is Born and feelgood race drama Green Book are entirely absent. On the other hand, space-exploration biopic First Man secured four nominations, as did Steve McQueen’s heist yarn Widows.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 20 January.

Full list of nominations

Film of the year
BlacKkKlansman
Cold War
The Favourite
First Man
First Reformed
The Happy Prince
Leave No Trace
Roma
Shoplifters
You Were Never Really Here

Foreign-language film of the year
120 Beats per Minute
Cold War
A Fantastic Woman
Roma
Shoplifters

Documentary of the year
Faces Places
McQueen
They Shall Not Grow Old
Three Identical Strangers
Whitney

British/Irish film of the year
Apostasy
Beast
The Favourite
The Happy Prince
You Were Never Really Here

Director of the year
Alfonso Cuarón - Roma
Debra Granik - Leave No Trace
Yorgos Lanthimos - The Favourite
Pawel Pawlikowski - Cold War
Lynne Ramsay - You Were Never Really Here

Screenwriter of the year
Alfonso Cuarón - Roma
Deborah Davis & Tony McNamara - The Favourite
Barry Jenkins - If Beale Street Could Talk
Steve McQueen & Gillian Flynn - Widows
Paul Schrader - First Reformed

Actress of the year
Yalitza Aparicio - Roma
Glenn Close - The Wife
Toni Collette - Hereditary
Olivia Colman - The Favourite
Joanna Kulig - Cold War

Actor of the year
Christian Bale - Vice
Rupert Everett - The Happy Prince
Ben Foster - Leave No Trace
Ethan Hawke - First Reformed
Joaquin Phoenix - You Were Never Really Here

Supporting actress of the year
Elizabeth Debicki - Widows
Cynthia Erivo - Bad Times at the El Royale
Claire Foy - First Man
Regina King - If Beale Street Could Talk
Rachel Weisz - The Favourite

Supporting actor of the year
Adam Driver - BlacKkKlansman
Richard E Grant - Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Michael B Jordan - Black Panther
Daniel Kaluuya - Widows
Alessandro Nivola - Disobedience

British/Irish actress of the year
Emily Blunt - Mary Poppins Returns, A Quiet Place, Sherlock Gnomes
Jessie Buckley - Beast
Olivia Colman - The Favourite
Claire Foy - First Man, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, Unsane
Rachel Weisz - Disobedience, The Favourite

British/Irish actor of the year
Christian Bale - Mowgli, Vice
Steve Coogan - Holmes & Watson, Ideal Home, Stan & Ollie
Rupert Everett - The Happy Prince
Richard E Grant - Can You Ever Forgive Me, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
Daniel Kaluuya - Black Panther, Widows

Young British/Irish performer of the year
Liv Hill - Jellyfish, The Little Stranger
Noah Jupe - Holmes & Watson, A Quiet Place, That Good Night, The Titan
Anya Taylor-Joy - Glass, The Secret of Marrowbone, Thoroughbreds
Fionn Whitehead - The Children Act
Molly Wright - Apostasy

Breakthrough British/Irish film-maker
Deborah Davis - The Favourite
Rupert Everett - The Happy Prince
Deborah Haywood - Pin Cushion
Daniel Kokotajlo - Apostasy
Michael Pearce - Beast

British/Irish short film
Little Shit - Richard Gorodecky
Night Out - Amelia Hashemi
Salt & Sauce - Alia Ghafar
Three Centimetres - Lara Zeidan
Under Growth - Evin O’Neill

Technical achievement award
American Animals - film editing,
BlacKkKlansman - costume design
Cold War - cinematography
The Favourite - production design
First Man - visual effects
If Beale Street Could Talk - music
Mission: Impossible Fallout - stunts
A Quiet Place - sound design
Suspiria - music
You Were Never Really Here - film editing

Dilys Powell award for excellence in film
Pedro Almodóvar