Okay, Golden Globes. Our first precursor. The train has started. It’s a one-way stop to April… what is it, 26th? I always like days like this, especially now, since I can wake up late and see a bunch of texts and know they’re about the nominations and then avoid everything and watch them cold and get my purest reactions.
So what you’re about to get are pure reactions from me literally rolling out of bed and seeing these with absolutely no forewarning whatsoever.
Here are your 2020 Golden Globe nominations:
Best Picture – Drama
The Father
Mank
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Mank, Nomadland and Chicago 7 were gimmes. The Father feels like them, especially when you know they were the ones who went all in on Two Popes last year. Promising Young Woman being here is the surprise. A welcome surprise, but still a surprise. I think we were all figuring they’d go for Carey and nothing else. At least I was.
I knew they did the usual Foreign Language Film thing with Minari, so at best that was gonna only get Director, Screenplay and Foreign Language Film. But I’m trying to think about what else cold have gotten here instead.
News of the World, maybe? They like Tom Hanks. But I can’t imagine anyone really loved that movie enough. Westerns aren’t really their thing though. I remember a decade ago and True Grit getting shut out entirely. So that’s not much of a surprise. Sound of Metal, maybe? That felt like a performance situation at best for them. Though to be honest, I’d have had that instead of Promising Young Woman if I were gonna guess. Also kudos to them for somehow not classifying Promising Young Woman as a comedy, which I feel like they’d have done in literally any other year to squeeze something else on here.
Nothing from 2021, either. No Judas and the Black Messiah. Oh, but that also means no One Night in Miami. That’s nice. I thought they were gonna try to force that one. I know they’re not the most trustworthy bunch, but they do try to vote for stuff they think has a chance at winning. I guess I’ll see what 2021 stuff ends up on here in the end.
Best guess for how this turns out is Mank or Nomadland. I doubt they’re just gonna go all in on Sorkin like that, but you never know.
Best Picture – Musical/Comedy
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Hamilton
Music
Palm Springs
The Prom
Yeah… that sounds like them. The Prom was a given, but the Sia movie… oh boy, is that just so goddamn HFPA. And Hamilton? REALLY? I was gonna shit on NBR if they went there. And the Globes just fucking slathered themselves in it. Jesus. Borat I get and Palm Springs almost better have been there. Music is laughably on brand for them. Remember Burlesque. So I expect that. But Hamilton might be beyond egregious, even for them. You guys know you’re not even gonna have the fucking party this year, right? So what’s the goddamn point?
Though I’m struggling to think just what actually could have made this category. Comedy (even the broad term they use for comedy) tends to be a theatrical experience, and we didn’t have any of those this year. So I need to think about what films that qualify in this category could have even been here.
Bad Education, maybe? What about On the Rocks? That’s maybe comedic? You could stretch that. If you considered Lost in Translation a comedy, On the Rocks certainly is. What about The Half of It? That was lovely and critically acclaimed. No, but you had to get the entire cast of The Prom, Sia, Kate Hudson and the cast of Hamilton to show up on your goddamn Zoom show. Jesus.
Best Director
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
David Fincher, Mank
Regina King, One Night in Miami
Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
Whoa. Emerald Fennell. Good. For. Them.
Once they nominated that Picture list, you knew Fincher, Sorkin and Zhao would probably be on. I wasn’t 100% on Sorkin, but if they were gonna go there, they kind of had to. I figured The Father wouldn’t get on here, but I also wasn’t expecting Fennell to crossover.
They put Regina King on in the one swap, and that makes sense. They had Barbra Streisand win this category for Yentl, so at least it’s a Black female director getting on for that sole purpose. I’m okay with that. So, 4/5 the Drama list. Can’t really get too upset there. They were consistent. And it’s not like they particularly know directors. And the Musical/Comedy list wasn’t gonna get anyone on. So sure.
Curious to see where they go here. Could be a statement win or they could just double up on the Picture choice. Hard to tell with them. They’re either gonna try to set the pace or just give it to someone they know will make a good speech (Regina King). I suspect Fincher, King and Zhao willwin this Fennell only gets it if they loved Promising Young Woman and don’t care about anything else, and Sorkin feels like even if his film wins Picture he won’t win this. Most likely scenario to me feels like a split with Fincher on Director and whatever else winning Picture. But that’s just a knee-jerk response only seeing three categories and just having woken up about 15 minutes ago.
