Biggest snubs and surprises
The mysterious entity known as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association officially kicked off awards season Monday as nominations for the 77th annual Golden Globes were announced.
In a surprise to absolutely no one, Netflix led all studios with 34 nominations in the movie and television categories. The company has invested heavily in original content, giving auteur directors like Martin Scorsese a seemingly limitless filmmaking budget.
In the film category, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, a domestic drama featuring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, grabbed a leading six nods, including Best Motion Picture and actor nominations for its stars.
Following closely behind with five noms was another Netflix release — Scorsese’s epic three-and-a-half-hour crime-drama The Irishman, which is up for Best Motion Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Al Pacino and Joe Pesci.
Along with Marriage Story and The Irishman, other drama nominees include 1917, Joker and The Two Popes.
The streamer also scored nods for Dolemite Is My Name and its star Eddie Murphy.
But mainstream studio fare wasn’t completely overlooked. Quentin Tarantino’s love letter to L.A., Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood, landed five noms, while Todd Phillips’
Joker notched four.
On the television side, Netflix muscled four noms apiece for The Crown and
Unbelievable, while its comedy The Kominsky Method earned three.
Major broadcast networks — including ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox — were shut out in the major categories.
“It’s shocking and weird that NBC will still telecast the Globes even though voters decided that the network’s programs aren’t worthy to compete,” said TV analyst Tom O’Neil of goldderby.com.
But, as always, there were plenty of surprises (and snubs) ahead of the broadcast, which airs Jan. 5 on NBC and CTV with host Ricky Gervais. Here are 10 things that shocked us the most.
NOT PURR-FECT
Even though the Globes has categories to honour Best Comedy or Musical, Tom Hooper’s star-studded live-action version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Cats only managed to muster a nom for Taylor Swift’s song Beautiful Ghosts. Audiences get to decide if the HFPA was right when the film opens wide Dec. 20.
YOU AIN’T TALKIN’ TO ME
Robert De Niro has already won a handful of awards for his titular role in Scorsese’s Irishman, but was inexplicably ignored by the HFPA.
Perhaps voters are still miffed at a joke he made at their expense while accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2011.
“I’m sorry more members of the Foreign Press aren’t with us tonight, but many were deported right before the show along with most of the waiters.”
FROM HEROES TO ZERO
Marvel might have conquered the box office this year with Avengers: Endgame (now the biggest moneymaker of all time) and Captain Marvel, but the studio failed to nudge its way into the awards conversation this year.
APPLE Of OUR EYE
Despite lukewarm critical reception for its foray into creating its own branded content, Apple landed its first Golden Globe nominations for The Morning Show, including Best Actress nods for Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.
LONG WINTER’S NIGHT
Fans so hated the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones that they launched a petition to reshoot the series’ end. But after picking up 12 Emmys in September, including Best Drama, the perennial HBO favourite only scrounged up a measly Best Actor nom for Kit Harrington. During its run, the fantasy epic had been nominated for Best Drama five times.
WELCOME TO THE BOYS’ CLUB
Despite positive critical reception, several notable female directors were left off the Best Director list, including Little Women’s
Greta Gerwig, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’s
Marielle Heller and Hustlers’
Lorene Scafaria. In the TV category, Ava DuVernay was also snubbed for her Emmynominated miniseries When They See Us. “What happened is that we don’t vote by gender,” HFPA boss Lorenzo Soria told Variety in response to people critical of the omission. “We vote by film and accomplishment.”
HARD HUSTLE PAYS Off
Jennifer Lopez’s run of good fortune in 2019 continued with her first nomination in 20 years for Hustlers. “Hi guys, I’m just waking up and I just heard that I got nominated for Best Supporting Actress for a Golden Globe,” she said in an Instagram post. “Oh my God, it’s been 20 years since I was nominated for Selena...”
SANDRA NO
After winning a Globe last year (and co-hosting), Killing Eve star Sandra Oh failed to garner renewed enthusiasm for her second go-round as British intelligence investigator Eve Polastri. Instead, Oh’s co-star Jodie Comer, who won the Best Actress award at the Emmys in September, was included in the category. Likewise, after five nominations for her work on Veep, Julia Louis-Dreyfus got no love for her last episodes in the series.
ADAM MAY HAVE TO KEEP THAT PROMISE
Since its premiere at TIFF, Adam Sandler has received some of the best critical notices in his decades-long career for his role as a slithery jeweller in Uncut Gems. So much so, that Sandler has threatened to make a film “so bad on purpose” if he doesn’t win an Oscar. After this snub, he might just have to do this.
THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT US
Jordan Peele’s Us debuted with a rare 100% positive Rotten Tomatoes rating and earned accolades for Lupita Nyong’o’s dual roles in the nailbiting horror. But Globes didn’t bite. Interestingly, the awards body also omitted Nyong’o for her Oscar-winning work in 12 Years a Slave, so there’s hope for her yet.