With the 78th Golden Globe Awards coming, the Cigar breaks down each category and the nominees. Photo from indianexpress.com.
Buckle up everyone. The 78th Golden Globes are right around the corner, and there is much to discuss. Without further ado, let’s break down the ceremony and nominations.
Let’s start off with the two comedy wizards Tina Fey and Amy Poehler who will return to host the Golden Globes for a fourth time. The event will take place virtually, of course, but it’s okay because this duo never disappoints.
Before getting into any specifics on the nominees, we need to talk about the fact that there were 22 Netflix nominations for motion pictures and 20 for television shows. Let’s do some quick math here, shall we? Netflix received a total of 42 nominations this year, which blows every other distributor out of the water. It’s not a giant shock that Netflix received a lot of nominations, being that this pandemic has made Netflix a very highly viewed and reliable streaming service and platform with most movie theaters being closed. With 42 nominations, Netflix has the potential to dominate the Golden Globes this year.
Also of note is that out of the five directors nominated in the Best Director category, three are female filmmakers. To put that into perspective for you, there have only been five female directors nominated in the entire 78-year history of the Golden Globes; this year alone, that number is being almost doubled. The women nominated are Chloé Zhao for “Nomadland,” Regina King for “One Night in Miami” and Emerald Fennell for “Promising Young Woman.” This is a huge step for women behind the cameras and I am excited to see who will take this award home.
Moving on to some shows that popped up quite a few times as nominees, we have “The Crown” and “Schitt’s Creek” with the most nominations for a television series. “The Crown” leads with six nominations and “Schitt’s Creek” doesn’t fall too far behind with five. “The Crown” is competing for Best Television Drama Series along with “Lovecraft Country,” “The Mandalorian,” “Ozark” and “Ratched.” Similarly, “Schitt’s Creek” is nominated for Best Musical or Comedy Series, competing against “Emily in Paris,” “The Flight Attendant,” “The Great” and “Ted Lasso.”
I am a big “Schitt’s Creek” fan, so I was excited to see that show pop up so much for nominations after six seasons. Definitely much deserved and a long time coming, just like their 2020 Emmys sweep! I was also thrilled to see Annie Murphy and Daniel Levy nominated for Best Performance by an Actress/Actor in a Supporting Role in the musical or comedy series genre because I think they are both hilarious and incredible at what they do.
Switching gears to some movie nominations, Netflix original “Mank” led the way with six nominations including Best Motion Picture – Drama, acting nominations for Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried, Best Director for David Fincher, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score. The black-and-white biographical film tells the story of screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz while he was developing his screenplay for the iconic film “Citizen Kane.” I think it is a fair prediction to say that “Mank” will do pretty well in this year’s Golden Globes.
Another movie that leads the way in nominations is the Aaron Sorkin film starring Sacha Baron Cohen, “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” Along with nominations for Cohen, Sorkin, the screenplay and the film, they also garnered a nomination for Best Original Song for “Hear My Voice.” While the film, a historical legal drama about the Chicago Seven, a group of anti-Vietnam War protesters charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines with the intention of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, was originally meant to be a Paramount Pictures release, it was sold to Netflix for distribution, adding to the streaming service’s impressive 42 nomination. With “Mank” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” both being Netflix releases with overlapping nominees in multiple categories, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.
Now let’s talk about some things I am personally excited for. I was so excited to see that “Hamilton was nominated” for not one, but two Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and an acting nomination for Hamilton himself, Lin-Manuel Miranda. I love “Hamilton” and was really excited to see it on Disney+, so I am rooting for them. Leslie Odom Jr., who won the Tony Award over Miranda for his portrayal of Aaron Burr, wasn’t nominated for the Disney+ release, but he did get a nomination in the drama category for his portrayal of Sam Cooke in “One Night in Miami.”
Another category that is one of my favorites, even though it is often less talked about, is Best Motion Picture – Animated. I was excited to see Pixar’s “Onward” as a nomination because I thought that movie was actually really good. I was also happy, but not surprised to see “Soul” as a nomination as well. That movie was another good one, but definitely didn’t seem like a children’s movie. There were a lot of deep topics in that one! My prediction is the “Soul” is going to take the win on this one, but both are available for streaming on Disney+ and Pixar would have a win either way.
A last thought about this year’s Golden Globes…we have to talk about snubs. I was very very surprised that “This is Us” was not nominated. The show is currently in their fifth season, and has been nominated multiple times in the past, but it’s now been snubbed two years in a row. I was very surprised not to see it in any category this year, and a little bit sad because I really like that show! Another big talking point was that “I May Destroy You,” starring, written, co-directed and executive produced by Black British actress Michaela Coel, didn’t receive any love from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association despite tons of critical acclaim. This is especially shocking when a show that has become the butt of the Internet’s jokes, “Emily in Paris,” managed to come out with two nominations.
On the more controversial side, there were some nominations that upset people. James Corden was nominated for his role as a gay, washed-up actor in the movie adapation of the Broadway musical, “The Prom.” His role was criticized and seen as mocking the gay community and the casting of him, being that he is a straight man, received a lot of backlash. Singer-songwriter Sia’s film “Music,” which stars Maddie Ziegler as a young autistic teenager received two nominations. Many who are actually on the spectrum have called out Sia and the film on social media for casting a non-autistic actress to play an autistic character.
When an autistic actress on Twitter said that she and many others would have gladly taken on the role in Ziegler’s place, Sia replied, “Maybe you’re just a bad actor.” She has since expressed regret over the tweet, but the damage had already been done for many.
This Golden Globes is certainly going to be an interesting one, and I am looking forward to seeing what happens. The ceremony will air on Sunday, February 28 at 8 p.m. on NBC.