Globe nominees

A terrific showing for Fox Searchlight at Monday’s (December 11) Golden Globe 2018 nominations brought 15 nods overall, including seven for pack leader The Shape Of Water and six for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Click here for the full list of nominations.

A good start to the week for Fox as reports of interest in a corporate acquisition by Disney hang in the air saw Twentieth Century Fox earn 12 nominations, followed by independent titan A24 on seven, and SPC and Sony Pictures Releasing on six apiece. Focus Features earned four and will be disappointed with a sole nod for Darkest Hour for lead dramatic actor contender Gary Oldman, and two for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread.

Fox-Amblin’s The Post from Steven Spielberg earned six nominations including a 31st career Globe nomination for Meryl Streep. A24’s Lady Bird earned four nods, and there was love for Ridley Scott’s All The Money In The World, undeterred by the eleventh-hour removal of Kevin Spacey from the Imperative-Sony drama in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations.

Replacement Christopher Plummer earned a supporting actor nod. Voters responded to the ongoing scandals that have engulfed Hollywood and excluded Amazon Studios’ Transparent in television categories following allegations of misconduct against star Jeffrey Tambor, which the actor has strenuously denied.

Best drama pits SPC’s beloved Call Me By Your Name (three nods) against Warner Bros heavyweight Dunkirk (three), The Post, and Searchlight’s double act of The Shape Of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Contesting the musical or comedy stakes are Universal’s breakout Get Out (two nominations), Fox’s The Greatest Showman (three), Lady Bird, NEON/30WEST’s I, Tonya (three), and New Line and Good Universe’s The Disaster Artist (two).

Guillermo del Toro will compete in the directing category for The Shape Of Water with Martin McDonough for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Christopher Nolan for Dunkirk, Scott for Sony’s All The Money In The World, and Spielberg for The Post.

Judi Dench, Saoirse Ronan and Helen Mirren represent the British Isles in the musical or comedy actress category for Working Title/Focus Feature’s Victoria & Abdul, Lady Bird, and SPC’s The Leisure Seeker. Last year’s Globe winner Emma Stone (La La Land) is back in contention with Fox Searchlight’s Battle Of The Sexes, although Margot Robbie is the one to watch for I, Tonya.

Dramatic actress contest is pure gold in another very strong year for female performances. Frances McDormand may have the edge at this stage for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. But look who she is up against: Sally Hawkins for an acclaimed performance in The Shape Of Water; the formidable Jessica Chastain, a 2017 nominee for Miss Sloane, for Molly’s Game (released by STX in the US); Michelle Williams (a nominee last year for Manchester By The Sea) for All The Money In The World; and the evergreen Streep for The Post, who was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award last year.

Another pair from the British Isles leads the way in the dramatic actor contest. Gary Oldman is arguably the frontrunner for playing Winston Churchill in Working Title/Focus Features’ Darkest Hour. He goes against Daniel Day-Lewis in what the actor has said will be his last role in Focus Features’ Phantom Thread, and newcomer Timothée Chalamet in a widely admired performance in SPC’s Call Me By Your Name. Tom Hanks is a strong contender for The Post, and Denzel Washington is in the mix for Sony’s Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Actor in a musical or comedy inevitably features Hugh Jackman for Fox’s The Greatest Showman – on paper at least a shoo-in for a Globe nod – and watch out for British breakout Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out, a film that will appear on many people’s top 10 lists. James Franco isin the running for The Disaster Artist. Ansel Elgort charmed audiences in Working Title/TriStar’s Baby Driver, and nine-time nominee Steve Carell (he won in 2006 for The Office) is in there for Battle Of The Sexes.

A highly competitive supporting actor category features Plummer for Scott’s All The Money In The World. Yet the frontrunner must be Willem Dafoe, who has been gaining traction with the critics groups for The Florida Project. Sam Rockwell is very strong in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, while Armie Hammer stars in one of the most beloved films of the year, Call Me By Your Name. The supporting actress contest shines a light on Mary J. Blige for her impressive – and almost unrecognisable – turn in Mudbound. Allison Janney for I, Tonya and Laurie Metcalf for Lady Bird are expected to push Blige all the way.

There are foreign language nods for Ruben Ostlund’s Palme d’Or winner The Square (Sweden-Germany-France), Chile’s A Fantastic Woman by Sebastian Lelio, Cambodia’s First They Killed My Father by HFPA favourite Angelina Jolie, Fatih Akin’s In the Fade (Germany-France), and Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Loveless (Russia).

Screenplay contenders are strong, with del Toro and Vanessa Taylor for The Shape Of Water taking on Greta Gerwig’s much-fancied Lady Bird, McDonough’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game, and first-timer Liz Hannah and Spotlight screenwriter (and Oscar-winner) Josh Singer for The Post.

In the animation category, Disney-Pixar’s Coco is the obvious frontrunner, although the other four have their fans including late-arriving Ferdinand from Fox and the independent hit, Loving Vincent, which has won awards and already reached $23.2m at the worldwide box office and is licensed internationally via Cinema Management Group.

In television, HBO emerged with the most nods – 12 – while Big Little Lies led the field by title on six nods, followed by Feud: Bette And Joan (FX Network) on four, and three each for Fargo (FX Network), The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu), and This Is Us (NBC). Netflix picked up nine nominations, and Amazon Studios earned three in another disappointing performance after the Emmys.

The best television series – drama is competitive. The category pitches Netflix’s The Crown against HBO behemoth Game Of Thrones (which was ineligible for the Emmys), Hulu sensation The Handmaid’s Tale, Netflix’s Stranger Things, and NBC’s This is Us.

The actress in a supporting role in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television, features Ann Dowd of The Handmaid’s Tale – who won the Emmy this year for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series – going up against Laura Dern from HBO’s Big Little Lies, who won the Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a limited series or movie.

Elisabeth Moss will be looking to replicate here Emmy success in the outstanding lead actress in a drama series category for The Handmaid’s Tale, and earns a nod for best performance by an actress in a television series – drama.

Nicole Kidman goes against her Big Little Lies compadre Reese Witherspoon in the category of best Performance by an actress in a limited series or motion picture made for television and will be looking to add another gong to her trophy cabinet after she picked up the Emmy this year for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie.

The 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards will air live coast-to-coast on NBC on Sunday, January 7, 2018, from 5-8pm PT from the Beverly Hilton Hotel with host Seth Meyers.