Female directors, Emily In Paris and streaming: the biggest winners and losers from the 2021 Golden Globe nominations
More female directors were nominated than male, and Netflix leads the charge for nominations, including a stellar showing for feature film Mank and television series Emily In Paris, The Queen’s Gambit and Ozark in nominations for the first post-COVID awards ceremony.
Every year, the Golden Globe nominations recognise the best film and television of the past year – even in 2021, when the past year of film and television has been one of the strangest in history.
With the ceremony pushed back from its usual corner in early January to the end of February, on Thursday 4 February this year’s nominations were announced. The winner was Netflix, which swept both film and television categories with a total of 42 notices, a reminder that in a year when cinemas around the world were forced to close, the streaming platform was king.
Netflix’s Mank, a Golden Hollywood homage directed by David Fincher and starring Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried — all three nominated for Best Director, Actor and Supporting Actress respectively — picked up a total of six nominations.
The platform’s adaptation of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom also received two notices, including a posthumous Best Actor nomination for Chadwick Boseman. Elsewhere, Netflix received recognition for Aaron Sorkin’s courtroom drama The Trial of Chicago 7 and television shows The Crown, Ozark and The Queen’s Gambit.
Streaming was the big winner overall, with Regina King’s One Night In Miami, available on Amazon Prime Video, picking up three nominations. Amazon’s Borat Subsequent Moviefilm also received three, including recognition for star Sacha Baron Cohen in the Golden Globes’ Musical/Comedy category.
The awards ceremony, overseen by a group of international critics called The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, splits the dramatic and comedic projects each year with both surprising and, occasionally, exciting results. In 2020, that divide led to a thrilling Best Actress win for Awkwafina. In 2021, it means nominations for as eclectic a range of performers as James Corden (Netflix’s The Prom), Lin-Manuel Miranda (Disney+’s Hamilton) and Andy Samberg (Amazon Prime Video’s Palm Springs).
A strong, albeit a little surprising, showing for Emily In Paris cemented Netflix’s reign at the Golden Globes, with nominations for star Lily Collins and for the series in the Best Comedy/Musical category, where it will compete against The Great, Ted Lasso, The Flight Attendant and Schitt’s Creek.
Some shocking snubs snuck in, too. Michaela Coel’s devastating miniseries I May Destroy You was nowhere to be found on nomination morning, despite receiving overwhelming critical acclaim for its writing and performances.
Likewise, Paul Mescal – the chain-wearing star of Normal People – was left off the Best Actor in a Miniseries shortlist, although both his co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones and the coming-of-age television show received nominations. Elsewhere, a lack of recognition for Jonathan Majors and Jurnee Smollett, stars of HBO’s thrilling sci-fi miniseries Lovecraft Country was a disappointment.
But there was also plenty to celebrate. In the history of the Golden Globes, the HFPA has only ever nominated five female directors – and only one has won: Barbra Streisand for Yentl in 1984. In 2021, the Best Director category has more women in it than men, with King, Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) and Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) receiving nominations alongside Fincher and Sorkin.
King, Fennell and Zhao are all first-time nominees, and both King and Fennell are first-time directors. The 38-year-old Zhao, currently the favourite to win Best Director for Nomadland, an intimate portrait of life on the road starring Frances McDormand, is the first Asian woman nominated in the category’s history — and perhaps will soon be the first woman since Streisand to win.
A strange year for film and television, yes, but it has yielded some of the most exciting nominations in recent memory.
