The Golden Globes Begins the Awards Season Tonight—Expect Some Surprises! | Entertainment & Arts News

While the Oscars may present the highest accolades in the film world, the Golden Globes is the event that kicks off the awards season celebrations.

Selena Gomez stars in Emilia Perez, which leads with 10 nominations. The postwar drama The Brutalist, featuring Adrien Brody, follows with seven nominations, while the papal thriller Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, earns six.

Having recently surpassed Mamma Mia to become the top-grossing film adapted from a Broadway musical, Wicked has received four nominations and is poised to mirror the success of Barbie in securing the award for cinematic and box office excellence.

The Golden Globes also recognizes achievements in television, with major nominees including The Bear, Shogun, Only Murders In The Building, Baby Reindeer, The Penguin, and Monsters.

This year’s gala is occurring in Los Angeles later today, so viewers in the UK will need to stay up late to tune in.

Here are a few elements to keep an eye on ahead of the broadcast.

Musicals Dominate

With the world seemingly welcoming musicals over the past year, operatic musical Emilia Perez leads the nominations. Meanwhile, Wicked, featuring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, has garnered significant attention, partly due to its viral press tour.

Both Grande and Erivo are recognized in acting categories; for Grande, it’s her inaugural Golden Globe nomination for her role as Glinda, competing in the best supporting female actor in a motion picture category alongside Gomez and Zoe Saldana, who also features in Emilia Perez.

Erivo contends for the award for best female actor in a motion picture musical or comedy, against Zendaya for the romantic sports film Challengers, Karla Sofia Gascon for Emilia Perez, Demi Moore for The Substance, Amy Adams for Nightbitch, and a breakout performance from Mikey Madison in Anora, a film about a young sex worker marrying the son of a Russian oligarch.

Read more: Anora – the film opening the conversation about sex work

Surprise Entries

Last year’s nominations were topped by Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, the latter winning nearly every major award, including best picture at the Oscars.

Although the Barbenheimer excitement was enjoyable, Oppenheimer’s sweep rendered the awards predictable (and arguably a bit tedious). This time around, aside from Wicked, there are no glaring frontrunners.

The Brutalist, following Brody as a Hungarian architect building a new life in the U.S. post-World War II, has emerged as a leading contender for best drama, along with potential wins for best actor for Brody and best director for Brady Corbet.

However, it will face stiff competition from Conclave, where Fiennes portrays a priest tasked with selecting a new pope, and A Complete Unknown, featuring Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan. After all, awards committees gravitate towards biopics.

In the musical/comedy category, experts from awards prediction platform Gold Derby are divided between Wicked, Emilia Perez, and Anora, whose lead, Madison, is also favored to outshine Erivo and Moore in her category.

Read more: The full list of nominations

Celebrity Sightings

After facing challenges in recent years, the Golden Globes are making a comeback.

The ceremony, boycotted by celebrities in 2022 due to scrutiny over diversity among its members and held privately, didn’t fully recover in 2023.

However, with a new organizing committee and numerous A-listers attending last year, it’s poised to regain its star-studded glamour.

Angelina Jolie, a favorite for best actress for her role as opera singer Maria Callas in Maria, along with Denzel Washington, Nicole Kidman, Chalamet, and Moore are among the notable nominees, with Pamela Anderson nominated for best actress in a drama for her role in The Last Showgirl.

Read more: Ralph Fiennes on Conclave: ‘It’s not a facile takedown’

British and Irish Nominees

British talent is also represented among the star-studded nominees, with Eddie Redmayne for his role in Sky’s The Day Of The Jackal, and Keira Knightley for Netflix’s Black Doves.

Additional British nominees include Kate Winslet (up for awards in both TV and film for The Regime and Lee), Gary Oldman for the hit Apple TV+ series Slow Horses, Hugh Grant for the horror film Heretic, Felicity Jones for The Brutalist, Colin Farrell for The Penguin, and Daniel Craig for Queer, adapted from William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novella, along with Erivo.

Robbie Williams is in the running for best original song for his unique biopic, Better Man – his life story narrated through a computer-generated monkey.

Read more: Robbie Williams on Better Man

Notable Absences

The Golden Globes, unlike the Oscars, honors both film and television while also featuring different categories for drama and comedy/musicals, resulting in a diverse array of nominees.

However, several prominent names are missing from this year’s shortlists.

While his co-star Washington is nominated for a supporting award, Paul Mescal, known for Gladiator II, did not receive a nomination, nor did director Sir Ridley Scott.

The original film won the best picture Golden Globe in 2001, and star Russell Crowe was nominated in the best acting category for his performance.

British director Sir Steve McQueen’s World War II drama Blitz, starring Saoirse Ronan, also did not make the nominations list.

Additionally, although Dune: Part Two is nominated for best picture and best original score by Hans Zimmer, its director Denis Villeneuve was not acknowledged.

Read more: Paul Mescal on Gladiator II

First Female Solo Host

Indeed, it’s true. While the Golden Globes have seen Tina Fey and Amy Poehler join forces multiple times as co-hosts, comedian Nikki Glaser is set to be the first woman to host solo.

Some of the most memorable moments in past ceremonies have stemmed from the hosts, like Ricky Gervais’ sharp humor directed at the celebrity attendees.

This is a significant role, tasked with entertaining not only the live audience but also the millions of viewers tuning in from home and later seeing clips shared on social media. Last year’s host, Jo Koy, didn’t make quite the impact.

Fortunately, this year’s ceremony promises to be suitably entertaining in the hands of US stand-up Glaser, a comedian known for her biting wit.

“It’s the ultimate convergence of TV and film, uniting everyone with a shared aspiration: to gain the love and approval they lacked during childhood,” she commented. “Sunday night is all about celebrating television, cinema, actors, directors, and a touch of Xanax alongside tequila.”

The Golden Globes will unfold in LA, with the red carpet commencing around 11:30 PM UK time and the ceremony set to kick off at 1 AM on Monday.