The 2019 Golden Globes nominations were announced this morning, and as expected, there were several surprises–and some disappointments–depending on who you are talking to.
The movie with the most nominations was “Vice” (with six), beating out “A Star Is Born,” “Green Book,” and “The Favourite” (with five apiece).
On the television side, voters favored freshman series from across the pond, including “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” with a leading 10 total nominations, “Bodyguard,” “Killing Eve,” and “A Very English Scandal.”
“Black Panther” is a best picture drama contender, although the Hollywood Foreign Press Association overlooked its director Ryan Coogler and its supporting actor Michael B. Jordan.
For the second consecutive year, no women were nominated for best director on the film side.
SNUB: Julia Roberts, “Ben Is Back”
Roberts was expected to be a double nominee: not only for her Amazon Studios TV show “Homecoming” (where she was nominated), but also for “Ben Is Back.” In the movie directed by Peter Hedges, she gives one of her best performances since “Erin Brockovich” as a mother of a recovering addict (Lucas Hedges).
But the best actress in a drama category was too crowded.
SNUB: Ryan Gosling, “First Man”
Damien Chazelle’s biopic about Neil Armstrong was considered an awards-season frontrunner, due to strong reviews out of Telluride and Toronto. But the Universal release crashed at the box office, and the HFPA didn’t nominate it for best drama, best director, or best actor for Ryan Gosling.
SNUB: Nicole Kidman, “Boy Erased”
Like Julia Roberts, Kidman also had a shot at two nominations this year. In addition to best actress in Karyn Kusama’s crime drama, “Destroyer,” many thought she could get a supporting nod for playing the loving Baptist mother of a teenager sent to gay conversion therapy in “Boy Erased.”
SNUB: Natalie Portman, “Vox Lux”
The HPFA asked that Portman be submitted for lead actress in a drama–instead of supporting–for playing a troubled pop star in the drama “Vox Lux.” Instead, they moved her to a packed category where she had no shot of breaking through.
SNUB: Toni Collette, “Hereditary”
After winning the Gotham Award for best actress, Collette didn’t get any love from the Globes for her Sundance box office hit. In 1999, she wasn’t nominated for a Golden Globe for “The Sixth Sense,” either, but still managed to get an Oscar nomination.
SNUB: Viola Davis, “Widows”
If Viola Davis had been nominated for Golden Globe, it would have been her sixth. She gives a formidable performance in Steve McQueen’s drama, Widows, where she portrays a widow who masterminds a robbery with a group of other women.