DiCaprio’s One Battle After Another leads Golden Globe nominations
Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest film One Battle After Another is leading the charge into Hollywood’s award season, after receiving nine nominations for this year’s Golden Globes on Monday.
The movie, about the kidnap of a former revolutionary’s daughter, is nominated for best musical/comedy film – while DiCaprio and his co-stars Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, Benicio Del Toro and Chase Infiniti are all up for acting awards.
Multi-language family drama Sentimental Value is close behind with eight nods, while the other acting nominees include Dwayne Johnson, Timothee Chalamet and Wicked: For Good’s Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.
But the Wicked sequel missed out on a best film nomination, despite its box office success.
The Golden Globe winners will be announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles on 11 January, a key date during the build-up to the Oscars in March.
An adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet, vampire drama Sinners, and Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein are also among the nominees.
As expected, Irish stars Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley are recognised in the acting categories for their roles in Hamnet.
Chalamet is nominated for his portrayal of table tennis player Marty Mauser in sports biopic Marty Supreme.
George Clooney received his 14th Globe nomination for his leading role in Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, about an ageing Hollywood actor grappling with his life choices, while co-star Adam Sandler got a supporting actor nod.
Emma Stone is up for her role in conspiracy theory black comedy Bugonia, which got three nominations, including one for her co-star Jesse Plemons.
It is a strong year for international films. Aside from Norway’s Sentimental Value, there was support for Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident, about a man who sets out to get his revenge on the former intelligence officer who tortured him in prison.
The Palme d’Or winner has four nominations, while fellow foreign language films The Secret Agent and No Other Choice have three apiece.
The main film nominees
The Globes also recognise the world of television, and it was a good day for British drama Adolescence.
It landed four acting nominations – for Stephen Graham, Owen Cooper, Erin Doherty and Ashley Walters – and is up for best limited series.
Only The White Lotus could beat Adolescence’s tally of five nominations in the TV section. Its six nods include best TV drama plus acting nominations for Carrie Coon, Parker Posey and Britain’s Aimee Lee Wood.
Emmy winner The Pitt also got two nominations and is up against The Diplomat, Pluribus, Severance, Slow Horses as well as The White Lotus for TV drama.
Snubs and surprises
Wicked: For Good was left out of the best musical/comedy film category – but it is on the shortlist for box office achievement, which aims to celebrate the year’s most popular cinema releases.
It will face competition from Avatar: Fire and Ash, F1, the aforementioned KPop Demon Hunters, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Sinners, Weapons and animated box office smash Zootopia 2.
Meanwhile, British star Emily Blunt was a something of a surprise nominee for her role in The Smashing Machine, opposite fellow nominee Dwayne Johnson, as was a best actress nomination for indy film star Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby). Victor also wrote and directed the film.
Chloe Zhao, who directed Hamnet, joins Barbra Streisand, Jane Campion and Kathryn Bigelow as the only female directors to have earned two Golden Globe nominations.
Meanwhile, Amanda Seyfried, Jacob Elordi and Jeremy Allen White are all double acting nominees this year.
Seyfried is recognised for TV series Long Bright River and film The Testament of Ann Lee.
Saltburn star Elordi is nominated for best supporting actor for his role in the film Frankenstein, and best actor in a limited TV series for The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
And White is recognised for his portrayal of rock legend Bruce Springsteen in film biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, and is up for best actor in a musical/comedy TV series for hit show The Bear.
The Globes will be hosted for a second year running by Nikki Glaser.
Best song hopefuls include Dream as One from Avatar: Fire and Ash and pop hit Golden from KPop Demon Hunters, which was also nominated for best animation.
Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, a frequent collaborator of Paul Thomas Anderson, is up for best score for One Battle After another.
Five key takeaways
Some films were totally shut out
Wicked: For Good missing best comedy/musical might have been the most notable snub, but many other movies were shut out entirely.
Missile thriller A House of Dynamite received zero nominations, as did sports biopic Christy and Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On?
But there were also some pleasant surprises
Weapons star Amy Madigan pulled off a nomination in the supporting actress category – she has been a passion pick for many awards pundits in recent weeks.
But a nomination in the best drama actress category for Sorry, Baby star Eva Victor was perhaps the biggest surprise of the day.
One Battle After Another is the film to beat
Some of the initial hype might have settled, but there’s no doubt that it’s the hot favourite as we begin the three-month extravaganza that is awards season.
However, early frontrunners often have a target on their backs, so we’ll have to wait and see if the film can maintain its momentum.
Adolescence could be the UK’s biggest hope on the night
But it was a weaker showing in the film categories, with only Cynthia Erivo and Emily Blunt representing the UK.
The Globes still love A-list stars
Even some actors whose Oscar chances have been looking shaky, such as George Clooney, Jennifer Lawrence, Dwayne Johnson and Julia Roberts, scored a nomination, giving them a much-needed boost.
