It’s that time of year again where we find ourselves in the midst of all the awards season hype, with several ceremonies having already started handing out gongs to some of the major players. However, many would argue that it’s the Golden Globes, the yearly ceremony organised by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, that is the first major date on the awards calendar. Sometimes a good indicator for the Oscars, this year’s list of nominations contains a few major snubs and a few key nominations that could give certain films’ Oscar chances a big boost.
The full list of nominations are as follows:
Best Motion Picture – Drama
The Irishman (Netflix)
Marriage Story (Netflix)
1917 (Universal)
Joker (Warner Bros.)
The Two Popes (Netflix)
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Cynthia Erivo (Harriet)
Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story)
Saoirse Ronan (Little Women)
Charlize Theron (Bombshell)
Renée Zellweger (Judy)
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Christian Bale (Ford v Ferrari)
Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory)
Adam Driver (Marriage Story)
Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)
Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes)
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Dolemite Is My Name (Netflix)
Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight)
Knives Out (Lionsgate)
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Sony)
Rocketman (Paramount)
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Ana de Armas (Knives Out)
Awkwafina (The Farewell)
Cate Blanchett (Where’d You Go, Bernadette)
Beanie Feldstein (Booksmart)
Emma Thompson (Late Night)
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Daniel Craig (Knives Out)
Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)
Taron Egerton (Rocketman)
Eddie Murphy (Dolemite Is My Name)
Best Motion Picture – Animated
Frozen 2 (Disney)
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (Universal)
The Lion King (Disney)
Missing Link (United Artists Releasing)
Toy Story 4 (Disney)
Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language
The Farewell (A24)
Les Misérables (Amazon)
Pain and Glory (Sony Pictures Classics)
Parasite (Neon)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Neon)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
Kathy Bates (Richard Jewell)
Annette Bening (The Report)
Laura Dern (Marriage Story)
Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers)
Margot Robbie (Bombshell)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
Tom Hanks (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)
Anthony Hopkins (The Two Popes)
Al Pacino (The Irishman)
Joe Pesci (The Irishman)
Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)
Best Director – Motion Picture
Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)
Sam Mendes (1917)
Todd Phillips (Joker)
Martin Scorsese (The Irishman)
Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story)
Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won (Parasite)
Anthony McCarten (The Two Popes)
Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)
Steven Zaillian (The Irishman)
Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Alexandre Desplat (Little Women)
Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker)
Randy Newman (Marriage Story)
Thomas Newman (1917)
Daniel Pemberton (Motherless Brooklyn)
Best Original Song – Motion Picture
“Beautiful Ghosts” (Cats)
“I’m Gonna Love Me Again” (Rocketman)
“Into the Unknown” (Frozen 2)
“Spirit” (The Lion King)
“Stand Up” (Harriet)
The most important take from all these nominations is that somehow there are no female nominees in the Best Director category, where the likes of Greta Gerwig, Marielle Heller, Alma Har’el, Lulu Wang and Céline Sciamma were surprisingly beaten out by Todd Phillips for Joker, whose direction of that film certainly doesn’t stack up even compared to snubbed male nominees like the Safdie Brothers, Robert Eggers or Noah Baumbach. The lack of female nominees is certainly a major disappointment from the HFPA in a year of amazing female-directed films, who’ve rightfully faced a lot of criticism in recent years for its glaring lack of diversity, equally found in the exclusion of shows like When They See Us and Watchmen in the TV awards.
Equally, there are further snubs for the Safdie Brothers’ widely acclaimed Uncut Gems and its star Adam Sandler, who has also received rave reviews across the board. Despite a stacked category, it is also a huge surprise to see Shia Labeouf not nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his transformative performance as his own father in Honey Boy. Furthermore, the complete lack of nominations for Robert Eggers’ brilliant The Lighthouse is a huge snub, given the wonderful script and direction alongside two exceptional performances by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe.
Certainly, Joker has received a huge Oscar boost in garnering nominations for Best Drama and Director, even if Joaquin Phoenix was already a lock for a Best Actor nomination and Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score was easily one of the year’s best. Parasite has more than earned its nominations for Best Foreign Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay, however, it seems strange that The Farewell has only scored nominations for Best Actress in a Comedy and Best Foreign Film and Greta Gerwig’s highly acclaimed Little Women only scored a couple of nominations too.
Fortunately, the Golden Globes are often not wholly indicative of the Oscar nominations, so there’s hope that this distinct lack of female nominees will be rectified come January 13th when the Oscar nominations are announced. As for the Globes, the hopeful nominees will have to wait until January 5th to find out whether they’ll be taking home any awards from the first major event of the season.
Words by Elliott Jones