10 BAFTA nominations for "Lincoln"

Writer: Peter Chai

"Lincoln" leads this year's BAFTA Awards with 10 nominations.

10 Jan – BAFTA Awards has just announced this year's nominees and nominations, and Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg's American historical drama "Lincoln" is leading the race with 10 nominations, according to The Guardian.

"Lincoln" chronicles the well-known story of the late United States President Abraham Lincoln, played by two-time Academy Award winner Daniel Day Lewis, focusing on the President's efforts in January 1865 to end slavery in particular. The film had its feet in the category like Best Film, Best Leading Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay and five more, but surprisingly, Spielberg was not nominated for Best Director.

Meanwhile, directors Ang Lee and Tom Hooper too have something to cheer about as "Life Of Pi" and "Les Misérables" managed to gain nine nominations respectively each, while Sam Mendes's British box office record breaker "Skyfall" received eight, which is rare, seeing that it is an action film. Last but not least, Ben Affleck's critically acclaimed Iran hostage thriller "Argo" grabbed seven nominations.

Eric Fellner of Working Title Films, who worked on "Les Misérables", admitted that shooting Hooper's musical piece was a huge risk for them so he was glad to receive the nominations.

"We knew that it was a much-loved musical and there was a large part of the world's population who were also aware of the book. But it didn't stack up as a mainstream movie because over the past decades very few (musicals) have worked. It was a big risk," said Fellner.

Ben Affleck is nominated for Best Leading Actor for "Argo".

Meanwhile, Affleck is also the contender for Best Leading Actor with "Argo", alongside Lewis ("Lincoln"), Bradley Cooper ("Silver Linings Playbook"), Hugh Jackman ("Les Misérables") and Joaquin Phoenix ("The Master").

For Best Leading Actress, Jennifer Lawrence ("Silver Linings Playbook") is competing with Emmanuelle Riva ("Amour"), Helen Mirren ("Hitchcock"), Jessica Chastain ("Zero Dark Thirty") and Marion Cotilllard ("Rust And Bone").

Jennifer Lawrence is nominated for Best Leading Actress with "Silver Linings Playbook".

The 2013 BAFTA Awards ceremony will be held in London on 10 February.