Now in its 15th year, the Awards are voted for entirely by British film fans. The nominations are chosen by readers of Empire Magazine who cast their votes via the magazine’s website.
Two of the biggest and most revered action/thriller directors lead the way in this year’s Awards with James Cameron’s Avatar and Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds each garnering five nominations. Academy Award-nominated dramas proved equally popular with the multi-BAFTA Award-winning The Hurt Locker and District 9 receiving four nominations each whilst Up In The Air and An Education each receive three nominations.
In the running for the coveted position of Best Film (presented by Sony) are Avatar, Star Trek, District 9, Inglourious Basterds and The Hurt Locker.
Harry Brown, Sherlock Holmes and Inglourious Basterds all feature in the Best Actor category (presented by Citroën) with nominations for Sir Michael Caine and Robert Downey Jr. They are joined by Christoph Waltz with his Academy Award-nominated performance in Inglourious Basterds, Sam Worthington in Avatar and Robert Pattinson in New Moon.
The past year has also given movie fans a dazzling array of performances by a new generation of leading ladies. Zoe Saldana for her motion capture work in Avatar as Best Actress, alongside Carey Mulligan’s superb performance in An Education. They are joined by Emily Blunt in the title role of The Young Victoria, Melanie Laurent as vengeful refugee Shosanna Dreyfus in Inglourious Basterds and Anne-Marie Duff for her acclaimed performance as John Lennon’s mother in Nowhere Boy.
Avatar and Inglourious Basterds see directors James Cameron and Quentin Tarantino go head to head for the coveted title of Best Director alongside Neil Blomkamp for District 9, JJ Abrams for Star Trek and Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker.
This has been another fantastic year for British filmmaking as reflected by nominees in many of the categories. The nominees for the Best British Film Award include Daniel Barber’s Michael Caine thriller Harry Brown, Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Lone Scherfig’s An Education, Sam Taylor-Wood’s directorial debut Nowhere Boy and Armando Iannucci’s political satire In The Loop (also nominated for Best Comedy).
The awards continue to acknowledge and celebrate the emergence of new talent. This year’s nominees for Best Newcomer are: Carey Mulligan for her BAFTA Award-winning role in An Education, Aaron Johnson for his performance as a young John Lennon in Nowhere Boy, Sharlto Copley in District 9, Anna Kendrick for her roles in Up In The Air and New Moon, and Katie Jarvis in the critically acclaimed Fish Tank.
Cinemagoers were kept in stitches by films such as the hit buddy movie The Hangover, the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man, In The Loop and George Clooney’s dual roles in The Men Who Stare At Goats and Up In The Air – all of which are nominated for the Best Comedy Award.
Meanwhile, the Best Horror nominees that saw filmgoers cringing in their seats comprise of Tomas Alfredson’s Let The Right One In, Oren Peli’s terrifying Paranormal Activity, Ruben Fleischer’s comedy horror Zombieland, Chan-wook Park’s Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize winning Thirst and Sam Raimi’s return to form, Drag Me To Hell.
The Best Thriller category sees Harry Brown and Michael Mann’s Public Enemies up against Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker and Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr.
Finally, Duncan Jones’ Moon, JJ Abrams’ Star Trek and James Cameron’s Avatar will go up against Neil Blomkamp’s District 9 and Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus for Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy film.
This year’s Jameson Empire Awards also welcomes the return of the hugely popular amateur filmmaking competition Done In 60 Seconds. All entries have now been submitted and the public are now starting to vote for their favourite Done in 60 Seconds film. Voting will close on March 12 and then the UK’s top five finalists will join 15 international finalists to be judged by a super-panel comprising Empire Editor Mark Dinning, actor Jason Issacs and director Edgar Wright. The resulting top five will then be invited to the Awards itself, but only one can win the coveted prize. The public can vote for their favourite UK Done in 60 Seconds video by visiting the website: www.empireonline.com/awards2010.
Quote from Mark Dinning/Empire: “Once again the Empire readers have done us proud with their nominations for the Jameson Empire Awards. Unlike other awards shortlists, their choices truly reflect the diversity of movies - celebrating everything that's smart and exciting about cinema today.”
The Jameson Empire Awards 2010 will be held at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Sunday March 28 at 4.30pm.
