Golden Globe Surprises And Snubs

The announcement on Friday of the nominees for the Golden Globe Awards, second only in importance to the Oscars, solidifies the major contenders in this year’s awards season. While Oscar may hold some surprises in what has been an unusually wide race this year, the nominees for the Golden Globe will most likely be making their ways up the red carpet come Oscar night. With the awards season being so closely watched by both the public and professionals alike, this year’s Golden Globe nominations had more than fair share of surprises and snubs. The most surprising? The strong showing for the political drama THE IDES OF MARCH, which up until last week was considered an also-ran in awards season, was the big story. The film picked up nods for Best Drama, Best Director (George Clooney), Best Screenplay and Best Actor in a Drama (Ryan Gosling). With tough competition among directors this year, Clooney is not likely to stay in this race through the Oscars, but he is the current frontrunner as Best Actor for THE DESCENDANTS.

Producer Scott Rudin defended his decision in a New York Times article last week to not aggressively promote his new film EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE, as a way of building up a fever pitch of excitement for the 9/11 drama. However, this rare show of restraint seems to be backfiring, with the film being entirely excluded in the Golden Globes race. Aside from Best Picture honors, the film also did not stir up nominations for its lead cast Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, nor for the veteran actor Max Von Sydow, who was beginning to elicit high praise from the few film critics and film insiders who had seen the film in previews. Oscar may still come calling but a no-show at the Golden Globes is not a good sign. The same can be said of THE TREE OF LIFE, auteur director Terrence Malick’s existential drama that won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year. It was definitely one of the most talked about films of the year, but apparently left the nomination members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association cold. The coldness extended to the Wall Street drama MARGIN CALL, the debut film of J. C. Chandor, which received some of the best reviews of the year, but did not find any love with the Hollywood foreign press. The Association also did not nominate the final film in the HARRY POTTER franchise in any categories.

Both Steven Spielberg (WAR HORSE) and Clint Eastwood (J. EDGAR) were among the high profile directors snubbed, which also included such auteurs as Roman Polanski (CARNAGE), Stephen Daldry (EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE), David Fincher (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO), Steve McQueen (SHAME), David Cronenberg (A DANGEROUS METHOD), as well as the directors of Golden Globe Best Picture nominees THE HELP and MONEYBALL. Several actors who gave highly praised performances failed to make the cut as well. Where, one could ask, was Melissa McCarthy, this year’s Emmy darling who stole the show on the big screen in this year’s girlllll comedy BRIDESMAIDS. Also left at the altar were Elizabeth Olsen (MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE), Michael Shannon (TAKE SHELTER), Gary Oldman (TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY), Vanessa Redgrave (CORIOLANUS), Bryce Dallas Howard (THE HELP), Seth Rogen (50/50), Andy Serkis (RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES), Steve Carrell (CRAZY STUPID LOVE) Woody Harrelson (RAMPART), Brad Pitt (THE TREE OF LIFE), Kirsten Dunst (MELANCHOLIA) and Armie Hammer (J. EDGAR).

Some of the major surprises in the announcement included the strong showing for THE IDES OF MARCH; the dual nominations of Ryan Gosling (for THE IDES OF MARCH and CRAZY STUPID LOVE); the inclusion of the box office disappointment 50/50 (Best Film and a Best Actor for Joseph Gordon-Levitt); the Best Actress nomination for Rooney Mara for her first starring role in the American adaptation of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO; the inclusion of Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY in the Best Foreign Film race; and the nod given to veteran Irish actor Brendan Gleeson in the little seen comedy THE GUARD. Of no surprise was Meryl Streep’s 26th Golden Globe nomination (a record) for her performance as take-no-prisoner UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in THE IRON LADY. The performance will certainly be nominated for an Oscar, Streep’s 17^th time at bat, with a win this year a very strong possibility. So, to review, there were snubs and surprises aplenty, but here are the lists of those who made it through.

GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD NOMINATIONS

BEST PICTURE-DRAMA

• “The Descendants”
• “The Help”
• “Hugo”
• “The Ides Of March”
• “Moneyball”
• “War Horse”

BEST PICTURE-COMEDY/MUSICAL

• “50/50”
• “The Artist”
• “Bridesmaids”
• “Midnight In Paris”
• “My Week With Marilyn”

BEST DIRECTOR

• Woody Allen – “Midnight In Paris”
• George Clooney – “The Ides of March”
• Michel Hazavinicius – “The Artist”
• Alexander Payne – “The Descendants”
• Martin Scorsese – “Hugo”

BEST ACTRESS-COMEDY/MUSICAL

• Jodie Foster – “Carnage”
• Charlize Theron – “Young Adult”
• Kristin Wiig – “Bridesmaids”
• Michelle Williams – “My Week With Marilyn”
• Kate Winslet – “Carnage”

BEST ACTOR-COMEDY/MUSICAL

• Jean Dujardin – “The Artist”
• Brendan Gleeson – “The Guard”
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “50/50”
• Ryan Gosling – “Crazy, Stupid, Love”
• Owen Wilson – “Midnight In Paris”

BEST ACTRESS-DRAMA

• Glenn Close – “Albert Nobbs”
• Viola Davis – “The Help”
• Rooney Mara – “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”
• Meryl Streep – “The Iron Lady”
• Tilda Swinton – “We Need To Talk About Kevin”

BEST ACTOR-DRAMA

• George Clooney – “The Descendants”
• Leonardo DiCaprio – “J. Edgar”
• Michael Fassbender – “Shame”
• Ryan Gosling – “The Ides of March”
• Brad Pitt – “Moneyball”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Kenneth Branagh – “My Week With Marilyn”
• Albert Brooks – “Drive”
• Jonah Hill – “Moneyball”
• Viggo Mortensen – “A Dangerous Method”
• Christopher Plummer – “Beginners”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Bérénice Bejo, “The Artist”
• Jessica Chastain – “The Help”
• Janet McTeer – “Albert Nobbs”
• Octavia Spencer, “The Help”
• Shailene Woodley, “The Descendants”

BEST SCREENPLAY

• Michel Hazavanicius – “The Artist”
• Jim Rash, Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne – “The Descendants”
• George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon – “The Ides of March”
• Woody Allen – “Midnight In Paris”
• Aaron Sorkin, Steve Zaillian – “Moneyball”

BEST ANIMATED FILM

• “The Adventures Of Tintin”
• “Arthur Christmas”
• “Cars 2”
• “Puss In Boots”
• “Rango”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• “A Separation” (Iran)
• The Flowers Of War” (China)
• “The Kid With The Bike” (Belgium)
• “In The Land Of Blood and Honey” (USA)
• “The Skin I Live In” (Spain)

FFT Webmaster

The FFT Webmaster use displays whenever an article has multiple authors. It also pops up on articles from old versions of Film Festival Today. The original author byline might be missing! In that case, if you are the author of such an article and see this bio instead of your own, please send us an email. Some of our contributors that might be missing bylines are: Brad Balfour, Laura Blum, and Sandy Mandelberger, among others.