Even before Monday’s nominations, the 81st annual Golden Globes sprang to life with three big surprises:
1. They’re on CBS now!
2. Every category now has six nominees!
3. There are new awards for comedy specials and box-office achievements!
As this is also the first Globes since the Hollywood Foreign Press Association went the way of the U.S.S.R. and dissolved itself, it’s clear the embattled awards show is in the middle of a sea change. Gone is the old Globes insanity, replaced by something safe and respectable.
In other words, the Globes are becoming their ancient enemy: the Critics Choice Awards.
Still, though the HFPA may be no more, their legacy of left-field picks and blatant starfuckery remains in some of this year’s choices. Read on for the snubs and surprises of the 2024 Golden Globes, ahead of the January 7 ceremony.
Film
The Color Purple is feeling blue.
One thing you can usually count on from the Globes is a bevy of noms for a big, starry musical. But even with six spots, The Color Purple couldn’t break into the Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy category, where voters went with the sports-marketing dramedy Air instead. And despite dreams of three acting nominations, Taraji P. Henson was left out of Supporting Actress as voters found the musical’s charms all too resistible. Purple still pulled in nods for Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks, so hope is not lost, but the musical is now on the back foot in the Best Picture race, where the other bubble contenders scored key pickups. Will SAG and the PGA be kinder?
Past Lives reaps what Minari sowed.
Three years ago, the Golden Globes got themselves into hot water when they ruled that Minari featured enough Korean dialogue to qualify for Best Foreign-Language Film and thus was not eligible for Best Motion Picture — Drama. After the resulting uproar, the Globes changed the name of the category to “Best Film Not in the English Language” and changed the rules so that nominees there could still be recognized in Drama or Musical/Comedy. That paid off for A24’s Past Lives, which, despite mostly taking place in English, featured enough Korean to crack the international category, and then snagged a spot in Best Drama as well. (Anatomy of a Fall, which is about 50/50 French and English, and The Zone of Interest, which is almost entirely in German, also notched the same double.) All in all, it was a great morning for Past Lives, which also earned love in Director, Screenplay, and Actress — Drama. The June release is clearly not being forgotten this awards season, and a Best Picture nomination now seems likely.
Barbie scored three Song nominations.
As expected, Barbie earned the most nominations of any film: a whopping nine, tying Cabaret for the second-most in Globes history. (Nashville holds the record with 11.) A third of those came in Original Song, where all three of the numbers the film is pushing made it in: “Dance the Night Away,” “I’m Just Ken,” and “What Was I Made For?” It’s hard to say which is the strongest. “Dance” has the radio airplay, “Ken” is the funniest, and “Made For” soundtracks the film’s most emotional moment. Maybe they’ll split the vote, ensuring Bruce Springsteen’s song from the Peter Dinklage romcom She Came to Me winds out on top? Either way, both Barbie and its soulmate Oppenheimer scored everywhere they needed to, as did Killers of the Flower Moon and Poor Things, rounding out what’s becoming our top tier of contenders.
A muted reception for The Holdovers.
With two acting nods and a seat in Best Picture — Musical or Comedy, The Holdovers won’t have much cause to complain. Nevertheless, it was notable to see Alexander Payne’s film left out of both Best Director and Best Screenplay, and all the more so because it was seemingly bumped by a different bittersweet, human-scaled contender in Past Lives. With the usual caveat that the Globes’ membership has zero overlap with the Academy, it was still a splash of cold water for those of us who believe The Holdovers is a sneaky Best Picture threat.
May December made it a December to remember.
Since hitting Netflix on December 1, Todd Haynes’s melodrama has escaped the confines of Film Twitter and become a viral sensation. The Globes kept the train moving along, nominating each of the film’s trio of actors to go along with a spot in Best Picture — Musical or Comedy. You might argue that May December got a boost from competing as a comedy, though Poor Things and Barbie were also on that side of the ballot, so this was hardly a victory over the J.V. squad. As with The Holdovers, the lack of Screenplay or Director attention kept it from being a total triumph, but since May December came in with lower expectations, I think four noms still counts as a win.
Oddballs reign in the Musical or Comedy acting categories.
With an additional spot in Actor and Actress in a Musical or Comedy, we were bound to see some surprises, and the names we did get were mostly delightful. The Globes’ choice ran the gamut from A-lister in a summer blockbuster (Jennifer Lawrence in No Hard Feelings), to a winning turn in a foreign film (Alma Pöysti in Fallen Leaves), to two stars of deeply strange A24 films (Nicolas Cage in Dream Scenario and Joaquin Phoenix in Beau Is Afraid). Spotlighting worthy performances that will never sniff the Oscar stage is the entire point of this category, and I’m glad the Globes delivered.
Two spicy nods for Saltburn.
After Emerald Fennell’s widely reviled film scored a pair of acting nominations, my colleague Joe Reid posted, “Those Saltburn nominations are gonna get so many people tweeting stuff like ‘Globes gonna Globe.’” With apologies to Joe, I am one of those basic B’s who will utter those exact words: Globes gonna Globe! Now, in fairness to the Golden Globes, they did restrain themselves by declining to nominate Saltburn for Picture, Screenplay, or Director. One of the acting noms, Rosamund Pike in Supporting Actress, is a defensible pick, and the other, Barry Keoghan in Actor — Drama, can be seen as a victory lap for the Globes helping Keoghan land an Oscar nomination for Banshees of Inisherin last season. Still, what’s wackier: the Globes liking Saltburn or the Globes thinking it was a drama?
