BAFTA Awards 2024 LIVE: Oppenheimer’s Christopher Nolan wins Best Director as film scoops five gongs while Poor Things follows closely behind with four at ceremony with Prince William in attendance

Christopher Nolan (pictured above) has won the Best Director Bafta for Oppenheimer, his epic tale of how the nuclear bomb was created.

Before accepting the award from actor Hugh Grant, Nolan hugged his Irish star Cillian Murphy who played physicist J Robert Oppenheimer.

Nolan joked that his brother ‘beat him up here’ by being in a chorus of a production 40 years ago.

He paid tribute to Murphy and added to those who backed the film: ‘Thank you for taking on something dark.’

The director also acknowledged the efforts of nuclear disarmament organisations to bring peace.

Pop star Sophie, 44, ensured all eyes were on her as she took to the stage in a black and orange gown which featured a low cut sweetheart neckline.

The garment featured an expansive tulle black skirt with an asymmertical hem.

The Boy and the Heron has won the Best Animated Film Bafta.

Filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki is not at the ceremony so the award was collected by presenters Paul Mescal (above, left) and Andrew Scott (above, right).

History has been made with the film as it is the first time a Japanese feature has won in the category.

Comedy drama American Fiction has won Best Adapted Screenplay at the Bafta film awards ceremony.

American writer and former Gawker journalist Cord Jefferson (above) said winning a Bafta was ‘surreal’, and that he had his speech written for him because he did not think he would need it.

Jefferson said in a ‘risk-averse industry’, he is thankful for his film – about a novelist who spoofs the ‘black genre’ of books, which becomes a ruse he has to maintain – was made.

This year’s Bafta film awards have already delivered some historic moments.

Robert Downey Jr (above) has set a new record for the longest gap between wins by any performer.

The previous record was 27 years, set by Sir Anthony Hopkins in 2021 when he won the award for best actor for The Father, nearly three decades after his 1994 win for Shadowlands.

History has also been made with the award for best animation, which went to The Boy and the Heron, the first time a Japanese film has won this category.

Thelma Schoonmaker has missed out on becoming the first person to win the award for best editing three times, however.

She had been nominated this year for Killers of the Flower Moon, having won previously for Raging Bull in 1982 and Goodfellas in 1991, all films directed by her long-time collaborator Martin Scorsese.

The award instead went to fellow American editor Susan Shopmaker, for her work on The Holdovers.

Courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall won the first award of the night when it scored the prize for Original Screenplay.

Co-writer and director Justine Triet (pictured above, left) said: ‘The last time I was in London, a woman said to me, “After I saw your movie I called my ex and told him to see it to understand why I dumped him”.

‘Someone else said, “Did you put a mic in my kitchen?”‘

Gesturing to her co-writer and real-life partner Arthur Harari (pictured above, right), Triet said ‘I would like to make a statement tonight: it’s a fiction and we are reasonably fine.’

Harari referred to the plot of the courtroom drama when he joked that he had recently found himself near a window in an attic.

He added: ‘I want this room as my witness, if something happens to me, I loved insulating that attic and I’m quite happy tonight.’

Composer Ludwig Goransson (above) has won the Bafta for Original Score for epic biopic Oppenheimer, while Johnnie Burn and Tarn Willers scooped the honour for best sound for Holocaust film The Zone Of Interest.

In addition to Robert Downey Jr winning the Best Supporting Actor Bafta for his role as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer, the film has also won another two of its 13 nominations so far.

The film’s cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema (above) took home the Cinematography Bafta, with film editor Jennifer Lame (below) taking home the Best Editing prize.

Robert Downey Jr has won the Best Supporting Actor Bafta for his role as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer.

Collecting the gong, he joked he was going to tell the story of ‘the entirety of my life in 20 seconds’.

Gesturing to director Christopher Nolan, he said: ‘Recently that dude suggested I attempt an understated approach as a last ditch effort to resurrect my dwindling credibility.’

He said he owes the award to Nolan, producer Emma Thomas and star Cillian Murphy, as well as ‘British influence’.

Cillian Murphy, Claire Foy and Barry Keoghan are among the BAFTA nominees who will attend the star-studded ceremony on Sunday.

Irish stars Cillian and Barry are both nominated in the Best Actor category for their turns in Oppenheimer and Saltburn respectively.

The Crown star Claire is nominated for the Best Supporting Actress prize for her performance in All Of Us Strangers, Andrew Haigh’s searing drama about grief and loneliness.

Also in attendance will be Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan, who are both nominated for their roles in Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, and Colman Domingo, who is nominated for his role in Rustin, as the man who helped Martin Luther King Jr and others organise the 1963 March on Washington.

