'Bohemian Rhapsody' rocked the HFPA, while Michael B. Jordan, Ryan Gosling and 'Widows' couldn't score any nomination love.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association didn't nominate Meryl. The illustrious, confounding HFPA had the opportunity to nominate 31-time Golden Globe nominee Meryl Streep yet again this year -- for best supporting actress for her delightfully bonkers performance in Mary Poppins -- and...didn't. It's like we don't even know who the HFPA is anymore. That's just one of the snubs and surprises of this year's nominations, though.
Surprise: Bohemian Rhapsody Rocks First Man! Rami Malek's road to the Oscars continues with a Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama nomination, while the not-exactly-raved-about Queen biopic scored a nomination for Best Motion Picture - Drama -- not Musical or Comedy. The collateral damage of Bohemian Rhapsody's surprise inclusion seems to be First Man, which was all but shut out by the Globes: No Ryan Gosling. No Damien Chazelle. No Best Drama. (Claire Foy, meanwhile, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for the Neil Armstrong biopic, as was First Man's score.)
Snub: Widows. While First Man did manage a few nominations in the end, Steve McQueen's elevated heist thriller was passed over completely. (McQueen's previous film, 12 Years a Slave, won the Globes' top honor.) The same goes for Saoirse Ronan's well-reviewed Mary Queen of Scots and the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex (in which Felicity Jones is very, very good!). What will Widows' lack of recognition mean for Viola Davis' Oscar chances? TBD, but that leads us to...
Surprise: Nicole Kidman for Destroyer! Kidman, a Globes favorite to be sure, squeezed her way into the best actress in a drama field, nominated for her Performance with a capital P as a grizzled, bewigged police detective in Destroyer. (If it were up to me, she would have been in the best supporting actress category for Boy Erased.) The same goes for Rosamund Pike, who earned raves for her turn in Private War but still felt like she was just orbiting the top five, leaving no room for Viola Davis or Roma's Yalitza Aparicio.
Surprise: Constance Wu for Crazy Rich Asians! And what a pleasant surprise this is! Really, what might be more shocking is that this is Wu's first ever Globes nomination. (The HFPA has never recognized her for Fresh Off the Boat.) While Wu scored in best actress in a musical or comedy and the film was nominated for best musical or comedy, it feels a bit bittersweet, as Michelle Yeoh was left off the best supporting actress list. Still, this calls for a celebratory game of mahjong.
Snub: Michael B. Jordan for Black Panther. Marvel Studios may have scored its first Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture - Drama -- it's the first time the HFPA has ever nominated a superhero movie in the category (not even The Dark Knight made the cut) -- but the movie did not win Ryan Coogler a best director nod or accolades for any of the cast, with Jordan's consuming turn as the villainous Killmonger being the most egregious omission. Along with...
Snub: Sam Elliott for A Star Is Born. Bradley Cooper's take on A Star Is Born was recognized in nearly all of the show's top categories -- best drama, best director, best actor, best actress, best original song -- which only makes Elliott's lack of a nomination more baffling. When a "Sam" was announced in the best supporting actor nominations, I truly assumed it was Elliott and only later realized it was Sam Rockwell, for playing George W. Bush in Vice.
Surprise: John C. Reilly for Stan & Ollie! It's not that Reilly was completely off our radar, but we never imagined his nomination -- for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy -- would be for this Laurel and Hardy romp. Certainly not over The Sisters Brothers. Alas! This does make Reilly something of a double nominee this year, as Ralph Breaks the Internet, in which he voices the titular Internet-breaking Ralph, was also nominated for best animated film.
Snub: Ethan Hawke for First Reformed. And just as First Reformed was gaining momentum, making an Oscar case for itself with a handful of nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards and big wins at the Gotham Awards and National Board of Review. Yet Hawke, the surest thing the film had going for it at the Globes, missed. A24, the studio behind First Reformed, seemed to be having a bit of an off year at the Globes, as Eighth Grade also missing out on a Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy nomination, while Hereditary's Toni Collette was similarly snubbed from best actress in a drama. Justice for Toni!
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