A little belatedly, the 2021 awards season is officially underway. With everything (still) going on in the world, it’s destined to be something of a different awards race this year – not only in the fact that it’s taking place a little later than it typically would (last year’s Golden Globes happened on 5 January, and at this point in 2020 we were one week away from Oscar night), but also in that cinemas would typically be packing in punters to see the buzziest awards titles right around now, and for the moment most of them remain closed. Still, kicking it all off is the Golden Globes – the ever-unpredictable, confusingly-categorised ceremony that never fails to offer up a few surprises – and it’s just revealed its list of nominees.
Leading the way in the film categories is David Fincher’s Mank, bagging six nominations – Best Motion Picture (Drama), Best Director for Fincher himself, Best Screenplay, Best Actor for Gary Oldman, Best Actress In A Supporting Role for Amanda Seyfried, and Best Original Score. Hot on its heels is Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial Of The Chicago 7, with nominations in Best Motion Picture (Drama), Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor In A Supporting Role for Sacha Baron Cohen, and Best Original Song for Celeste’s ‘Hear My Voice’. Netflix undoubtedly will be pleased with that haul – now, will Oscar follow suit and play nice with the streaming service?
Elsewhere, Baron Cohen was also nominated in Best Actor (Musical Or Comedy) for his reprisal of Borat in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm – and the film also received a nod in Best Picture (Musical Or Comedy), and a rightful Best Actress (Musical Or Comedy) nomination for the fearless Maria Bakalova. Timely revenge thriller Promising Young Woman proved a hit too, with four nominations overall – Best Motion Picture (Drama), Best Screenplay and Best Director nominations for Emerald Fennell, and Best Actress (Drama) for Carey Mulligan. Also receiving four nominations were dementia drama The Father, and Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland.
With this being the Golden Globes, there is, of course, some unusual stuff in here too. Few were likely counting on James Corden’s controversially flamboyant turn as a gay Broadway star in Ryan Murphy’s movie musical The Prom to garner any awards recognition, but he is indeed up for Best Actor (Musical Or Comedy). Plus, there are two nominations for Sia’s directorial debut Music, which has drawn criticism for its casting of dancer Maddie Ziegler as a young girl with non-verbal autism.
On a brighter note, the Best Director category is – for once – not completely male-dominated, with Regina King, Emerald Fennell and Chloé Zhao being recognised alongside Fincher and Sorkin. Chadwick Boseman has received a posthumous nomination for his incredible turn in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Plus, there’s some love for Andy Samberg’s time-loop rom-com Palm Springs in there, a bit of recognition for The Personal History Of David Copperfield (which came out much later in the US than it did over here), and a nomination for Guatemalan horror La Llorona (no, not the Conjuring universe one). Oh, and they’re clearly treating Hamilton as a film-film, since there’s a nomination for Lin-Manuel Miranda in there too.
As ever, there are snubs – with no mention at all of Da 5 Bloods and its stellar ensemble (Delroy Lindo, robbed!), very little for Judas And The Black Messiah, no Best Motion Picture for One Night In Miami, and nothing for Steven Yeun in Minari. Take a look at the full list of film nominees here, and prepare yourself – the discourse is about to begin.
Best Motion Picture (Drama)
The Father
Mank
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Motion Picture (Musical Or Comedy)
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Hamilton
Music
Palm Springs
The Prom
Best Actor (Drama)
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Riz Ahmed – The Sound of Metal
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Gary Oldman – Mank
Tahar Rahim – The Mauritanian
Best Actress (Drama)
Viola Davis – Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Andra Day – The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
Frances McDormand – Nomadland
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman
Best Actress (Musical Or Comedy)
Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Kate Hudson – Music
Michelle Pfeiffer – French Exit
Rosamund Pike – I Care A Lot
Anya Taylor-Joy – Emma
Best Actor (Musical Or Comedy)
Sacha Baron Cohen – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
James Corden – The Prom
Lin-Manuel Miranda – Hamilton
Dev Patel – The Personal History of David Copperfield
Andy Samberg – Palm Springs
Best Actor In A Supporting Role
Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah
Jared Leto – The Little Things
Bill Murray – On the Rocks
Leslie Odom Jr. – One Night in Miami
Best Actress In A Supporting Role
Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman – The Father
Jodie Foster – The Mauritanian
Amanda Seyfried – Mank
Helana Zengel – News of the World
Best Director - Motion Picture
David Fincher – Mank
Regina King – One Night in Miami
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Jack Fincher – Mank
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Florian Zeller, Christopher Hampton – The Father
Chloe Zhao – Nomadland
Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language
Another Round, Denmark
La Llorona, Guatamela/France
The Life Ahead, Italy
Minari, USA
Two of Us, France/USA
Best Motion Picture - Animated
The Croods: A New Age
Onward
Over the Moon
Soul
Wolfwalkers
Best Original Score
The Midnight Sky
Tenet
News of the World
Mank
Best Original Song – Motion Picture
H.E.R. – ‘Fight for You’ – Judas and the Black Messiah
Celeste – ‘Hear My Voice’ – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Diane Warren – ‘IO SI (Seen)’ – The Life Ahead
Leslie Odom Jr. – ‘Speak Now’ – One Night in Miami
Andra Day – ‘Tigers & Tweed’ – The United States vs. Billie Holiday