Philomena on Wednesday was among
the five films nominated for the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA)
in the best film category.
The film will compete in the category
against 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Captain Phillips
and Gravity.
Steve Coogan plays down-on-his-luck
journalist Martin Sixsmith in Philomena, which adapts the
real-life story of Philomena Lee (played by Dame Judi Dench), a
retired Irish-born nurse in search of the son she was forced to give
up nearly 50 years earlier. Sixsmith reluctantly helps Philomena
search for her son. With Sixsmith's help, Philomena, a staunch Roman
Catholic, finds out that Anthony Lee had been adopted by an American
couple and was a closeted politician.
“It's great,” said Coogan, who
shares a writing credit for the film with Jeff Pope. “I've been
writing comedy in the UK for about 20 years. I've lived in a
slightly parallel universe and I've been allowed to jump into the
other world of drama. Which is great, because it's what I've always
wanted to do. And so to be recognized in this way, especially for
the writing, is great. It was an experiment for me and it paid off.”
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Philomena won the seventh annual
Queer Lion prize at the 70th annual Venice Film Festival
in September.