No love for long-shot acting contenders.
With six spots in each category, it’s more helpful to look at who didn’t make it in than who did. That Franz Rogowski couldn’t nab the last spot in Best Actor — Drama likely proves the Passages star will be a critics-groups-only contender. In Supporting Actor, the Globes confirmed the sense that we’ve got a six-man race, leaving guys like Blackberry’s Glenn Howerton and The Holdovers’s Dominic Sessa in the lurch. Same for newly minted Los Angeles Film Critics Association winner Rachel McAdams of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret in supporting actress, where Air’s Viola Davis, Ferrari’s Penelope Cruz, and The Zone of Interest’s Sandra Hüller also missed. Still, that category remains less settled than its counterpart, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see at least one of those women pop up in the precursors to come.
The award for “cinematic and box-office achievement” makes exactly as much sense as predicted: zero.
I was one of those people who hated the idea of an Oscar for “Best Popular Film,” but I can’t really gin up much ire for the Globes doing it. It’s like, Oh no, they’re sullying the prestige of a Golden Globe! Still, it’s fun to try to parse exactly what kind of message the Globes are sending with their picks in the inaugural edition of this category. If this is just a category decided by domestic box office, why John Wick 4 and not The Little Mermaid or Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, both of which outgrossed it? And if it’s supposed to take artistry into consideration, why is The Super Mario Bros. Movie in there? Baffling all around, but hey, good on the Globes for figuring out a way to invite Taylor Swift. Maybe they haven’t changed that much after all.
TV
The Globes still heart Taylor Sheridan.
Since the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave Kevin Costner a Globe last year for Yellowstone, perhaps it shouldn’t be so surprising to see another Sheridan series in contention for best TV drama. And yet I still went “Huh?” when I saw 1923 on the list of nominees. (I was less surprised to see Helen Mirren nominated for her role on the show, because, you know, she’s Helen Mirren.)
Voters also still love The Crown, even Prince Charles.
I mean, they don’t love it as much as Succession, which earned nine nominations. But in its waning days, the Netflix royal saga snagged four nods, including a surprising one for Dominic West’s performance as Prince Charles. He is not necessarily what stands out in the final episodes of The Crown, in part because the way Charles is written is kind of ridiculous? Perhaps West was recognized for acting his way around so much revisionist history, a triumph in its own way.
Let’s hear it for Mean Jon Hamm!
Globe voters could have recognized Hamm’s turn on The Morning Show, but instead, and correctly, they gave the artist formerly known as Don Draper a nomination for his work on Fargo, where he’s currently giving the most unapologetically villainous performance of his career.
I’m sorry, did they say Woody Harrelson for White House Plumbers?
Harrelson has given many great performances throughout his career. His portrayal of E. Howard Hunt in this dissection of the Watergate scandal is not one of them, but the people responsible for nominating the Golden Globes clearly disagreed.
Did they also say Sam Claflin for Daisy Jones and the Six?
I’m more of a Daisy Jones fan than most, but even I am not sure Claflin, who felt a bit miscast as rock front man Billy Dunne, is worthy of a nomination.
That’s right, Gerri got a nomination.
A round of martinis for J. Smith Cameron for getting nominated for Succession. Gerri did everything for Waystar-Royco, and she deserves this unexpected honor!
Wait, you’re saying Reservation Dogs got nothing?
It is appalling that the exquisite last season of this FX series didn’t receive a single damn nomination.
Wow, y’all dissed Han Solo.
Of all the things Harrison Ford did last year — including 1923 and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny — this was by far his best work, and some of the strongest work of his career. But the Globe voters nominated Jason Segel for lead actor in Shrinking and then brutally rebuffed Ford in the supporting category. The Globes are supposed to love their big stars! Maybe they didn’t bother because they know Ford couldn’t possibly give less of a shit about being nominated.
The Other Two? More like no Other Two.
The most consistent laugh-out-loud comedy of the last year didn’t get any nominations. Do the people nominating shows actually watch TV?
Rachel and Jill Green snubbed.
So they nominated The Morning Show for outstanding drama, a dubious choice, but they didn’t do the most Golden Globes-y thing of all and nominate Jennifer Aniston or Reese Witherspoon? I mean, okay.
Somebody Somewhere is nobody nowhere to these voters.
One of the most charming, humanity-filled shows on television, which depicts life in small-town Kansas, the sort of location routinely ignored in TV comedies, and it doesn’t get a nomination. Not in the comedy category, not for star Bridget Everett, and not for her co-star Jeff Hiller. Once again I am compelled to ask: Do these people watch TV?
So you add stand-up comedy as a category and then don’t include John Mulaney? There’s a horse in this hospital!
Stand-up comedy is a new category this year, and I presumed when it was announced that John Mulaney: Baby J, one of the most discussed stand-up comedy specials of the past year, would be nominated. And yet here we are on Golden Globe nomination day with nary a Baby J in sight. This would not have happened on my watch, or Baby J’s watch!
