Stars still shine despite Golden Globes’ tarnished image

The nominees for the 79th Golden Globe Awards have been announced, with Nicole Kidman, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Sarah Snook leading Australia’s hopes at the battered awards ceremony.

Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem in Being the Ricardos.

No live television broadcast. No red carpet. No point?

The nominees for the 79th Golden Globe Awards have been announced, with Nicole Kidman, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Sarah Snook leading Australia’s hopes at the battered awards ceremony.

Kidman, who has been recognised for her performance in Aaron Sorkin’s film Being the ­Ricardos, will be vying for the win on January 9 – the same night as the reputable 27th Critics’ Choice Awards in an almighty Hollywood clash.

The only difference is the latter will be a red carpet event and will feature a live broadcast.

The Golden Globes were cancelled last year, after a Los Angeles Times report called into question the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s ethics, financial practices and lack of diversity.

Though they will take place in early January, they will not be televised after US network NBC cut ties with the Globes last year.

The HFPA has since undergone an intense restructuring in an attempt to move past the very public controversies that came to a head over the course of 2021.

In an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, the recently elected president of the association, Helen Hoehne, stressed just how much the HFPA had reformed.

“This is the new HFPA 2.0,” she told the publication. “We undertook a lot of restrictions and implemented a lot of training … diversity, equity, inclusion training … implicit bias (and) harassment training.”

Sarah Snook. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The HFPA has since added 21 new members, six of whom are black, and has banned gifts and favours that are believed to be behind some questionable nomin­ations. The nominations have mostly been unacknowledged from Hollywood heavyweights as a sense of surprise ripples throughout the industry at the news the ceremony will go ahead.

Jessica Chastain was one of few actors to respond to their nominations, taking to Twitter to congratulate fellow nominees. She is up for best actress for her roles in The Eyes Of Tammy Faye and the limited series Scenes From a Marriage.

It remains unclear how the ceremony will be formatted without a live broadcas.

In her interview with Vanity Fair, Hoehne said the ceremony would take “a humble approach for 2022 … Sometimes it takes a hard wake-up call to change.”

Kodi Smit-McPhee.

Recognised for her performance as TV legend Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos, Kidman is up for her first nomination for a film since starring in TV series The Undoing and Nine Perfect Strangers. Going up against her in the best actress category are Olivia Colman for her role in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s film adaptation of the Elena Ferrante novel The Lost Daughter. Others competing for the Globe include Kristen Stewart, who plays Princess Diana in Spencer, Lady Gaga in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci and ­Chastain.

Jane Campion. Picture: Getty Images

Rising star Smit-McPhee has received a best supporting actor nod for a standout performance in Jane Campion’s acclaimed western The Power of the Dog, alongside Ben Affleck (The Tender Bar), Jamie Dornan (Belfast), ­Ciaran Hinds (Belfast), and Troy Kutsar (CODA).

Campion’s The Power of the Dog is in contention for best movie drama with Kenneth Branagh’s childhood-inspired Belfast, Sian Heder’s Coda, sci-fi blockbuster Dune and biographical drama King Richard.

Leading the TV categories is Succession, with nominations for best drama series and for its cast, including Snook, Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin.