Love is in the air this awards season. As the Golden Globes fumbled and goofed their way to a surprisingly standard set of winners, there’s one saving grace as a camera pans across an audience: couples. Since the days of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, awards season and coupledom have been intrinsically linked. The Globes gave us a small taste of the smooching duos we might see for the next six weeks. Though the Critics Choice Awards and the Emmys were relatively tame affairs, the BAFTAs, SAGs, and Academy Awards on the horizon with new nominees swooping in to vie for the prize. Here are the nominees, so to speak, ranked by how little to how much we’d like to see more PDA this awards season.
13. Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner
So long as they cause drama, these two will make for valuable live-television cutaways. Still, it’s hard to look at the two of them together without thinking about the “Is that allowed?” vine. Wonka didn’t fare well beyond the Globes, so it looks like these two are back to getting papped in SUVs.
12. Ben Affleck and J.Lo and Matt Damon
The Globes might have been the end of the line of Air, but these three, and whether or not they all like each other, will continue to make tabloid headlines for months, if not years, to come. With Air’s omission from this year’s Oscar nominations, it looks like Damon might be going solo.
11. Mark Ruffalo and Sunrise Coigney
Why were there so many cutaways of these two cuddling during the Golden Globes? No clue — it’s good that someone was having fun there.
10. Annette Bening and Warren Beatty
Bening’s surprise nomination for Nyad mean that this could be her first Oscars attendance with Warren Beatty since #EnvelopeGate. Here’s hoping he’s on best behavior this year.
9. Ali Wong and Bill Hader
Viewers’ reactions quickly shifted from “They kiss?” to “They kiss!” These two on-again, off-again comedians are solidly back on for this year’s awards season, though it was lovely to see her thank her ex-husband Justin for his love and support that allows her to be a working mother. These two packed on the PDA after the Emmys — but can they maintain momentum through the SAGs?
8. Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach
Gerwig’s effervescent enthusiasm and Baumbach’s “inner Barbie girl” (yet to be seen) make them one of the most watchable, baffling celebrity filmmaker duos. After a dozen years together, the two finally tied the knot in December. Consider the awards-show run their honeymoon. Though Gerwig was snubbed in the Academy’s Best Director category (something Baumbach, perhaps, is used to at this point), these two got in together for their teamwork on the Barbie script.
7. Emma Stone and Dave McCary
Dating since 2017 and married since 2020, Stone and McCary have kept a relatively low profile during past awards seasons. But Stone kicked off her award-winning speech at the Globes by thanking him first with a heartfelt “I love you very much, thank you for everything.”
6. Meryl Streep and Martin Short
Streep and Short teamed up as on-screen lovers in the third season of Only Murders in the Building, about which showrunner John Hoffman noted their relationship’s “dramatic poignancy, riding the line of keeping it comedic, keeping it mysterious.” Their cozying up in tandem with Streep’s separation and a sketchy Deux Moi has people wondering are they??? Aren’t they??? Guess we’re all watching the Emmys!
5. Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley
The couples that … produce together … stay together? Robbie’s producer nomination for Barbie might not be the same as snagging a Best Actress nom, but it’s nice she gets to join her man in raking in the big bucks from Barbie’s big summer. Maybe a dream house of their own is in their future.
4. Paul Giamatti and Clara Wong
Giamatti’s turn in The Holdovers with longtime collaborator Alexander Payne could run the risk of a “he’s overdue” narrative were it not for the perfect balance of onscreen grump and off-screen jokester. His earnest affection for Wong — who he met making Billions — makes him seem like the life of the party. Meet you at In-N-Out!!
3. Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas
Nolan’s wife, Emma Thomas, has produced all of his films since he began making them. Why do you think the wives in those movies die so much? Because it’s his greatest fear!!!
2. Justine Triet and Arthur Harari
The Palme d’Or– and now Globe d’Or–winning director of Anatomy of a Fall wrote the marriage murder mystery with her husband during the pandemic, and thankfully they’re both still alive. Triet and her film have now racked up five Oscar nominations — including screenplay — making them the Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach of Best Original Screenplay.
1. Cillian Murphy and Yvonne McGuinness
Cillian has been baby-girled by people online since Red Eye, but his wife Yvonne’s lipstick mark on his nose during his awards speech Sunday night was perhaps the most Internet Boyfriend he’s ever been.
This story has been updated with additional notable couples and new rankings.
