Seth Myers Hosts Sunday’s Golden Globes with Tightest Competition in Years
By: Ellis Nassour
With betting odds too close to call in the Picture and Acting categories, Sunday’s 2018/75th Anniversary Golden Globes, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and telecast live on NBC at 8 Eastern from the Beverly Hilton International Ballroom, should be one of the most exciting in years.
The party atmosphere – with free-flowing bottles of wine and cocktails, will be enhanced by the Twin Peaks style of SNL alum Seth Myers, in his first hosting gig since the 2014 Emmys. He says: “Hollywood, we have a lot to talk about!” and it’s not all good.
Myers follows in the recent footsteps of SNL alum Amy Poehler and Tina Faye. Myers is quite adept working an audience. It will either be a walk-on-egg-shells evening with the sexual harassment issues of the last few months – or a no-holds-barred fest of witty repartee.
The GGs will air in more than 210 countries and is one of the few award ceremonies to include movies and TV achievement.
With too-close-to-call [the closest in years] nominees in several categories and the Oscars almost two months away (March 4), hardly anything is a done deal in the wild ride to victory. That bodes well for suspense and surprise at the first-out-the-gate GGs.
Drama frontrunners are Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy romance The Shape of Water, which racked up seven nods including Best and Supporting Actress honors for Sally Hawkins and Oscar-winner Olivia Spencer’s performances; romantic sexual-coming-of-age drama Call Me By Your Name; and vengeful black comedy Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Then, there’s Steven Spielberg’s All the President’s Men-type expose drama of the publication of the Pentagon Papers, The Post; and Christopher Nolan’s WWII “can we get our boys home alive” drama Dunkirk, which shows all too-vividly the horror of war [but with too much CGI].
The Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical field, which this year has little of both, seems to be in the service of improving wins or giving exposure to deserving films, Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut Lady Bird leads the pack with four nominations including a Best Actress nod for Saoirse Ronan. I, Tonya follows with three.
Oprah Winfrey will receive the prestigious Cecil B. DeMille Award, which Golden Globes’ board of directors bestows “on a person who has made an incredible impact on the world of entertainment.” It seems years too late, but certainly couldn’t be more well-deserved for the impact Ms. Winfrey has made and continues to make.
Dunkirk (Warner Bros./Syncopy)
The Post (Dreamworks/20th Century Fox)
The Shape of Water (Double Dare You/Fox Searchlight)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Blueprint/Fox Searchlight)
All five nominees have reaped acclaim as have the actors in four of the films. Cold War fantasy romance The Shape of Water leads the field with seven nominations, closely followed by six for Steven Spielberg’s The Post, which has a daunting pair of beloved GG darlings, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. But in this year of top-grossing indies, Call Me By Your Name and Three Billboards… may cause an upset.
Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
The Disaster Artist
Get Out
The Greatest Showman
I, Tonya
Lady Bird
The Greatest Showman mixes history, often turning it upside down with lots of contemporary and hip twists – and is too reminiscent of the style of Moulin Rouge. Director Craig Gillespie and writer Steven Rogers achieve the impossible: meld true-life incidents, stupidity, and violence into a well-crafted satire on winning at all costs. Hilarious, sometimes sad, and devastatingly well-written Lady Bird tackles mother/daughter tensions. Get Out offers the unique combination of biting social satire and a metaphor on racism. In the indiest indie of the year, Disaster Artist, James Franco takes a cow’s ear and spins gold and, once and for all, proves he’s a triple threat: actor, director, and [co-] producer [along with Seth Rogen and 20 others].
Motion Picture, Actress, Drama
Jessica Chastain, Molly’s Game
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Meryl Streep, The Post
Michelle Williams, All the Money in the World
Even with strong contenders Hawkins, Streep, and Williams, could a GG finally go to McDormand, with six GG nominations, for her poignant portrayal of a mother out for revenge?
Motion Picture, Actor, Drama
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
Tom Hanks, The Post
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Can the expertly-played performances of three powerhouse artists prevent a win, in the heated competition between Chalamet in a stirring sexual coming-of-age tale and longtime favorite Oldman, who is transformed into British statesman Winston Churchill. While Oldman, with his jowls, paunch, and cadence, gives audiences a living, breathing Churchill, it’s hard to top Chalament’s final silent, tearful moments in stark close-up in front of that roaring fireplace.
Motion Picture, Actress, Comedy or Musical
Judi Dench, Victoria & Abdul
Helen Mirren, The Leisure Seeker
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Emma Stone, Battle of the Sexes
Not long after Greta Gerwig came on the scene as Hollywood’s new darling, Ronan came calling. The two acclaimed up-and-comers have bonded for Lady Bird with Gerwig not only in her directorial debut but also directing Ronan. One also has to admire Robbie’s ability to make ice-skating-world’s talented but not well respected Harding a sympathetic character.
Motion Picture, Actor, Comedy or Musical
Steve Carell, Battle of the Sexes
Ansel Elgort, Baby Driver
James Franco, The Disaster Artist
Hugh Jackman, The Greatest Showman
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Jack-of-all-trades and master of most Franco brilliantly captures the absurdist and I-Can-Do-That spirit of indie jack-of-all-trades and master of none Tommy Wiseau. He has stiff completion from Kaluuya as Get Out’s young black terrorized by his white girlfriend’s family; and Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars) as the partially hearing-impaired getaway driver caught up in the comedy camper Baby Driver‘s crime maelstrom.
Motion Picture, Supporting Actress
Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Hong Chau, Downsizing
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water
It’s even odds between 2017’s overbearing, shoot-from-the-hip and damn-the-consequences mothers: the always magnificent Metcalf of Lady Bird and I, Tonya’s equally magnificent Janney.
Sadly, and most puzzling, the nominators didn’t recognize Oscar winner Melissa Leo’s Jeykll and Hyde benevolent/monster-from-hell Mother Superior in Novitiate.
Motion Picture, Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Armie Hammer, Call Me By Your Name
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Plummer excels in director Ridley Scott’s brave reshoot of over 20 sequences for All the Money in the World, but, after waiting years for him to find the role that will place him back in the big leagues, in Three Billboards… Rockwell delivers one of the most memorable performances ever – akin to Cagney, grapefruit in hand, in Public Enemy.
Motion Picture, Director
Guillermo del Torro, The Shape of Water
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Ridley Scott, All the Money in the World
Steven Spielberg, The Post
In the what-were-the-nominators-thinking shocker that you can bet the Oscars
won’t repeat, they forgot this was the year of female empowerment and racial diversity in the industry. Not one woman made it into the category. Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow (Detroit), Oscar-winner Sofia Coppola (Beguiled), Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman), and Dee Rees (Mudbound) made films that were, in most cases, acclaimed and box office champs.
TV Series, Drama
The Crown (Netflix)
Game of Thrones (HBO)
The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
Stranger Things (Netflix)
This Is Us (NBC)
TV Series, Comedy
black-ish (ABC)
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
Master of None (Netflix)
Smilf (Showtime)
Will & Grace (NBC)
TV Movie or Limited-Series
Big Little Lies (HBO)
Fargo (FX)
Feud: Bette and Joan (FX)
The Sinner (USA)
Top of the Lake: China Girl (Sundance TV)
For more information, a complete list of motion picture and TV
nominations, clips, and photos visit www.nbc.com/the-golden-globe-awards.
