First she got The Crown, now Olivia’s in line for a Golden Globe
Royal drama leads the way in a bumper crop of Globes nominations
‘Incredible performance’
IT is entitled The Favourite – and now the all-star royal drama also seems sure to be a front-runner in the awards season.
The saucily adventurous period piece, about two cousins jockeying for position in the court of Queen Anne, has won Golden Globe nominations for its three female stars.
Olivia Colman wins a best actress mention for her acclaimed role as the Stuart monarch, along with fellow Briton Rachel Weisz and American Emma Stone, both in the supporting actress category.
The Favourite, released here on New Year’s Day, also bagged a nomination in its own right in the best musical or comedy motion picture category.
In all, Britain secured a bumper crop of nominations yesterday for the Golden Globes. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which votes on and awards the honours, has long demonstrated a fondness for British talent.
Emily Blunt’s turn as the world’s most famous nanny in Mary Poppins Returns won her a best actress nomination. The indescribably delightful romp was recognised four times in all.
Claire Foy, who played the Queen in the first two seasons of Netflix drama The Crown (the part has now been taken over by Miss Colman), was recognised for her role as Janet Armstrong, wife of astronaut Neil, in the film First Man.
Rosamund Pike received a nod for best actress in a film drama for her portrayal of war correspondent Marie Colvin in A Private War.
Others in that line-up include Lady Gaga for A Star Is Born, Glenn Close in The Wife, Nicole Kidman in Destroyer and Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me. McCarthy’s co- star, Richard E Grant, was also nominated for the film.
Britain’s Christian Bale was named in the best actor in a comedy group for his incredible performance as former US vice president Dick Cheney in the wonderfully mischievous black comedy Vice.
It depicts how Cheney’s wife, played by Amy Adams, helped propel him to become more powerful than his President, George W Bush.
The HFPA was also captivated by the hit BBC series Bodyguard and its star Richard Madden – nominated for best actor in a television drama series – alongside Welshman Matthew Rhys for The Americans.
Killing Eve, a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, was listed in the best television drama category, along with Bodyguard.
The HFPA members were also bowled over by Hugh Grant’s performance as disgraced political leader Jeremy Thorpe in A Very English Scandal.
Grant’s co-star Ben Whishaw was also nominated, as was the three– part limited series. Benedict Cumberbatch also made the best actor in a TV limited series list, while Thandie Newton – an HFPA favourite – is nominated in a supporting actress category for American TV series Westworld.
Music legend Annie Lennox received a mention in the original song department for Requiem For A Private War, which features in A Private War. One of the biggest surprises was British comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen, who was nominated for the controversial comedy documentary Who Is America.
Awards season experts expressed surprise that Ryan Gosling was not nominated for First Man, and Julia Roberts was also shut out for her performance in tear-jerker Ben Is Back. Some of the biggest cheers at the announcement event in LA were for Bohemian Rhapsody with Rami Malek as Queen singer Freddie Mercury. The film had tepid reviews but has taken over half a billion dollars globally.
The Golden Globes winners will be revealed on January 6.
Kenneth Branagh said the secret of Judi Dench’s success is that ‘with her, every morning is Christmas morning’.
Branagh, who has worked with the thespian dame 11 times on stage and screen, talked to me following an awards season screening of their latest collaboration all Is true, about William Shakespeare’s return to Stratford — and his wife and two daughters — after a long absence in London, producing plays.
the two old friends portray the playwright and his wife, anne hathaway, in the film. Ian McKellen also features as the earl of Southampton, one of Shakespeare’s supporters.
Branagh, who directed the film, said Dench had signed on without reading the script or knowing what the story was about. he added that the mere mention of Dench’s name ‘produces an audible “aah!” She has that quality of delight’.
he recalled a comment Michael Williams, Dench’s late husband, made about his wife. ‘he said to me once: “With her, every morning is Christmas morning.”’
Branagh noted that ‘Judi leans into life and is genuinely interested in people, and that comes across in her performances; she’s right there, listening’.
‘ She’s a lover of life, even though she’s had all the knocks, like everybody else.’
he added that working with her and McKellen on all Is true was like working with ‘ two national treasures’.
In the movie, Shakespeare and his family are at crisis point as secrets are revealed. the powerful acting — and Ben elton’s screenplay — gives the audience a ringside seat.
‘I wanted you to feel as though you’re at somebody else’s domestic,’ Branagh said.
‘Where you go: “Oh my Christ, it’s kicking off!” It’s that stuff you recognise, because it happens in families.’
the film is being released by Sony in the U.S. on December 21; and here in the UK on February 8. Dench and McKellen have another joint project on the go: the Working title production of andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical stage show Cats.
McKellen told me that they’re rehearsing ‘ at Cat School, writhing all over the floor’. (Sadly, he admitted later that he was only joking.)
I asked Dench what goes on in this ‘Cat School’, and she replied: ‘You might well ask. We’re seeing a lot of the dancers, and they’re extraordinarily good.’