Best Actor – Drama
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Gary Oldman, Mank
Tahar Rahim, The Mauritanian
I could’ve pre-filled almost this entire category. Boseman was a gimme, Hopkins was guaranteed once you saw The Father on Picture and you knew Oldman was on no matter what. Riz I’d have guessed, even if Sound of Metal was gonna get left off the Picture list, which it did. So that tells me things are on par with how you figure it to be. The Tahar Rahim nomination is completely out of left field. I mean, good for them and all, but quite literally out of nowhere. The movie was just pretty good and I’m sure it’s not getting amazing reviews. But hey, sure. Put him there. Maybe everyone’s gonna go for that performance. No clue. Feels like one of those random Globe nominations.
I assume they give this to Boseman posthumously. Unless they’re gonna go Oldman again or maybe try to make Riz happen. But Boseman somehow makes the most sense as almost illogical as that sounds.
Mostly I’m just curious about how the rest of the precursors turn out. There’s a legitimate chance that 4/5 of this category is your final Best Actor list.
Best Actor – Musical/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
Cohen was a gimme. They’re gonna push Bakalova too, I’m sure. Samberg makes sense. You knew Corden would get there. Miranda — I mean, I get it, but come on, guys. And Patel is a nice inclusion here. So good for them.
This goes right in line with the Picture list, and in a year like this, all this does is tell me how one-sided the nominees are gonna be and how a bunch probably are missing from this list that will be illuminated from other lists.
Cohen has to win this, right? Hamilton fever is past, but maybe they reach back. It almost has to be Cohen.
Best Actress – Drama
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holliday
Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
Hmm. Davis, McDormand and Mulligan were all gimmes. Kirby and Day are 2021 films I haven’t seen yet. Kirby makes a lot of sense for them, but I have no sense of the performance itself, so I can’t speak to it past that. Day — I have no sense of the film, so I don’t even know how to gauge it. That could’ve went Musical/Comedy for all I know. But sure. That fits. They hit all the expected notes here.
Mulligan wins this, right? Or do they start Davis? McDormand doesn’t win again, does she? That feels like film over actor. I think it’s gotta be Mulligan or Davis, unless they think Day is a legitimate contender. Or maybe it’s Kirby, I don’t know. Have to see those last two performances to know for sure.
Best Actress – Musical/Comedy
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Kate Hudson, Music
Michelle Pfeiffer, French Exit
Rosamund Pike, I Care a Lot
Anya Taylor-Joy, Emma
Bakalova was a gimme. The only question is whether the Academy stands a chance at nominating her. It’ll get real interesting once SAG puts her on a list. There’s Michelle Pfeiffer. Could’ve guessed Anya Taylor-Joy. Pike’s film I haven’t seen yet, but if you’re reading the stuff I write, I’m now very excited for that movie and even more so now. And Kate Hudson — I mean, you knew they’d do it. I’m curious to see if they get Maddie Ziegler or Leslie Odom in Supporting too. Also very surprised they were able to resist Meryl and Nicole on here for The Prom. That… is tremendous restraint.
Michelle Pfeiffer wins this reflexively unless they go all in on Maria Bakalova. I can see both scenarios happening.
Best Supporting Actor
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
Yeah, there’s that double Cohen nomination. That feels like them. Leslie Odom Jr. gets on for the dramatic film since it would’ve looked bad to put him on for Music. Kaluuya — get it, but didn’t know he’s considered supporting. Guess I’ll find out when I see the movie.
The two interesting inclusions here are Leto and Murray. Murray only because — you mean you had the ability to nominate On the Rocks all this time and just didn’t do it? I guess he is supporting too. Though I can’t imagine almost any of these find a way to the Oscars. But it’s a weird year. I could see SAG going Cohen, Kaluuya and Odom. Leto is the other interesting one. Not sure what to make of that, without having seen the film and seeing other nominations. They go weird in the supporting categories here, so in a vacuum, this means very little to me.
Sacha Baron Cohen is gonna win this, isn’t he? Otherwise, maybe we’re looking at a 2016/Aaron Taylor-Johnson scenario with Jared Leto? I don’t even know how to guess this one, so we’ll just wait and see.
Best Supporting Actress
Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman, The Father
Jodie Foster, The Mauritanian
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Helena Zengel, News of the World
Oh my god, they nominated Glenn Close anyway.
You know what, though? The only way you can rehabilitate that film’s image is by only nominating Glenn. There’s a lot of nominated supporting performances over the years in movies considered not very good. If you focus solely on that, you could get away with it. Not saying they will or should, just saying that there’s a case to be made that this isn’t the worst thing in the world.
