The Golden Globe nominations have a long history of confounding pundits, with that award show’s eccentric voting body always, famously, going its own way. This year, many of the presumed awards season frontrunners made the cut—but, there were also a handful of head-spinning surprises and truly egregious snubs. These are the 12 we can’t stop thinking about.
Snub: Wicked: For Good
Let’s just say it: Jon M Chu’s pink-and-green sequel hasn’t been the critical smash-hit its predecessor was. That, rightfully, didn’t stop Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande scoring nods for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, and Best Supporting Actress, respectively, but for the film itself not to be in the Best Musical or Comedy category, given it was the only musical seriously in contention? It’s a huge loss. (It made the shortlist for the Golden Globes Awards’ Cinematic and Box Office Achievement prize, though I suspect that’ll provide little comfort.) This doesn’t bode well for its chances of securing an Oscar Best Picture nomination either.
Surprise: Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt for The Smashing Machine
Benny Safdie’s biopic of MMA fighter Mark Kerr has faded into the background somewhat over the last few months, but the Globes nominated both The Rock and his onscreen partner, for Best Actor – Drama and Supporting Actress, with the latter beating out rivals from buzzier releases, including Marty Supreme’s Gwyneth Paltrow and Odessa A’zion, and One Battle After Another’s Regina Hall. It doesn’t guarantee either Johnson or Blunt slots in the Oscar race—at the moment, it feels unlikely that they’ll make the cut—but it’s certainly resuscitated their campaigns for the time being.
Snub: Wunmi Mosaku for Sinners
One of the actors who missed out on a spot in the Supporting Actress line-up as a result of Blunt’s surprise inclusion is the formidable breakout from Ryan Coogler’s blockbuster vampire saga. It walked away with an impressive seven nods at the Golden Globes nominations—Best Drama, Best Director, Best Actor for Michael B Jordan, Best Screenplay, Best Original Song, Best Score, and Cinematic and Box Office Achievement—but it would’ve been great to see her in the mix, too.
Surprise: Eva Victor for Sorry, Baby
The news that most delighted me from today’s nominations? The fact that the supremely talented director, writer and lead actor of the A24 instant cult classic—easily one of my favourite movies of the year—made it into the Best Actress – Drama category. Facing competition in the form of Hamnet’s Jessie Buckley, Die My Love’s Jennifer Lawrence, After the Hunt’s Julia Roberts, Sentimental Value’s Renate Reinsve and Hedda’s Tessa Thompson, there’s basically no way Victor can win. But still, the film’s inclusion here might get a few more people to finally see it, and that is invaluable.
Snub: Train Dreams
Another quiet and deeply moving film which deserves more attention, Clint Bentley’s achingly beautiful period piece was owed a Best Drama nomination, and a slot in the Best Screenplay category, too. The superb Joel Edgerton is at least in the running for Best Actor – Drama for his heartbreaking turn, and it secured an Original Song nod for Nick Cave’s gentle, goosebump-inducing ‘Train Dreams’, but this is a snub I’ll have trouble getting over.
Surprise: Nouvelle Vague
It’s a good day for Richard Linklater at the Golden Globes nominations, whose two new films, the Ethan Hawke-led Blue Moon and this black-and-white retelling of the making of the French New Wave classic Breathless, both got into Best Musical or Comedy. Blue Moon has been ascendant as more awards voters catch up on Hawke’s transformative performance as the beleaguered 20th-century songwriter Lorenz Hart (he’s deservedly nominated for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy), but I for one was startled to see Nouvelle Vague here over, say, Harry Lighton’s hilarious and heartfelt Pillion, starring a leather-clad Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård, or Mona Fastvold’s audacious, Amanda Seyfried-led, 18th-century cult musical The Testament of Ann Lee. This is a more traditional and far less interesting choice.
Surprise: ‘No Place Like Home’ from Wicked: For Good
It’s a truth (basically) universally acknowledged that the two new original songs in Wicked: For Good aren’t that great. At a stretch, I can kind of understand Ariana Grande’s ‘The Girl in the Bubble’ being nominated, but ‘No Place Like Home’, which Elphaba croons as the animals are leaving Oz literally feels like it’s being made up on the spot. It has no business being on the Best Original Song shortlist alongside true bangers like KPop Demon Hunters’ ‘Golden’ and Sinners’ ‘I Lied to You’. The Testament of Ann Lee’s ‘Clothed by the Sun’ or the other Sinners song, ‘Last Time (I Seen the Sun)’, would have been worthier contenders.
Surprise: The Bear
After two fumbled seasons, few expected Christopher Storer’s tortured culinary comedy-drama to reappear at the Golden Globes, but it somehow scored three nods: for Best TV Series – Musical or Comedy, Best Actor in a Comedy Series for Jeremy Allen White and Best Actress in a Comedy Series for Ayo Edebiri. The pair are reliably great, of course, and the Globes evidently loyal, having given the show five statuettes over the past few years, but it might be time to leave it behind for something newer and more exciting.
Surprise: Jacob Elordi for The Narrow Road to the Deep North
It was a joy to see the Australian heartthrob recognised in Best Supporting Actor for his extraordinary work in Frankenstein—here’s hoping an Oscar nomination follows—but an even bigger surprise and thrill to see him included in Best Actor in a Limited Series as well, for this powerful and under-seen war drama from Justin Kurzel and Shaun Grant.
Snub: Katherine LaNasa for The Pitt
Given she won the Emmy for Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, it’s astonishing that the firecracker from R Scott Gemmill’s riveting medical drama isn’t even nominated for the Best TV Supporting Actress Globe. (Its lead, Noah Wyle, is on the Best Actor in a Drama Series shortlist, and The Pitt in Best Drama Series, so voters clearly saw and enjoyed the show.) Adolescence’s Erin Doherty, Hacks’ Hannah Einbinder and The Studio’s Catherine O’Hara were always going to get in here, but aside from them, a trio of White Lotus standouts came out on top instead—Carrie Coon, Parker Posey and Aimee Lou Wood. Fair enough, but it might have been nice to spread the wealth a little more?
Surprise: Ashley Walters for Adolescence
While the culture-shifting Netflix phenomenon’s Erin Doherty, Stephen Graham, Owen Cooper and writer Jack Thorne have cleaned up at a number of awards shows, the supporting actor who takes the part of the inspector at the heart of the case has largely been overlooked, netting just one Emmy nomination. But at the Globes, the wave for this blistering series resulted in five nods in total, and carried him across the line in the process.
Snub: Stranger Things
Granted, reviews for the first half of the last season of the Duffer brothers’ sci-fi epic have been muted, but it was still surprising to see it passed over in Best Drama Series considering this would be the Globes’ final opportunity to honour it. Despite four nominations (two for Best Drama Series, one for Winona Ryder and the other for David Harbour) it’s never actually won any Golden Globes—a crime for what is surely one of the best TV shows of all time.
This story was originally published on Vogue.com.