Carey’s Best Actress rivals Margot Robbie, who is nominated for Barbie; Emma Stone, who is nominated for Poor Things; Sandra Huller, who is nominated for Anatomy Of A Fall; Fantasia Barrino, who is nominated for The Colour Purple and Vivian Oparah, recognised for British romantic comedy Rye Lane, will also be in attendance.

Her multi-textured dress boasted a satin panel down the front, with velvet on the sides and a sequinned bodice.

Margot added a pair of black velvet evening gloves for extra glamour and dangling diamond teardrop earrings.

Prince William was seen chatting with Cate Blanchett after arriving at the bash, with the actress set to present an award this eveing.

Actress Cate, 54, wore an elegant red gown as she hugged the Prince of Wales before the pair sat alongside each other for a chat.

Elsewhere, while All Of Us Strangers’ Andrew Scott was a notable absence from the best actor nominees this year, he be in attendance at the ceremony as a presenter, alongside co-star Paul Mescal, who is nominated for the supporting actor prize.

Other famous faces due to present include David Beckham, Dua Lipa, Hugh Grant, Idris Elba and Daisy Edgar Jones.

Designer Vera Wang (pictured below) hailed the fashion of the Princess of Wales (pictured above at the 2018 BAFTAs) at previous Bafta ceremonies as ‘always elegant’.

On the red carpet, Wang told the PA news agency that the Met Gala in the US has ‘scale’ but for her the British film industry event has ‘talent’, and the royals.

She also said: ‘I think, you know, she’s (Kate is) always elegant and she’s always very, very individual (and) personal (about) how she dresses, but at the same time, she’s very respectful of who she is.

‘And I find that’s not always an easy walk, and I think for her she does this so beautifully.’

Initially, it was thought he would miss the event at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall but he is thought to be keen to represent both himself and his wife.

Kate had surgery on January 16 at the London Clinic and has since returned to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor to be with their three children.

Christopher Nolan’s epic biopic about atomic bomb creator J Robert Oppenheimer dominated the main categories when nominations were announced on Thursday, with nods for Best Film and for Nolan in Best Director.

In comparison, Oppenheimer’s box office rival Barbie received just five nominations and was notably snubbed in the Best Film category.

They will battle it out with Bradley Cooper for Maestro, Colman Domingo for Rustin, Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers and Teo Yoo for Past Lives.

Cilian’s co-stars Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr are also nominated in the Supporting categories.

Oppenheimer, which was a box office juggernaut when it was released in cinemas last year on the same day as Barbie – sparking the Barbenheimer phenomenon – will compete for Best Film against Yorgos Lanthimos’s gothic fairytale Poor Things, which scored 11 nods and is the second most nominated film this year.

Emily Atack looked radient in a flowing cream gown that featured keyhole cut-out detail across her chest.

The Inbetweeners star, 34, is expecting her first child with scientist Dr Alistair Garner, who is also a step-cousin she grew up with.

And looking glowing, the expectant mother beamed on the red carpet while cradling her gorgeous bump.

Cillian Murphy was all smiles as he made his arrival on the carpet looking handsome as always.

In what could be a successful night for Oppenheimer, Cillian hid his nerves behind his grinning smile.

Here is EVERYTHING you need to know about this years’ 77th British Academy Film Awards…

Who is hosting the annual awards?

David Tennant is making his hosting debut

Who has bagged most nominations?

Oppenheimer looks to sweep the board after receiving a mammoth 13 nominations in total.

In comparison, Oppenheimer’s box office rival Barbie received just five nominations and was notably snubbed in the Best Film category.

Also in the running is French courtroom drama Anatomy Of A Fall, Martin Scorsese’s western crime thriller Killers Of The Flower Moon and The Holdovers, about a cranky prep school teacher forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a troubled student.

What celebs will be gracing the red carpet?

Cillian Murphy, Claire Foy and Barry Keoghan are among the BAFTA nominees who will attend the star-studded ceremony on Sunday.

Irish stars Cillian and Barry are both nominated in the Best Actor category for their turns in Oppenheimer and Saltburn respectively.

Who will present awards this year?

David Beckham, Dua Lipa, Hugh Grant, Idris Elba, Cate Blanchett and Daisy Edgar Jones, Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal.

Daisy Edgar Jones led the stars on the star-studded BAFTA red carpet as she made her way into the event wearing a racy maroon gown.

Joining her on the carpet, Lily Collins and Meg Bellamy dazzled in long black gowns as they posed up a storm before heading into the ceremony.

David Tennant, who is hosting the event for the first time, wiped away his nerves with a beaming smile as he arrived with his gorgeous wife Georgia by his side in support.