Colman makes sense here more than Actress, and she’s quite good in the movie. Foster is not supporting at all in that movie and that’s kind of a joke. Seyfried I support wholeheartedly. And I’m actually a huge fan of the Zengel nomination. I had a harder time with supporting than I did with lead this year, so Foster notwithstanding (she’s fine in the movie… just not supporting), I can live with all of the others actually making the final category. I’d have to hold my nose a bit on the Close one and say it’s for her and not the film, but I can live with it. I suspect the SAG list will look quite different from this, but for the moment — I guess Seyfried wins this? Maybe they just go in on Close to try to make her finally win one? They painted themselves into an interesting corner here.
Best Screenplay
The Father
Mank
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Oh, so it’s just the Best Picture list. Well, consistency is good and not their strong suit. So I can’t be upset with this.
Sorkin almost has to win this, right? Unless they go for Promising Young Woman to give it something past (or instead of) Carey. Or Mank wins and it’s the Fincher father angle. They got options. But Sorkin won this for Steve Jobs, so I’d consider him the favorite here.
Also — four original, one adapted here? Mank is original, Nomadland… oh, that’s adapted. So three and two. Promising Young Woman is original, and Chicago 7 is technically original.
Best Original Score
Mank
The Midnight Sky
News of the World
Soul
Tenet
Love this list. You’ll see from my eventual scores article (which I think is maybe next week? But I am working on it now) that I’m quite okay with this list. Double Reznor and Ross nominations (they did Mank and Soul, and Jon Batiste also worked on Soul), Desplat is Midnight Sky, James Newton Howard is News of the World and Ludwig Goransson is Tenet. All good shit.
Can’t guess what’s gonna win here, but I think as long as it’s not News of the World (and I’m almost certain it won’t be), I think they’ll make a fine choice.
Best Original Song
“Fight for You,” from Judas and the Black Messiah (H.E.R.)
“Hear My Voice,” from The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Celeste Waite)
“Io Si (Seen),” from The Life Ahead (Diane Warren)
“Speak Now,” from One Night in Miami (Leslie Odom Jr.)
Tigress & Tweed,” from The United States vs. Billie Holliday (Andra Day)
I like to put who sings or wrote the songs in parentheses because this is the biggest starfucker category of the bunch.
Though the gimme here was gonna be Sia. And she’s NOT ON HERE. There’s no way Music doesn’t feature at least one of her original songs. So that’s a shock in and of itself.
Day and Odom were nominated for acting, and they love to do that. So that’s a fit. Diane Warren, of course. H.E.R. I know is a popular band (band, not person, right?) nowadays. The Chicago 7 song does surprise me with its inclusion. I guess they just really liked the movie. Because I’m surprised there wasn’t a bigger artist on here they could invite to the party.
Honestly no clue what’s gonna win. This category is rigged and awful most years anyway, so I don’t even try to guess.
Best Animated Feature
The Croods: A New Age
Onward
Over the Moon
Soul
Wolfwalkers
Well, that about covers the expected bases. Soul, Onward, Wolfwalkers, Over the Moon. That’s four of the five. The only question was that fifth spot. And it was really only between Croods, Willoughbys and Shaun the Sheep (which may have even been eligible for them last year). So, really, this is kind of the expected category from them.
Wolfwalkers has a shot at this, even if Soul feels like the frontrunner.
Best Foreign Language Film
Another Round
La Llorona
The Life Ahead
Minari
Two of Us
Life Ahead isn’t eligible or submitted for the Oscars, and we know about Minari, but the other three are eligible. So all in all, not the most unhelpful category. We know what’s winning, but at least now we have Another Round, La Llorona and Two of Us to maybe point some of the way in the International Feature category. So I guess that’s helpful.
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And now, TV.
As always, I watch no TV, so this’ll be fun.
Best TV Series – Drama
The Crown
Lovecraft Country
The Mandalorian
Ozark
Ratched
The Crown is a mainstay, as is Ozark. Mandalorian is the populist entry and you knew they’d get Ryan Murphy on here. Lovecraft Country is the only unknown for me, but sure. Don’t care what wins, but I assume it’s The Crown.
Best TV Series – Musical/Comedy
Emily in Paris
The Flight Attendant
The Great
Schitt’s Creek
Ted Lasso
A HA HA HA Emily in Paris. They certainly know how to get the internet tweeting about them.
