For the first time in his legendary animation career, British filmmaker Nick Park has missed out on a BAFTA nomination.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced the nominations this morning for the 2019 British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), and Park’s Early Man was noticeably absent. The BAFTA snub on Park’s homecourt is the latest awards setback for the Aardman feature, which has come up short throughout the season and struggled to make inroads with voters.
It’s a particularly notable snub because all seven of Park’s previous films — five shorts and two features — had been nominated for a BAFTA, with five of them winning (including all four Wallace & Gromit shorts). The fifth winner was the 2005 feature Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit; it competed at a time when the BAFTAs had yet to introduce a feature animation award, so it went up for Best British Film and succeeded against four live-action films.