‘VERY TIGHT RACE’
“La La Land could win all of its categories. It’s either the frontrunner or in second place, I believe, in all seven. The safest for them are comedy/musical best picture, Emma Stone and for score,” Gold Derby managing director Chris Beachum told AFP.
“They could win for Gosling, director and song but the Globes voters tend to want to spread things out more than that. You don’t generally see a movie winning more than three or four.”
Barry Jenkins’s coming-of-age tale Moonlight, with six nominations including for the director and cast members Naomie Harris and Mahershala Ali, has been monopolizing attention on the drama side of the contest.
Another front-runner is Kenneth Lonergan’s unflinching Manchester by the Sea, which earned the filmmaker nods for best directing and screenplay while Casey Affleck is a favorite for best actor and Michelle Williams vies for best supporting actress.
Gold Derby’s experts have it just ahead of Moonlight as favorite for best dramatic motion picture, with Mel Gibson’s war movie Hacksaw Ridge, heist thriller Hell or High Water and family drama Lion rounding out the category.
“On our Web site it’s razor thin. Our experts go with Manchester but if you combine all people voting and predicting, it’s slightly in favor of Moonlight,” said Beachum.
“It’s a very tight race. I think both will win a couple of awards.”
is expected to enjoy a winning night with five nominations.
AMC crime drama The Night Manager will be close behind, with four nominations, while Black-ish, The Crown, The Night Of, This is Us, and Westworld have three each.
HBO comfortably leads the television nominations with 14.
Hollywood A-listers Drew Barrymore, Sylvester Stallone, Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon will add glitz to the annual party as awards presenters while host Jimmy Fallon is seen as a safe pair of hands compared with another Globes regular, caustic British comedian Ricky Gervais.
“The Globes are always a slightly chintzier affair when compared to the Oscars or the Emmys,” wrote Jack Mirkinson, an editor at US pop culture Web site Fusion, of the upcoming ceremony.
“But they’re often way more fun to watch, especially because all the stars involved get progressively drunker as the night goes on.” —