Bafta award nominations 2016: Carol and Bridge Of Spies lead, director George Miller snubbed

The 2016 British Academy Film Award nominations were announced on 8 January, with Carol and Bridge Of Spies leading the ranks with nine nods each across the categories, followed by The Revenant earning eight. British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Stephen Fry announced the titles, actors and filmmakers in the running for a Bafta (British Academy of Film and Television Arts award) via the board's website, bafta.org.

All three movies in the top rankings got themselves best film nominations, and will be competing against Adam McKay's housing crisis comedy The Big Short and Tom McCarthy's biographical drama Spotlight.

Quite unusually but not necessarily all that surprising, given how much of a buzz she's stirring up in Hollywood lately, Alicia Vikander has earned herself two acting nominations − one for her lead performance in The Danish Girl and one for her supporting role in Ex Machina. Vikander's co-star Eddie Redmayne made his way into the best actor category for his portrayal of transgender artist Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl.

But he'll face strong competition for the accolade, what with Leonardo DiCaprio being up for his role in Alejandro G Iñárritu's The Revenant, Michael Fassbender in the running for Steve Jobs, Matt Damon for Ridley Scott's blockbuster The Martian and Bryan Cranston for Trumbo. All are performances that have scooped up a huge amount of praise from critics and fans alike since their release.

Up for best actress are Cate Blanchett for her performance in Todd Haynes' romance Carol, Dame Maggie Smith for comedy The Lady In The Van, Brie Larson for Room and Saoirse Ronan for John Crowley's Brooklyn. Blanchett's Carol co-star Rooney Mara is up for supporting actress, despite the pair being mostly considered equal leads among critics.

When it comes to best animated film, it seems justified to say that Disney's Inside Out is likely to take the crown. But at the moment it remains up against Despicable Me spin-off Minions and the hugely-popular Aardman production, Shaun The Sheep Movie.

The most notable thing to take away from the nominations is that not only was Mad Max: Fury Road snubbed for best film, a category that many assumed it would make it into, but director George Miller also failed to get some recognition from the board. Not even British actor Tom Hardy was awarded some acknowledgement. It's a shame given the film's brilliance and simultaneous box-office success but at least it got a fair few nominations in other categories. The dystopian action film managed to pick up seven technical nods, including best cinematography, best editing and costume design.

The official ceremony for the 69th British Academy Film Awards will take place at London's Royal Opera House in Covent Garden on Sunday 14 February.

See below for the full list of nominations:

Best Film

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

Carol

The Revenant

Spotlight

Best Actor

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Matt Damon, The Martian

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Best Actress

Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Brie Larson, Room

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Maggie Smith, The Lady In The Van

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Best Director

Adam McKay, The Big Short

Steven Spielberg, Bridge Of Spies

Todd Haynes, Carol

Ridley Scott, The Martian

Alejandro G Iñárritu, The Revenant

Best Supporting Actor

Benicio Del Toro, Sicario

Christian Bale, The Big Short

Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation

Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight

Mark Rylance, Bridge Of Spies

Best Supporting Actress

Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight

Julie Walters, Brooklyn

Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Rooney Mara, Carol

Outstanding British Film

45 Years

Amy

Brooklyn

The Danish Girl

Ex Machina

The Lobster

Outstanding Debut by British Writer, Director or Producer

Alex Garland (director, Ex Machina)

Debbie Tucker Green (writer/director, Second Coming)

Naji Abu Nowar (writer/director, Theeb), Rupert Lloyd (producer, Theeb)

Sean McAllister (director/producer, A Syrian Love Story), Elhum Shakerifar (producer, A Syrian Love Story)

Stephen Fingleton (writer/director, The Survivalist)

Best Documentary

Amy

Cartel Land

He Named Me Malala

Listen to Me Marlon

Sherpa

Best Animated Film

Inside Out

Minions

Shaun the Sheep the Movie

Best Original Screenplay

Bridge of Spies

Ex Machina

The Hateful Eight

Inside Out

Spotlight

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Big Short

Brooklyn

Carol

Room

Steve Jobs

Best Foreign Language Film

The Assassin

Force Majeure

Theeb

Timbuktu

Wild Tales

Best Cinematography

Bridge of Spies

Carol

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant

Sicario

Best Original Music

Bridge of Spies

The Hateful Eight

The Revenant

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Editing

The Big Short, Hank Corwin

Bridge Of Spies, Michael Kahn

Mad Max: Fury Road, Margaret Sixel

The Martian, Pietro Scalia

The Revenant, Stephen Mirrione

Production Design

Bridge Of Spies, Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo

Carol, Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler

Mad Max: Fury Road, Colin Gibson, Lisa Thompson

The Martian, Arthur Max, Celia Bobak

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rick Carter, Darren Gilford, Lee Sandales

Costume Design

Brooklyn, Odile Dicks-Mireaux

Carol, Sandy Powell

Cinderella, Sandy Powell

The Danish Girl, Paco Delgado

Mad Max: Fury Road, Jenny Beavan

Make Up & Hair

Brooklyn, Morna Ferguson, Lorraine Glynn

Carol, Jerry DeCarlo, Patricia Regan

The Danish Girl, Jan Sewell

Mad Max: Fury Road, Lesley Vanderwalt, Damian Martin

The Revenant, Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, Robert Pandini

Sound

Bridge Of Spies, Drew Kunin, Richard Hymns, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom

Mad Max: Fury Road, Scott Hecker, Chris Jenkins, Mark Mangini, Ben Osmo, Gregg Rudloff, David White

The Martian, Paul Massey, Mac Ruth, Oliver Tarney, Mark Taylor

The Revenant, Lon Bender, Chris Duesterdiek, Martin Hernandez, Frank A. Montaño, Jon Taylor, Randy Thom

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, David Acord, Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, Matthew Wood, Stuart Wilson

Best Special Effects

Ant-Man, Jake Morrison, Greg Steele, Dan Sudick, Alex Wuttke

Ex Machina, Mark Ardington, Sara Bennett, Paul Norris, Andrew Whitehurst

Mad Max: Fury Road, Andrew Jackson, Dan Oliver, Tom Wood, Andy Williams

The Martian, Chris Lawrence, Tim Ledbury, Richard Stammers, Steven Warner

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Chris Corbould, Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, Neal Scanlan

British Short Film

Elephant, Nick Helm, Alex Moody, Esther Smith

Mining Poems Or Odes, Callum Rice, Jack Cocker

Operator, Caroline Bartleet, Rebecca Morgan

Over, Jörn Threlfall, Jeremy Bannister

Samuel-613, Billy Lumby, Cheyenne Conway

British Short Animation

Edmond, Nina Gantz, Emilie Jouffroy

Manoman, Simon Cartwright, Kamilla Kristiane Hodol

Prologue, Richard Williams, Imogen Sutton

The EE Rising Star Award (as voted by the public)

Bel Powley

Brie Larson

Dakota Johnson

John Boyega

Taron Egerton