BAFTA 2018 braces for 'blackout' in support of Time's Up; The Shape Of Water leads awards race

Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy film The Shape of Water leads the nominations at Sunday’s Baftas, where Hollywood stars will again turn the red carpet black in solidarity with the #Me Too movement. [caption id=“attachment_4298567” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] BAFTA awards. BAFTA[/caption] With Hollywood still reeling from the fallout of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, actresses look set to wear all-black outfits at London’s Albert Hall, just as they did at last month’s Golden Globes. Bafta nominees Margot Robbie and Allison Janney are among those who say they will repeat the gesture, which was a powerful statement by the A-list against a culture of sexual harassment and abuse. ‘Justice and equality fund’ It is not yet clear whether the Duchess of Cambridge will follow suit, however, when she attends with her husband Prince William, president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta). Last year she wore a black Alexander McQueen gown with white flowers, but may be wary of being seen to breach royal protocol by aligning herself with a public protest. In an open letter published Sunday before the awards, around 200 British stars demanded an end to sexual harassment and abuse. Signatories, including Kate Winslet, Emma Watson, Emma Thompson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Keira Knightley and Saoirse Ronan, expressed solidarity with the Time’s Up movement in the United States and called for donations to a new “justice and equality fund” for victims. The letter to The Observer newspaper is addressed to “dear sisters”, as was a similar statement by US actresses last month, and calls for an international movement to stamp out a culture of abuse exposed by the Weinstein scandal.