The Hollywood Foreign Press have announced this year's nominees for their Golden Globe awards, with Black Swan, The Fighter and believe it or not Burlesque snagging some of the morning's most surprising nominations. The King's Speech led the total with 7 nominations overall, with The Social Network and The Fighter right behind it with six apiece. Check out the full list of nominees below, with a little discussion and commentary first.
Though the Best Picture category for Drama included many of the expected awards season heavy hitters like The Social Network and Inception, the Comedy or Musical category got a little loopy given the limited options, picking the garish Alice in Wonderland, the box office bomb The Tourist and--oh happy day for sequins and catfights-- Burlesque. Luckily The Kids Are All Right is pretty much guaranteed to beat all of them, but it's a much more interesting race for Best Drama, where critical favorite The Social Network will likely be pitted mainly against The Fighter, a film the HFPA clearly adored given that they nominated the entire cast, including the really-just-OK Mark Wahlberg as Best Actor (beating out the likes of Robert Duvall and Jeff Bridges).
If you're looking for snubs, it's a little stunning to see zero love for True Grit, the Western from Joel and Ethan Coen that might have just screened too late for them to see it. Star Hailee Steinfeld was expected to be a slam dunk Best Supporting Actress nominee at the Oscars, but her spot in that category was given to Black Swan's Mila Kunis, who can count herself among the morning's most surprising nominees. I was also a little stunned, especially after 127 Hours was nominated for Best Screenplay, to not see Danny Boyle make it in for Best Director or the film get in for Best Drama either. It might be a sign that the buzz on that film really is all about Franco.
Looking into the TV nominees the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories are particularly insane, because the Globes don't just lump together comedies and dramas here, but miniseries and TV movies as well. I have no idea how a person is supposed to judge Hope Davis's work as Hillary Clinton in The Special Relationship against Sofia Vergara on Modern Family, or David Strathairn in Temple Grandin against Chris Colfer on Glee. If I were in the Hollywood Foreign Press I'd probably just go with whoever I'd most want to have lunch with-- and this is why nobody lets me vote on awards
The Golden Globes are generally regarded as a precursor to the big kahuna of movie awards, the Oscars, but it's worth noting that the Hollywood Foreign Press is a group that's notoriously bought and paid for by studios, not to mention an incredibly small group of just a few hundred journalists. In short, if you're excited about who got nominations, you're allowed to act like this is the biggest deal of all time. If you're disappointed, console yourself by knowing it doesn't really matter anyway. Isn't it fun how awards can work that way?
Check out the full list of nominees below and commiserate/celebrate with me in the comments.
BEST PICTURE, DRAMA
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network
BEST PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Alice in Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kids Are All Right
Red
The Tourist
BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David O. Russell, The Fighter
BEST ACTOR, DRAMA
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King's Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter
BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA
Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
BEST ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland
Johnny Depp, The Tourist
Paul Giamatti, Barney's Version
Jake Gyllenhaal, Love and Other Drugs
Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack
BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Anne Hathaway, Love and Other Drugs
Angelina Jolie, The Tourist
Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right
Emma Stone, Easy A
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Michael Douglas, Wall Street 2
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
BEST SCREENPLAY
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David Seidler, The King's Speech
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Despicable Me
How To Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Tangled
Toy Story 3
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Biutiful
The Concert
The Edge
I Am Love
In A Better World
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat, The King's Speech
Danny Elfman, Alice in Wonderland
A.R. Rahman, 127 Hours
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network
Hans Zimmer, Inception
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Bound to You," Burlesque
"Coming Home," Country Strong
"I See the Light," Tangled
"There's A Place For Us," Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader
"You Haven't Seen The Last of Me," Burlesque
BEST TV SERIES, DRAMA
Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
The Good Wife
Mad Men
The Walking Dead
BEST TV SERIES, COMEDY
30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
The Big C
Glee
Modern Family
Nurse Jackie
BEST ACTOR, DRAMA
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House
BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA
Julianne Marguiles, The Good Wife
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Piper Perabo, Covert Affairs
Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
BEST ACTOR, COMEDY
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
Thomas Jane, Hung
Matthew Morrison, Glee
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY
Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Laura Linney, The Big C
Lea Michele, Glee
BEST MINI-SERIES OR TV MOVIE
Carlos
The Pacific
Pillars of the Earth
Temple Grandin
You Don't Know Jack
BEST ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR TV MOVIE
Idris Elba, Luther
Ian MacShane, Pillars of the Earth
Al Pacino, You Don't Know Jack
Dennis Quaid, The Special Relationship
Edgar Ramirez, Carlos
BEST ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR TV MOVIE
Hayley Atwell, Pillars of the Earth
Claire Danes, Temle Grandin
Judi Dench, Return to Cranford
Romola Garai, Emma
Jennier Love Hewitt, The Client List
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR TV MOVIE
Scott Caan, Hawaii Five-O
Chris Colfer, Glee
Chris Noth, The Good Wife
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family
David Strathairn, Temple Grandin
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR TV MOVIE
Hope Davis, The Special Relationship
Jane Lynch, Glee
Kelly McDonald, Boardwalk Empire
Julia Stiles, Dexter
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
