Hollywood’s awards season kicked into high gear on Monday when the nominations for the Golden Globes were unveiled, headlined by the hit musical “Wicked: For Good,” the Shakespearean family tragedy “Hamnet” and the period horror film “Sinners.”
Paul Thomas Anderson’s politically charged “One Battle After Another” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and the mid-century sports drama “Marty Supreme” starring Timothée Chalamet and Gwyneth Paltrow are also top contenders.
The Globes, scheduled for Jan. 11, are widely seen as a bellwether for the Academy Awards, and top Globes nominees are already on many insider short lists for the Oscars.
The Golden Globes award separate awards for dramas and comedies/musicals, expanding the field of stars who walk the red carpet and increasing the suspense.
“This year’s headline is: Comedy is where the drama is,” Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis told AFP.
“Wicked: For Good” will compete for top comedy-drama honors with “One Battle After Another” and “Marty Supreme.”
Also in the comedy mix is the apocalyptic satire “Bugonia,” the latest quirky effort from Greek writer Yorgos Lanthimos, starring his frequent collaborator Emma Stone, who is up for a nomination with co-star Jesse Plemons.
For Davis, the blockbuster conclusion to the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical “Wicked” is “still probably the populist choice” with broad appeal.
Ariana Grande as the bubbly pink-clad Glinda and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo as the green-skinned Elphaba are awards hopefuls again this year, even though Erivo was surprisingly left off the Critics’ Choice Awards short list.
For Davis, the best actress category for the Globes, and the Oscars, will be “Murderers’ Row,” with a bevy of worthy nominees.
There will be six nominees in each main category, not five as in previous years.
– ‘Hamnet’ and ‘Sinners’ major plays –
On the drama side, all the top contenders come down to the past.
“Hamnet” from Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao stars Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare, who tries to pursue a career as a playwright while his wife Agnes, played by Jessie Buckley, grapples with the dangers of plague and childbirth in Elizabethan England.
The film, based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell, draws on evidence that the couple had a son named Hamnet, with scholars saying the name would have sounded indistinguishable from “Hamlet” at the time.
“Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” stars Michael B. Jordan play twins from the criminal underworld who encounter a sinister force when they return home to racially segregated Mississippi in the 1930s.
The film was a huge box office success and it looks like Jordan is sure to get a nomination. It led the Critics’ Choice Awards on Friday with 17 nominations.
Davis explained, “It had so much going for it that it was a big money maker, it was a significant hit culturally,” adding that he would “not sleep a wink” until Coogler received an Oscar nomination for directing.
Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” adaptation starring Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi is also in the running.
Oscar nominations are set to take place on January 22, so the picks for the Globes should begin to more clearly outline the path to the Academy Awards.
The Globes also honor the best in television, with top Emmy nominees for dramas “Severance” and “The Pit,” comedies “The Studio” and “Hacks,” and limited series “Adolescence” expected to dominate the nominations.
Actors Marlon Wayans and Sky Marshall will announce the lead nominees for the 83rd Golden Globes on Monday at 1315 GMT.
The Globes are in their third year of revamp, and last year’s ceremony, hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser, was a hit with audiences, with more than 10 million people attending.
Glaser will return as host of the January 11 ceremony in Beverly Hills.
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