The five nominees for best original music at the 2026 BAFTA Awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars, are an exact replay of the Oscar nominees for best original score:
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- Bugonia, Jerskin Fendrix
- Frankenstein, Alexandre Desplat
- Hamnet, Max Richter
- One Battle After Another, Jonny Greenwood
- Sinners, Ludwig Göransson
Nominations for the 2016 BAFTA Awards, officially known as the British Academy Film Awards, were announced on Tuesday (Jan. 27). This year’s Oscar nominations were announced on Jan. 22.
This is the first time in 14 years that the nominees at the two awards shows have lined up exactly. In 2012, the nominees at both shows were:
- Life of Pi, Mychael Danna
- Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli
- Argo, Alexandre Desplat
- Lincoln, John Williams
- Skyfall, Thomas Newman
Danna won the Oscar that year. Newman won at the BAFTAs.
Looking closer at this year’s BAFTA nominees, this is Desplat’s 13th nomination, a total topped only by Star Wars legend John Williams (16). It’s Greenwood’s fourth; the second for Göransson and Fendrix and the first for Richter.
Desplat is a three-time BAFTA winner for The King’s Speech (2010), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and The Shape of Water (2017). Only two composers have won more BAFTA Awards in this category – Williams (seven) and spaghetti western master Ennio Morricone (six).
Göransson won best original music at the BAFTAs two years ago for Oppenheimer. If he wins again this year, he’ll become the first composer to prevail twice inside of three years since Gustavo Santaolalla won for The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) and Babel (2006). Göransson won in the score category at both the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes, making him the apparent front-runner in this category.
Radiohead guitarist Greenwood was previously nominated for There Will Be Blood (2007), Phantom Thread (2017) and The Power of the Dog (2021). Fendrix was previously nominated for Poor Things (2023).
