Earlier this morning, HeyUGuys made our annual, early January pilgrimage to BAFTA HQ for the announcement of the EE BAFTA Rising Star awards nominations. Awarded to up and coming talent that’s just coming to mainstream attention, previous winners have included James McAvoy and Tom Hardy.
It’s also the only BAFTA award voted for by the public, which has led to some rather interesting outcomes, like the year where Noel Clarke beat Michael Fassbender. Or the year when they asked the public to nominate as well as vote, which resulted in an all male shortlist, and saw Adam Deacon triumph over Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston. Of course, history may prove the voters right, but in the short term at least, it’s a rather damning indictment of democracy.
This year, however, the chances of a popular winner looking a little silly in the long run seem to have been reduced to zero, as the nominating committee have picked by far the most impressive selection of nominees in the history of the award. They are:
- Dane DeHaan
- George MacKay
- Lupita Nyong’o
- Will Poulter
- Léa Seydoux
And although they are a truly impressive field, none of them are even close to being household names – in the UK, at least. The most well-known amongst the field are probably Poulter and DeHaan, but even they don’t really have what one could describe as a large fan base. As such, it’s very much anyone’s guess as to who will walk home on BAFTA night with a shiny gold face.
