British thrillers shove period dramas out of award spotlight
Bodyguard, Killing Eve and A Very English Scandal top the nominations for glory at the Golden Globes
Richard Madden’s nomination can only help the campaign to anoint him as the next James Bond
BRITISH television success at the Golden Globes has traditionally involved a period drama, with Downton
Abbey and The Crown offering a window into our glorious past.
This year’s offerings are a little different: terrorism, assassins, drug addiction and attempted murder all feature in the nominations.
Bodyguard, the hit BBC One drama about a home secretary and her personal protection officer, has been nominated for best drama. Richard Madden, who played the troubled hero David Budd, is a nominee for best actor.
It was distributed in the US by Netflix, which has the international rights. Madden’s nomination can only help the campaign to anoint him as the next James Bond.
The programme vies with Killing
Eve, the BBC America series about a British intelligence agent (Sandra Oh) on the trail of a cold-blooded killer (Jodie Comer). The former is nominated for best actress.
BBC One’s A Very English Scandal, the story of Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe’s downfall amid claims of blackmail plots and conspiracy to murder, is a contender for best miniseries, with acting nominations for Hugh Grant as Thorpe and Ben Whishaw as Norman Scott, his lover.
Grant’s category includes Benedict Cumberbatch for playing a heroin addict and alcoholic in Patrick Melrose, the Sky series based on Edward St Aubyn’s novels.
The Golden Globes cover television and film and are chosen by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The winners will be announced at a ceremony on Jan 6. The film category is led by
Vice, a Dick Cheney biopic starring Christian Bale, the British actor. It has six nominations, including best picture and best actor, and is released in the US this Christmas. A Star Is Born has five nominations, with actors Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga recognised for their performances, as does The Favourite, a quirky drama set at the court of Queen Anne. Britons Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz, and Emma Stone, the US actress, are all nominated.
Mary Poppins Returns has four nominations: best actress in a musical or comedy for Emily Blunt, best actor for Lin-manuel Miranda, best musical or comedy and best original score.
Roma, Alfonso Cuaron’s black and white homage to the housekeeper who worked for his family in Seventies Mexico, was nominated for best director, best screenplay and best foreign language film, vindicating Netflix’s decision to release it for a limited period in cinemas, making it eligible for awards.
Bohemian Rhapsody, the Queen biopic that opened to mixed reviews but became a box office success, is nominated for best drama. Richard E Grant earns the first Golden Globe nomination of his career, as supporting actor in
Can You Ever Forgive Me? He declared himself “astonished and stunned”.
A surprise omission was Ryan Gosling for his role as Neil Armstrong in
First Man, although Claire Foy, his screen wife, was nominated in the supporting categories.
Best Motion Picture – Drama
Blackkklansman Black Panther Bohemian Rhapsody If Beale Street Could Talk A Star Is Born
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Crazy Rich Asians The Favourite Green Book Mary Poppins Returns Vice
Best Performance in a Motion Picture (Drama) – Actor
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate Lucas Hedges, Boy Erased Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody John David Washington, Blackkklansman
Best Performance in a Motion Picture (Drama) – Actress
Glenn Close, The Wife Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born Nicole Kidman, Destroyer Melissa Mccarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me? Rosamund Pike, A Private War
Best Performance in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) – Actor
Christian Bale, Vice Lin-manuel Miranda, Mary Poppins Returns Viggo Mortensen, Green Book Robert Redford, The Old Man & the Gun John C Reilly, Stan & Ollie
Best Performance in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) – Actress
Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns Olivia Colman, The Favourite Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade Charlize Theron, Tully Constance Wu, Crazy Rich Asians
Best Supporting Performance in a Motion Picture (Drama, Musical or Comedy) – Actor
Mahershala Ali, Green Book Timothée Chalamet, Beautiful Boy Adam Driver, Blackkklansman Richard E Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me? Sam Rockwell, Vice
Best Supporting Performance in a Motion Picture (Drama, Musical or Comedy) – Actress
Amy Adams, Vice Claire Foy, First Man Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk Emma Stone, The Favourite Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
Best Director
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born Alfonso Cuarón, Roma Peter Farrelly, Green Book Spike Lee, Blackkklansman Adam Mckay, Vice
Best Original Song
All the Stars, Black Panther Revelation, Boy Erased Girl in the Movies, Dumplin’ Shallow, A Star Is Born Requiem for a Private War, A Private War
Gaga faces the first of many battles this season with Glenn Close, nominated for The Wife, who has never before won either a Globe or an Oscar for her film work.
Mary Poppins Returns, which has yet to open globally, is obviously more of an unknown quantity at this stage, but the early buzz suggests a commercial bonanza, and the Globes did almost everything in their power to boost the hype – both leads, Emily Blunt and Lin-manuel Miranda, got in, as did Marc Shaiman’s score. Rob Marshall would probably have quite liked a Best Director nomination too. Best Film (Drama) is a hybrid beast this year and a more than usually massive money- Top acts: Emily Blunt is nominated for Best Actress as Mary Poppins, left, and Christian Bale for Best Actor for Vice, far left, in which he plays Dick Cheney spinner. It has the two megahit musicals which chose to compete there – A Star is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody, which, despite extremely qualified enthusiasm from critics, has outgrossed anyone’s wildest dreams, with a global take of $542m to date.
Rami Malek’s rendition of Freddie Mercury, up against Cooper, looks like a strong bet for an Oscar nod, too.
The other three films, all by black directors and starring predominantly black casts, range from the vast popular success of Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther ($1.34bn worldwide) via the second-biggest hit of Spike Lee’s career, Blackkklansman ($88m) to the tiny, yet-to-be-released If Beale Street Could Talk, from Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins, which feels very much like the critical darling of the litter. Furthering the support-the-hits narrative, though, was the comparative shutout of Damien Chazelle’s First Man, starring Ryan Gosling, which felt like it was punished for its box office underperformance, only managing a Best Supporting Actress nod for Claire Foy and one for the music.
Two of the many first-timers in film categories are Brits: the phenomenal Olivia Colman for The Favourite (she’s up against Blunt), and Richard E. Grant, on close-to-career-best form as Melissa Mccarthy’s partner-in-crime in Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Not all of their competition will make it on Oscar night – there’s simply less room – but these two are set to be staples of the season, and serious threats to win here and everywhere.