BAFTAs 2024 | Were any records broken at last night’s award ceremony in London?

The 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards might have been a complete success for Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” as it swept the major categories last night, but it wasn’t enough for it to make history in its own right. Despite earning seven BAFTAs, including Best Picture, Best Director and a history Best Actor in a Leading Performance win for Cillian Murphy, it fell short of becoming the most successful film in BAFTA history by a mere three victories.

Should “Oppenheimer” have won three additional awards adding to its total last night, it would finally have beaten the record set by “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid” back in 1971. On that evening, the Robert Redford/Paul Newman buddy film earned nine BAFTA awards and is still considered the biggest success story in the history of the event.

Not that Nolan should be unhappy he didn’t break that record; after three attempts, the director finally earned his Best Director award, coming close twice with the successes of “Inception” in 2011 and “Dunkirk” in 2018 at the box office not quite translating to a BAFTA win.

But Murphy’s historic victory wasn’t the only record broken last night. Looking back at Sarah McCann’s article on what history could be made at the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards, NationalWorld reveals if any of those records were broken in the end. 

Were any records broken at the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards?

Four records happened to be broken at last night’s BAFTA Film Awards ceremony, with those occurrences happening mainly in the acting categories. 

By winning the Best Actor in a Leading Role award at the ceremony, “Oppenheimer” star Cillian Murphy becomes the first Irish-born actor in the history of the BAFTAs to win the award - which sounds unbelievable but indeed is true.

Emma Stone’s win also at last night’s affair saw her become only the 16th actress to earn two Best Actress in a Leading Role awards. Stone won her first award for her performance in the Oscar-winning musical “La La Land” in 2017, followed by last night’s win for her performance in “Poor Things.”

Robert Downey Jr also set a new record for the longest gap between wins by an actor. He won the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Lewis Strauss in the biographical drama “Oppenheimer,” which came 31 years after his previous BAFTA win in 1993 for the film “Chaplin.”

The previous record was held by Sir Anthony Hopkins, who won the award for Best Actor for “The Father” in 2021, nearly three decades after his 1994 win for “Shadowlands.” His gap between the two wins was 27 years.

Last night saw finally saw a category dominated by the United States finally fall after a 26-year reign at the top. With Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s “The Boy and The Heron” earning the Best Animated Film award, it marks the first time in over two decades that an American film studio not named Pixar, Disney or Illumination took home the prestigious honour.

How can I watch the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards?

On-demand viewing of last night’s EE BAFTA Film Awards ceremony can be watched for a limited time on the BBC iPlayer service