Every year at the BAFTA Film Awards the top bods of the British film industry get to vote for their top performances and movie-making achievements. But there’s also one category where we all get to have a say: the Orange Rising Star Award. It’s the one prize that’s voted for by the public, and the previous four winners are James McAvoy, Eva Green, Shia LaBeouf and Noel Clarke. Now the nominees for this year’s race have just been announced, and the early frontrunner is Kristen Stewart (Bella!), who must surely benefit from the Twilight factor. Given it is we Brits who are voting, there should be a strong showing for Nicholas Hoult, especially if the Skins fan sites get behind him. Carey Mulligan has just starred in £2million UK box-office hit An Education, while Jesse Eisenberg enjoyed a £3.5million hit with Zombieland and also co-starred with Kristen in Adventureland. The wild card in the pack is French actor Tahar Rahim, whose movie A Prophet doesn’t open until 22 January. But, trust us, he’s amazing in it. If you don’t agree with these nominees, one of the people to blame is heat’s film editor Charles Gant – he joined Noel Clarke, Harry Potter actor Jason Isaacs and other luminaries on the panel that selected them.
Watch out for next week’s heat (on-sale Tuesday 19 January) for a chance to win tickets to the BAFTAs.