The Flight Attendant I’ve heard of because a friend watched it, but I assumed it was a drama, since the plot sounds exactly like The Morning After, that Jane Fonda movie from 1986.
The Great is basically The Favourite but for mainstream American TV, it seems.
Schitt’s Creek, aren’t they like four years too late on that?
And Ted Lasso I’m aware of but know almost nothing about.
I assume The Great or Ted Lasso wins this. They like going for the new hot shot here. Bridgerton will win this next year, by the way. I assume that’s a comedy. No fucking clue, but I’m surprised it’s not even here, since that’s all people seem to be talking about.
Schitt’s Creek would be a natural winner, but I know they love to do the new hot show for one season in this list. It’s almost the one guaranteed thing they do. But we’ll see.
Best Actor in a TV Series – Drama
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Josh O’Connor, The Crown
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Al Pacino, Hunters
Matthew Rhys, Perry Mason
Bateman and Odenkirk are mainstays. The Crown got on in there. Pacino — sure. Love me some Pacino. And wow, Perry Mason. They actually watched that show. Or did they just put Rhys on because they could?
Bateman or Rhys wins this, right? Unless somehow O’Connor is a performance that was really good?
Best Actor in a TV Series – Musical/Comedy
Don Cheadle, Black Monday
Nicholas Hoult, The Great
Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso
Ramy Youssef, Ramy
K.
Doesn’t really matter who wins this, right? Youssef won last year, but that was their good deed for that show. I assume this is Sudeikis or Levy. Maybe they throw Cheadle a bone, but that feels unlikely.
Best Actress in a TV Series – Drama
Olivia Colman, The Crown
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Emma Corrin, The Crown
Laura Linney, Ozark
Sarah Paulson, Ratched
That all fits. Corrin is Princess Diana, right? I heard about that performance.
No idea who wins, but they’re almost all mainstays here, so whatever.
Best Actress in a TV Series – Musical/Comedy
Lily Collins, Emily in Paris
Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant
Elle Fanning, The Great
Jane Levy, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist
Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek
Oh yeah, that Zoey show. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend but without the personality so guaranteed to run twice as long and make people pissed off because they basically just ripped it off but in the blandest possible way.
It’ll be so funny if Lily Collins wins this. So funny.
Though I imagine this is O’Hara first and then either Levy or Fanning, right? Since they like to throw a curveball on these TV Musical/Comedy categories. Something random will win one of the three.
Best Miniseries or TV Movie
Normal People
The Queen’s Gambit
Small Axe
The Undoing
Unorthodox
FINALLY SOMEONE NOMINATED SMALL AXE FOR SOMETHING.
I completely forgive the Globes for everything else they’ve done this year. Small Axe got nominated. Thank. Fucking. God.
I’m sure it’ll lose, but at least it’s here. Hard for them not to go all in on Queen’s Gambit, I’d think.
Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie
Bryan Cranston, Your Honor
Jeff Daniels, The Comey Rule
Hugh Grant, The Undoing
Ethan Hawke, The Good Lord Bird
Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True
Jesus, look at this list. It’s all about the actor and nothing else.
I knew that Small Axe nom was too good to be true. They didn’t actually watch that shit. It’s about the person and nothing else.
Don’t even care who wins. I’m back to being pessimistic.
Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie
Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America
Daisy Edgar-Jones, Normal People
Shira Haas, Unorthodox
Nicole Kidman, The Undoing
Anya Taylor-Joy, The Queen’s Gambit
Yawn. We know who’s winning this.
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or TV Movie
John Boyega, Small Axe
Brendan Gleeson, The Comey Rule
Dan Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Jim Parsons, Hollywood
Donald Sutherland, The Undoing
Oh, they threw Boyega on because he’s a name now. Great job, guys. You’re still the starfuckers I knew you to be.
Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or TV Movie
Gillian Anderson, The Crown
Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown
Julia Garner, Ozark
Annie Murphy, Schitt’s Creek
Cynthia Nixon, Ratched
And we’re done. Finally.
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Well, not really a lot of surprises here. It’s hard to gauge the performance nominations in a vacuum. To me the only real surprise is how all in on Promising Young Woman they went. Otherwise, I think SAG is tomorrow, so that’ll tell us a lot. And then BFCA is Monday. So pretty much by Monday we’ll have most of the acting category help we’re gonna get (since BAFTA’s not for a month). It’s going, people. Pretty soon it’s full on Oscars here.
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