12 snubs and surprises from the 2021 BAFTA nominations

The best director category is stacked this year, so some filmmakers were always likely to miss out at some awards groups.

However, all three of these filmmakers were strongly tipped for nominations. David Fincher is a beloved filmmaker who has been nominated everywhere so far for his movie "Mank," while Emerald Fennell ("Promising Young Woman") and Aaron Sorkin ("The Trial of the Chicago 7") both saw their movies nominated for best picture at the BAFTAs. It's therefore a little surprising to see them miss out in this category.

Following that trio of snubbed directors is a quintet of snubbed supporting actress.

Amanda Seyfried ("Mank"), Glenn Close ("Hillbilly Elegy"), Olivia Colman ("The Father"), Jodie Foster ("The Mauritanian"), and Helena Zengel ("News of the World") have all performed strongly this awards season.

In fact, they've done so well that it wouldn't be a shock at all if these were the nominees instead of the women who were actually nominated. That goes to show the strength of this category this year.

Most shocking was Colman's snub — BAFTA love Colman, and "The Father" was nominated for best film, so it's straight up weird to see her name missing from the list. The omission of presumed Oscar front runner Golden Globe winner Jodie Foster is also a big surprise here.

Carey Mulligan has set awards season alight with her fierce performance in "Promising Young Woman," and BAFTA previously awarded her best actress for "An Education" in 2009, so they clearly like her.

Meanwhile, Viola Davis has been picking up nods all over the place for her showy role in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."

However, both missed out on BAFTA noms despite being Frances McDormand's closest competitors for the best actress Oscar. Good news for "Nomadland" actress McDormand.

Bukky Bakray ("Rocks"), Wunmi Mosaku ("His House"), and Alfre Woodard ("Clemency") were all nominated in their stead.

Gary Oldman is a big shock here given that he has picked up nominations everywhere so far for a very popular awards movie in "Mank," while BAFTA positively adore him (he has five BAFTA noms and three wins to his name). But, still, he became another British acting favorite to go missing.

Also not on the list is Steven Yeun, who has picked up some steam in recent weeks following his nomination at SAG. "Minari" had a good showing at BAFTA in general with six nominations in total, including supporting nods for Alan Kim and Yuh-Jung Youn, but Yeun couldn't quite make the line-up. His Oscar hopes may now hang in the balance.

Adarsh Gourav ("The White Tiger"), Mads Mikkelsen ("Another Round"), and Golden Globe nominee Tahar Rahim ("The Mauritanian") were nominated in their stead

One person who has been thriving so far this season is Sacha Baron Cohen. He picked up four Golden Globe nominations and two wins thanks to his movies "The Trial of the Chicago 7" and "Borat Subsequent MovieFilm."

He also landed a SAG nomination for the former and a PGA nod for the latter. There was no room for him here, however. His "Borat" costar Maria Bakalova got in for supporting actress, but no sign of Baron Cohen.

This is a big shock in general, given that BAFTA tend to go out of their way to nominate British stars in the big categories. But this year, major British talent such as Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Carey Mulligan, Olivia Colman, and Sacha Baron Cohen were all snubbed.

Although some other, lesser-known British stars were nominated in their place, it is surprising that BAFTA voters didn't throw their weight behind these British favorites.

Delroy Lindo and "Da 5 Bloods" haven't done quite as well as many thought they would this awards season, so it's no longer a surprise to see them left off of awards nominations lists.

However, if Spike Lee's movie was going to get a nomination, it seemed a sure thing that that nom would go to Lindo. Instead, BAFTA ignored Lindo and nominated Clarke Peters in his stead.

"Rocks" earned the joint most nominations from BAFTA this year with seven in total, yet you'd be forgiven for having never heard of the movie.

The indie British movie actually first premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, so it's strange to see it nominated at the 2021 BAFTAs. Its wide release in September 2020, however, qualified it for the awards.

Its been an awards darling so far, but for a movie as small as this one to get seven BAFTA nominations is always surprising.

Its nominations include best director for Sarah Gavron, best supporting actress for Kosar Ali, and best actress for Bukky Bakray. All three women got in above some major Hollywood talent, so their respective nominations are as impressive as they are surprising.

"Another Round" has steadily been picking up nominations for best international feature/best foreign language film, which is no surprise.

It earned that nomination here at BAFTA, where the category is called best film not in the English language, but what was surprising is that it also earned three further nominations in original screenplay, best director for Thomas Vinterberg, and best actor for Mads Mikkelsen

These are huge categories for a movie like "Another Round" to land nods in.

"Minari" actor Alan Kim broke down in tears in this awards season's most adorable moment so far just after he won at the Critics Choice awards, and he'll be equally thrilled with this nomination.

At the Critics Choice awards, he won best young performer — here at BAFTA, he was nominated for best supporting actor in one of the most competitive categories. It's another huge achievement — not too many child actors get into these major categories.

Daniel Kaluuya has been picking up nods for best supporting actor for his fierce turn in this movie, and after his Golden Globes win he is likely the Oscar front runner to take home the award.

However, his costar Dominique Fishback has gone under the radar so far — this is her first major nomination this awards season. She got in over a host of hotly-tipped actresses, too, as aforementioned, so it's a pleasant surprise to see her name alongside Kaluuya's in these lists.

Like best supporting actress, best actress had several surprises in it's listings, inlcuding Bukky Bakray for "Rocks."

However, "Rocks" was loved across the board by BAFTA, so the major nominations made sense. Netflix movie "His House" was only nominated for two other awards — best British film and outstanding debut for director and writer Remi Weekes.

So the best actress nod for star Bukky Bakray, while deserved, was a shock when you consider who missed out.