Golden Globes: Snubs, surprises, nominees mostly white men

Netflix’s divorce drama, Marriage Story, on Monday led a Golden Globes nomination list dominated by movie stories about white men and one also marked with snubs for actor Robert De Niro, television show, Game of Thrones, and social justice drama, When They See Us, also from Netflix.

Marriage Story scored six nods, including best drama and for actors Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Laura Dern. It was followed by Martin Scorsese’s gangster movie, The Irishman, and Quentin Tarantino’s love letter to Hollywood, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, with five apiece.

De Niro, the star of The Irishman, was left out of the best actor race, although his co-stars Al Pacino and Joe Pesci won nods for their supporting roles and Scorsese will compete for best director.

“It means so much to all of us – to me, Bob, Joe, Al, and the whole team – to be recognized with these nominations,” Scorsese said in a statement.

The best movie drama category was rounded out with director Same Mendes’ immersive first world war drama, 1917, from Universal Pictures, terrifying comic book villain, Joker, from Warner Bros. and papal story, The Two Popes.

The films nominated for best comedy or musical were Eddie Murphy’s comeback, Dolemite is My Name, Nazi-era satire Jojo Rabbit, murder mystery, Knives Out, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and Elton John biopic, Rocketman.

Apple Inc’s streaming service landed its first major award nominations for, The Morning Show, along with its stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.

Yet in the movie race, stories about and by women like including, Harriet, Little Women, Bombshell, and Hustlers, were omitted from the major races although some of their stars, including Saoirse Ronan, Jennifer Lopez, Charlize Theron, and Cynthia Erivo won acting nods.

The director field was an all-male affair dominated by veterans Tarantino, Scorsese, Mendes, Todd Phillips for Joker and South Korea‘s Bong Joon-Ho for social satire, Parasite.

Netflix dominated the nominations across both television and movies, scoring a leading 17 nods in movie fields and 17 in television.

HBO’s medieval fantasy, Game of Thrones, failed to make it into the best TV drama series race, and upcoming movie musical, Cats, scored just one nod, for Taylor Swift and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s original song, Beautiful Ghosts.

Among the biggest snubs was Ava DuVernay’s searing television dramatisation of the wrongful imprisonment of five black teens for a 1989 rape in New York’s Central Park, which won two Emmy awards earlier this year.

The 77th Golden Globes Awards ceremony will be hosted by British comedian Ricky Gervais and will take place in Beverly Hills on January 5, 2020.

The ceremony should see a host of other major Hollywood stars whose work was nominated on Monday, including Beyonce (for her original song for The Lion King), Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Craig, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Renee Zellweger, Cate Blanchett, Elton John and Catch 22 producer George Clooney.