London:
Lesbian romance drama "Carol" today led the 68th BAFTA Awards nominations with five nods including the best film and best actress for its lead star Cate Blanchett.
The movie that also topped this year's Golden Globes nominations has other nods-- Rooney Mara for the best supporting actress, Todd Hynes for the best director and Phyllis Nagy for the adapted screenplay.
The film is based on the novel "The Price of Salt" by Patricia Highsmith.
The other two frontrunners are Tom Hanks-starrer historical drama-thriller "Bridge of Spies" and "The Big Short", which garnered four nominations apiece, including the best film.
Steven Spielberg is nominated in the best director category for "Bridge of Spies" and besides Hynes, he will also face competition from last year's Academy-winning director Alejandro G Inarritu ('The Revenant'), Adam McKay ('The Big Short') and Ridley Scott ('The Martian').
Other nominations for "Bridge of Spies" are in the best supporting actor category for Mark Rylance and the original screenplay for Matthew Charman, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen.
Also nominated in the best movie category are Leonardo DiCaprio's "The Revenant" and "Spotlight".
DiCaprio will fight it out with 2015 Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne ('The Danish Girl'), Michael Fassbender ('Steve Jobs'), Matt Damon ('The Martian') and Bryan Cranston ('Trumbo').
Besides Blanchett, nominations for the best actress include Brie Larson ('Room'), Alicia Vikander ('The Danish Girl'), Saoirse Ronan ('Brooklyn') and Maggie Smith ('Lady in the Van').
Best supporting actor nominations include Benicio Del Toro ('Sicario'), Christian Bale ('The Big Short'), Idris Elba ('Beasts of No Nation') and Mark Ruffalo ('Spotlight').
Movies nominated for the outstanding British film award are "45 Years", "Amy", "Brooklyn", "The Danish Girl", "Ex Machina" and "The Lobster".
"Amy" is also nominated in the best documentary category, whose other contenders are "Cartel Land", "He named me Malala" "Listen to me Marlon" and "Sherpa".
"Inside Out", "Minions" and "Shaun the Sheep" form the nominations for the best animated film award.
Stephen Fry and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star award in 2015, announced the nominees in a live video stream from BAFTA's London headquarters on Friday morning. The awards ceremony itself will take place on Feb. 14, with Stephen Fry hosting.
Key British films such as "Brooklyn" trail with six nods, while "The Danish Girl" and "Ex-Machina" both have five.
Nominations for the best film not in the English language are "The Assassin", "Force Majeure", "Theeb", "Timbuktu" and "Wild Tales".
Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer have nominations-- Alex Garland (director) for "Ex Machina", writer-director Debbie Tucker Green for "Second Coming", "Theeb" producer Rupert Lloyd and writer/director NajiI Abu Nowar, Sean McAllister (director/producer), Elhum Shakerifar (producer) for "A Syrian Love Story" and Stephen Fingleton (writer/director) for "The Survivalist".
Besides "Bridge of Spies", other films in the best editing category are "The Big Short", "Mad Max: Fury Road", "The Martian" and "The Revenant".
Nods for production design include "Carol", "Mad Max: Fury Road", "The Martian" and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens".
The best costume design nominations are "Brooklyn", "Carol", "Cinderella", "The Danish Girl" and "Mad Max: Fury Road - Jenny Beavan".
Films competing in make up & hair category are "Brooklyn", "Carol", "The Danish Girl", "Mad Max: Fury Road" and "The Revenant".
Best sound nomination include "Bridge Of Spies", "Mad Max: Fury Road", "The Martian", "The Revenant" and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens".
"Ant-Man" has a lone nomination in special visual effects category. Others in the race are "Ex Machina", "Mad Max: Fury Road", "The Martian", "Star Wars: The Force Awakens".
