Golden Globes 2021 list of nominations: movies, series, actors, actresses...
The Queen's Gambit and The Crown are expected to wipe the board in the television categories with Mank and Ma Rainey in line for film awards.
The 78th Golden Globes ceremony will be held virtually on Sunday night with presenters, special guests and nominees checking in from around the world as the traditional Oscars limber-up adjusts to the realities of the coronavirus pandemic. Another major difference in this year’s ceremony is the predominance of streaming services. Netflix bestrides the nominations in both the motion picture and television categories with 42 in total, followed by fellow on-demand platforms Amazon, HBO and Hulu after a seismic shift in distribution methods during the covid-19 crisis.
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Among the night’s expected big winners, The Crown leads the television nominations with six overall, ahead of annual gong-magnet Schitt’s Creek and Netflix drama Ozark (4).
See the full list of Golden Globes 2021 nominees
Mank set to win big
In the film category, David Fincher’s Netflix feature Mank, a portrayal of Herman J. Mankiewicz’s development of the script for Citizen Kane, leads the way with six nominations including best picture, best actor for Gary Oldman and best actress for Amanda Seyfried.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which features the final big screen performance from Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, is nominated in both the best actor (Boseman) and best actress (Viola Davis) categories.
The award for best director will be contested between Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman), David Fincher (Mank), Regina King (One Night in Miami…), Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago Seven) and Chloé Zhao (Nomadland).
Movie category: one to watch
The best supporting actress category is the very definition of heavyweight, with Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy), Olivia Colman (The Father), Jodie Foster (The Mauritanian) and Amanda Seyfried (Mank) in the running. Keep an eye out though for Helena Zengel, whose taciturn yet engaging performance alongside Tom Hanks in Paul Greengrass’ News of the World could see the 12-year-old score a surprise win.
Queen’s Gambit seeks to take The Crown
The television category is widely expected to be a straight duel between Netflix’s blockbuster fictional chess drama The Queen’s Gambit and the fourth season of The Crown, also a beneficiary of Netflix’s royal coffers.
Anya-Taylor Joy’s performance as troubled chess prodigy Beth Harmon secured the 24-year-old’s status as the next big thing (and provided further redemption for Thomas “let’s kick the shit out of love” Brodie-Sangster following his excellent turn in 2017's Godless). Taylor-Joy is a shoo-in for the cumbersome title of best actress in a limited series, anthology series or motion picture made for television category, although Shira Haas’ performance in Unorthodox would also be a worthy recipient.
The Queen’s Gambit will also scoop the best series gong in the same category, despite stellar competition from Small Axe and Unorthodox, the very existence of this peculiar sub-section paving the way for The Crown to expensively and inevitably assume its throne in the best television series, best actress and best actor categories. Olivia Colman and Emma Corrin will go head-to-head in the former after Colman’s win last year, with Josh O’Connor tipped to go one better than his screen father, Tobias Menzies, for his portrayal of Prince Charles.
Schitt’s Creek can be expected to get the nod in the best musical or comedy section after it’s critically acclaimed six-season run came to an end while Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy are widely tipped for the acting categories.
The big guns in the television running are concentrated in the limited series section where Bryan Cranston (Your Honor), Jeff Daniels (The Comey Rule), Hugh Grant (The Undoing), Ethan Hawke (The Good Lord Bird) and Mark Ruffalo (I Know This Much is True) go head-to-head.
Hawke’s performance as fire-and-brimstone abolitionist John Brown has been described as a career best turn from the 50-year-old - high praise given his body of work - but the award could go anywhere in a particularly strong field.
Television category: one to watch
Breaking free from the pigeon-holing of a long stint on a juggernaut US sitcom can be a daunting prospect, as a certain group of Friends can attest. Kaley Cuoco might have done enough in The Flight Attendant to break free of the Big Bang Theory mould though and it will be interesting to see if her boozy, scenery-trashing turn in the HBO Max comedy-thriller lands her the gong.