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Golden Globes to launch pandemic-era Hollywood awards season
LOS ANGELES, Feb 28, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Hollywood’s award season kicks off
Sunday at a very different Golden Globes, with a mainly virtual ceremony set
to boost or dash the Oscars hopes of early frontrunners like “Nomadland” and
“The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
Usually a star-packed, laid-back party that draws Tinseltown’s biggest
names to a Beverly Hills hotel ballroom, this pandemic edition will be
broadcast from two scaled-down venues, with frontline and essential workers
among the few in attendance.
Deprived of its usual glamour, the Globes — which also honor the best in
television — remain a coveted prize, and a high-profile source of momentum
in the run-up to the season-crowning Oscars, which were pushed back this year
to April.
“Nomadland,” Chloe Zhao’s paean to a marginalized, older generation of
Americans roaming the West in rundown vans, has long been viewed as a
frontrunner for the Globes’ top prize.
But it will face stiff competition from Aaron Sorkin’s “Chicago 7,” a
courtroom drama about the city’s anti-war riots in 1968 with a mouth-watering
ensemble cast including Mark Rylance, Eddie Redmayne and Sacha Baron Cohen.
Both films are fueled by their timely themes of protest and joblessness.
“I think that it’s likeliest between them,” said The Hollywood Reporter’s
awards columnist Scott Feinberg.
“And then the spoiler, if something were to come out of left field, would
probably be ‘Promising Young Woman,’ which is just unlike anything else in
recent memory.”
Its star Carey Mulligan — playing a revenge-seeker who lurks at bars,
feigning drunkenness to lure men into revealing their own misogyny — is
tipped by many to win best actress.
She will have to fend off Frances McDormand’s grounded and nuanced turn
alongside a cast of non-actors in “Nomadland,” and Viola Davis’ portrayal of
a legendary 1920s crooner in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”
– ‘Hard to resist’ –
The other films vying for best drama, the night’s final and most
prestigious prize, are “Mank” — David Fincher’s ode to “Citizen Kane,” which
topped the overall nominations with six — and “The Father” starring Anthony
Hopkins.
Hopkins, who has never won a competitive Globe despite seven previous
nominations, has been showered with praise for his harrowing portrayal of the
onset of dementia.
But he is up against sentimental favorite Chadwick Boseman, the “Black
Panther” star who died last August from cancer at age 43.
Boseman is nominated for his kinetic performance as a tragic young trumpet
player opposite Davis in “Ma Rainey.”
“This is his best part, and the backstory is that he knew this might be
his last performance — so that’s kind of hard to resist,” said Variety
awards editor Tim Gray.
The race will be closely watched by groups including Time’s Up, who this
week slammed the Globes-awarding Hollywood Foreign Press Association for
failing to admit a single Black member.
“I support and congratulate all the nominees, but the HFPA needs to change
in meaningful ways,” tweeted actress Olivia Wilde. “Cosmetic fixes are not
enough. #TimesUpGlobes.”
The HFPA released a statement recognizing that “we need to bring in Black
members, as well as members from other underrepresented backgrounds.”
– ‘Two white guys’ –
The organization has voted for just one female as best director in 77
editions — and only ever nominated five women in the category before this
year — but “Nomadland” director Zhao is tipped to buck that trend.
The race to emulate Barbra Streisand’s 1984 win for “Yentl” has two other
contenders: Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”) and Regina King (“One
Night in Miami”).
“This is a year when women have strong movies… that is good news, and
deserving,” said Deadline awards columnist Pete Hammond.
“But we’ll see how it goes — in the end, David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin,
two white guys, may win.”
Unlike the Oscars, the Globes split most movie categories into drama and
“musical or comedy,” with Baron Cohen’s “Borat” sequel and the Disney+ film
of hit musical “Hamilton” leading the latter fields.
Baron Cohen also has a best supporting actor nod for “Chicago 7,” while
the Globes offer “Hamilton” its best shot at film honors after the Oscars
declared the taping of Broadway shows ineligible.
– ‘Notice to Oscar voters’ –
The A-list audience and nominees are expected to largely remain at home,
accepting awards via videolink — similar to the format of September’s widely
praised Emmys.
“The Life Ahead” director Edoardo Ponti told AFP he would be watching from
his California home, while his mother and leading lady Sophia Loren remains
in Switzerland.
“Of course you know it’s going to be three o’clock in the morning when our
category is up” for Loren, said Ponti.
“As soon as I know something, whatever happens, I’ll communicate the news
to her.”
Their movie competes for best foreign-language film, in a category
featuring acclaimed Korean-American family drama “Minari,” which is viewed by
some as an outside Oscar best picture candidate.
Sunday’s Globes ceremony is being held just five days before Oscars voting
begins.
“Those wins will be fresh,” said Gray.
“If you win a Golden Globe… it’s a notice to Oscar voters — you’d
better see this film before you vote, because it’s worth looking at.”
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1222 hrs