Elvis biopic sweeps AACTA nominations

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic starring Austin Butler, Tom Hanks and Olivia DeJonge is leading the charge in the nominations for the Australian Academy of Cinema Television Arts Awards.

Set to be hosted across two ceremonies at The Hordern in Sydney’s iconic Entertainment Quarter on December 5 and 7, Elvis garnered a staggering 15 nominations.

Matching Elvis in number of accolades is ABC’s Mystery Road: Origin, with nods for Best Drama Series and five nominations across the four acting awards, and Indigenous West Australian actor Mark Coles Smith up for Best Lead Actor in a Drama.

Another film to win more than a dozen nominations was The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson and George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing, with 13.

Thomas M. Wright’s dark film The Stranger, based on the murder of 13-year-old schoolboy Daniel Morcombe, will go head-to-head with Elvis for Best Film, Best Editing, Best Directing, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Screenplay, Best Sound, and Best Lead Actor with Austin Butler and Joel Edgerton.

Perth’s DeJonge is up against stiff competition for Best Supporting Actress with Jada Alberts (The Stranger), Yael Stone (Blaze), Jessica De Gouw (The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson) and Joanna Lumley (Falling For Figaro).

Also representing the West Coast is Perth film Pieces, up for Best Indie Film, directed by Martin Wilson and screen written by Monique Wilson, which The West Australian film critic Ben O’Shea described as “a searing examination of mental illness”.

Comedy-drama reboot Heartbreak High, which quickly became a global hit and racked up 42.6 million viewing hours in its first three weeks of release, received eight nominations in the television category.

Although Luhrmann and George Miller, two visionaries of Australian cinema, bring the star power to the AACTAs, it could be Thomas M. Wright who sneaks in and grabs Best Film and Best Director for The Stranger.