Olivia Colman goes head to head with Glenn Close at Bafta film awards

British favourite Olivia Colman will go head to head with Oscar-tipped Glenn Close when the Bafta film awards are handed out today.

The Broadchurch star, who already has three Bafta television awards, is in the running for the best actress prize for her role as Queen Anne in black comedy The Favourite, which leads the nominations with 12 nods, including for best film and outstanding British film.

Colman, who has already won a Golden Globe and Critic’s Choice award for her performance, will compete against SAG and Golden Globe winner Close for The Wife, as well as Lady Gaga for A Star Is Born, Melissa McCarthy for Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Viola Davis for Widows.

Gaga will be absent from the ceremony because she is performing at the Grammys in Los Angeles but Colman, Close, McCarthy and Davis are all due to attend.

Colman’s co-stars Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone have both received nods in the supporting actress category, and director Yorgos Lanthimos is also nominated.

Also expected to attend the ceremony is Christian Bale, who received a nod in the leading actor category for his turn as Dick Cheney in Vice.

He faces competition from Rami Malek, who is nominated in the same category for his role in Queen film Bohemian Rhapsody, as well as Bradley Cooper for A Star Is Born, Steve Coogan for Stan And Ollie and Viggo Mortensen for Green Book.

They will be joined at the star-studded ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who are expected to brave the cold to walk the red carpet.

William, who is the president of Bafta, will present the Academy’s highest accolade, the Fellowship, to film editor Thelma Schoonmaker.

Other stars due to attend the ceremony include Cate Blanchett, Gary Oldman, Ellen Page, Jamie Bell and Richard Madden.

Along with Weisz and Stone, Amy Adams, Claire Foy and Margot Robbie are nominated in the supporting actress category for their roles in Vice, First Man and Mary, Queen of Scots respectively.

Withnail & I star Richard E. Grant could win his first Bafta after picking up a supporting actor nod for Can You Ever Forgive Me? but faces competition from Adam Driver for BlacKkKlansman, Mahershala Ali for Green Book, Sam Rockwell for Vice and Timothee Chalamet for Beautiful Boy.

Cooper is also nominated in the best director category for his filmmaking debut A Star Is Born, and he will compete against Spike Lee for BlacKkKlansman, Pawel Pawlikowski for Cold War and Lanthimos for The Favourite.

Along with The Favourite, the best film nominees are BlacKkKlansman, Green Book, Roma and A Star Is Born.

The Favourite also has a shot at scooping the outstanding British film gong, but will have to face off against Beast, Bohemian Rhapsody, McQueen, Stan And Ollie, and You Were Never Really Here.

It remains to be seen if the fact Bafta has suspended Bryan Singer’s nomination for Bohemian Rhapsody in the wake of sexual assault allegations will impact on the film’s chances at the ceremony.

The filmmaker had been named in the outstanding British film category but the academy said his nomination has been suspended “effective immediately”.

Singer is the only credited director of the Freddie Mercury biopic, even though he was fired from the production before it concluded and was replaced by Dexter Fletcher.

The suspension comes after a report in the US emerged alleging that Singer sexually assaulted four men while they were under-age, which he has denied.

Bafta said the suspension of Singer’s nomination will “remain in place until the outcome of the allegations has been resolved”.

The Bafta Film Awards will be hosted by Joanna Lumley at the Royal Albert Hall on February 10.