Nominees for British Independent Film Awards announced

The nominees for the 17th annual Moët British Independent Film Awards have been announced, and it’s hardly any surprise that there are a number of Potter-related connections to be found!

Both nominated for Best Actor are Brendan Gleeson (Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody) for his role in Calvary and Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew) for his role in Mr. Turner.

Meanwhile, among the nominees for Best Supporting Actress is Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge) for her role in Pride, which also stars Harry Potter actors Bill Nighy (Rufus Scrimgeour) and Jessie Cave (Lavender Brown), as well as actress Monica Dolan, who will be portraying Tess Wall in the television adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy. Also nominated for Best Supporting Actress are Maggie Gyllenhaal for Frank, which also stars Domhnall Gleeson (Bill Weasley), and Dorothy Atkinson for Mr. Turner.

Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw has been nominated for Best Actress and Most Promising Newcomer for her role in Belle. The film also stars Harry Potter actor Tom Felton.

Two actors have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for their roles in Pride: Andrew Scott and Ben Schnetzer, the latter of whom has also been nominated for Most Promising Newcomer. Also nominated for Best Supporting Actor are Michael Fassbender for his role in Frank and Rafe Spall (son of Timothy Spall) for his role in X+Y.

The nominees for Best Director include John Michael McDonagh for Calvary, Lenny Abrahamson for Frank, Matthew Warchus for Pride, and Mike Leigh for Mr. Turner. There’s another Harry Potter connection here, too: McDonagh’s brother, Martin McDonagh, is the playwright of The Cripple of Inishmaan, in which Daniel Radcliffe starred on both Broadway and the West End.

Nominated for the award for Best Screenplay are John Michael McDonagh for Calvary, Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan for Frank, and Stephen Beresford for Pride.

Among the nominees for Best Technical Achievement are Dick Pope, in the area of cinematography, for Mr, Turner and Stephen Rennicks, on music, for Frank.

Additionally, Calvary, Mr Turner, and Pride were all three nominated for Best British Independent Film.

The late Richard Harris, who portrayed Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films, gives his name to an award “for outstanding contribution by an actor to British Film,” the selection process of which is

to be decided by the Advisory Committee with the input of the Harris family.

Finally, listed among the “[p]roud supporters and patrons of [t]he Moët British Independent Film Awards” is actor David Thewlis (Remus Lupin).

The awards ceremony will be held on December 7.

For a full list of nominees and more information on the awards, you can find the official press release here.

Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees!

Are you excited to see the projects of so many Harry Potter cast members represented in the nominations? Let us know in the comments!