‘Barbie,’ ‘Oppenheimer’ lead another double bill
Gerwig flick earns 9 nods, while Nolan film follows with 8
Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” dominated the Golden Globe Award nominations with nine nods for the blockbuster film, including best picture musical or comedy as well as acting nominations for Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and three of its original songs.
It was closely followed by its release date and meme companion Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” which scored eight nominations, including best picture drama and for actors Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt.
The revamped group, now a for-profit endeavor with a larger and more diverse voting body, recently announced nominations for its January awards show, after scandal and several troubled years, including one without a broadcast.
Cedric the Entertainer and Wilmer Valderrama presided over the announcements from the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where the show will also take place Jan. 7.
Films nominated for best motion picture drama are “Oppenheimer,” Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Celine Song’s “Past Lives,” Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” and Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest.”
In the best motion picture musical or comedy category, “Barbie” was joined by “Air,” “American Fiction,” “The Holdovers,” “May December” and
“Poor Things.”
Yorgos Lanthimos’
“Poor Things” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” both received seven nominations each. “Poor Things” saw nominations for Lanthimos, its actors Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe, as well as for Tony McNamara’s screenplay. “Killers of the Flower Moon” got nods for Scorsese, for direction and co-writing the screenplay with Eric Roth, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro.
Stone, who was also nominated for the Showtime series “The Curse,”
said in a statement that she was “feeling extremely bewildered and thankful for it all.” She also said her “Poor Things” character Bella Baxter is her favorite and that she was “so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this magical film experience.”
In a statement, DiCaprio praised Gladstone. “She is the soul of our film and helped to bring this sinister and painful part of our nation’s history to life,” he wrote. The film is about the murders of wealthy Osage individuals in Oklahoma in the early 20th century.
“Barbie” tied for second most nominations in Globes history with “Cabaret,” from 1972. Robert Altman’s “Nashville” remains the recordholder with 11 nominations. “Barbie” went into the morning as a favorite top, and got a big boost from its three original song nominations, including “I’m Just Ken,” and one of the year’s new categories, recognizing cinematic and boxoffice achievement. One person who was not nominated was America Ferrera, who delivered the movie’s most memorable monologue.
“Succession” was the top-nominated television program — with nine nods including for series stars Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin — followed by Hulu’s “The Bear.”
As always there were some big surprises, like Jennifer Lawrence getting nominated for her bawdy R-rated comedy “No Hard Feelings” for best performance by a female actor in a musical or comedy. She was nominated alongside Robbie, Stone and Fantasia
Barrino (“The Color Purple”), Natalie Portman (“May December”) and Alma Pöysti (“Fallen Leaves”).
Lawrence, in a statement, said she had so much fun making the movie that “it almost feels wrong to accept such an honor — but I will! ... I cannot wait for some lukewarm Chardonnay. Let’s go!”
“The Color Purple” was expected to do better. The adaption of the stage musical got only two nominations total, both for actors, for Barrino and for Danielle Brooks’ supporting performance. Left out was Colman Domingo, who was nominated for best drama actor for “Rustin.”
Cord Jefferson’s comedy “American Fiction” also came up with only two nods, best musical or comedy and for lead actor Jeffrey Wright.
Sofia Coppola’s widely acclaimed “Priscilla” got only one nomination, for actor Cailee Spaeny’s portrayal of Priscilla Presley. Also nominated for best female performance are Gladstone, Annette Bening for “Nyad,” Sandra Hüller for “Anatomy of a Fall,” Greta Lee for “Past Lives” and Carey Mulligan for “Maestro.”
The Globes won’t have to worry about anyone criticizing its “all male” directors this year, however. Gerwig was nominated as was Song, for her romantic debut “Past Lives,” alongside Nolan, Scorsese, Cooper and Lanthimos.
Netflix got the most nominations overall, with 13 total for a slate that included “Maestro,” “May December” and “Rustin,” followed by Warner Bros. — which made “Barbie” and “The Color Purple” — with 12.
Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” was not nominated at all. Instead, its star Joaquin Phoenix was recognized for “Beau is Afraid” in the lead actor comedy/musical category, with Wright, Matt Damon (“Air”), Nicolas Cage (“Dream Scenario”), Timothée Chalamet (“Wonka”) and Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”). Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” with Adam Driver, and Wes Anderson’s starry “Asteroid City” also received zero nominations.
The voting body has now grown to 300 members, following backlash to a
2021 report in the Los Angeles Times that found that there were zero Black members in the group that was then composed of only 87 foreign journalists.
Perhaps as a result, there were more international films and actors nominated in prominent categories including the Finnish comedy “Fallen Leaves,” the courtroom thriller “Anatomy of a Fall” and the harrowing Auschwitz drama “The Zone of Interest.”
The 81st Golden Globes will be the first major broadcast of awards season, with a new home on CBS, but no word on a host.