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Full nominations at the 2021 Golden Globes:
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Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Don Cheadle - “Black Monday”
Nicholas Hoult - “The Great”
Eugene Levy - “Schitt‘s Creek”
Jason Sudekis - “Ted Lasso”
Ramy Youssef - “Ramy”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Lily Collins - “Emily in Paris”
Kaley Cuoco - “The Flight Attendant”
Elle Fanning - “The Great”
Jane Levy - “Zoey‘s Extraordinary Playlist”
Catherine O‘Hara - “Schitt’s Creek”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series -- Drama
Jason Bateman - “Ozark”
Josh O‘Connor - “The Crown”
Bob Odenkirk - “Better Call Saul”
Al Pacino - “Hunters”
Matthew Rhys - “Perry Mason”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama
Olivia Colman - “The Crown”
Jodie Comer - “Killing Eve”
Emma Corrin - “The Crown”
Laura Linney - “Ozark”
Sarah Paulson - “Ratched”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Bryan Cranston - “Your Honor”
Jeff Daniels - “The Comey Rule”
Hugh Grant - “The Undoing”
Mark Ruffalo - “I Know This Much is True”
Ethan Hawke - “The Good Lord Bird”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Cate Blanchett - “Mrs. America”
Daisy Edgar-Jones - “Normal People”
Shira Haas - “Unorthodox”
Nicole Kidman - “The Undoing”
Anya Taylor-Joy - “The Queen‘s Gambit”
Best Television Series Drama
“The Crown”
“Lovecraft Country”
“The Mandalorian”
“Ozark”
“Ratched”
Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
“Normal People”
“The Queen‘s Gambit”
“Small Axe”
“The Undoing”
“Unorthodox”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Helena Bonham Carter - “The Crown”
Gillian Anderson - “The Crown”
Julia Garner - “Ozark”
Annie Murphy - “Schitt‘s Creek”
Cynthia Nixon - “Ratched”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
John Boyega - “Small Axe”
Brendan Gleeson - “The Comey Rule”
Daniel Levy - “Schitt‘s Creek”
Jim Parsons - “Hollywood”
Donald Sutherland - “The Undoing”
Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy
“Emily in Paris”
“The Flight Attendant”
“Schitt‘s Creek”
“The Great”
“Ted Lasso”
FILM
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”
“Hamilton”
“Music”
“Palm Springs”
“The Prom”
Best Motion Picture – Drama
“The Father”
“Mank”
“Nomadland”
“Promising Young Woman”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language
“Another Round,” Denmark
“La Llorona,” Guatamela/France
“The Life Ahead,” Italy
“Minari,” USA
“Two of Us,” France/USA
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Emerald Fennell - “Promising Young Woman”
Jack Fincher - “Mank”
Aaron Sorkin - “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Florian Zeller, Christopher Hampton - “The Father”
Chloe Zhao - “Nomadland”
Best Original Song – Motion Picture
“Fight for You” - ”Judas and the Black Messiah”
“Hear My Voice” - ”The Trial of the Chicago 7”
“IO SI (Seen)” - ”The Life Ahead”
“Speak Now” - ”One Night in Miami”
“Tigers & Tweed” - ”The United States vs. Billie Holiday”
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
Sacha Baron Cohen - “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Daniel Kaluuya - “Judas and the Black Messiah”
Jared Leto - “The Little Things”
Bill Murray - “On the Rocks”
Leslie Odom, Jr. - “One Night in Miami”
Best Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
Glenn Close - “Hillbilly Elegy”
Olivia Colman - “The Father”
Jodie Foster - “The Mauritanian”
Amanda Seyfried - “Mank”
Helena Zengel - “News of the World”
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Sacha Baron Cohen - “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”
James Corden - “The Prom”
Lin-Manuel Miranda - “Hamilton”
Dev Patel - “The Personal History of David Copperfield”
Andy Samberg - “Palm Springs”
Best Motion Picture – Animated
“The Croods: A New Age”
“Onward”
“Over the Moon”
“Soul”
“Wolfwalkers”
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Chadwick Boseman, - “Ma Rainey‘s Black Bottom”
Riz Ahmed - “The Sound of Metal”
Anthony Hopkins - “The Father”
Gary Oldman - “Mank”
Tahar Rahim - “The Mauritanian”
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Viola Davis - “Ma Rainey‘s Black Bottom”
Andra Day - “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”
Vanessa Kirby - “Pieces of a Woman”
Frances McDormand - “Nomadland”
Carey Mulligan - “Promising Young Woman
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Maria Bakalova - “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”
Kate Hudson - “Music”
Michelle Pfeiffer - “French Exit”
Rosamund Pike - “I Care A Lot”
Anya Taylor-Joy - “Emma”
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Sacha Baron Cohen - “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”
James Corden - “The Prom”
Lin-Manuel Miranda - “Hamilton”
Dev Patel - “The Personal History of David Copperfield”
Andy Samberg - “Palm Springs”
Best Director – Motion Picture
David Fincher - “Mank”
Regina King - “One Night in Miami”
Aaron Sorkin - “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Chloe Zhao - “Nomadland”
Emerald Fennell - “Promising Young Woman”
Best Original Score
“The Midnight Sky”
“Tenet”
“News of the World”
“Mank”