Golden Globes 2021: no parties, no red carpet, no point?
The first big Hollywood awards night of 2021 is shaping up to be the strangest yet. But if you wanted to get ahead of Monday’s ceremony and become acquainted with the nominees, we have the must-watch list of contenders.
The 2021 Golden Globes, set to take place on Monday, might be one of the strangest on record, but there’s still time to catch up with the nominated films and television shows.
Many of them are even available on streaming platforms: from Binge’s The Undoing to Netflix’s Mank, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Trial Of Chicago 7. If you wanted to head to a cinema this weekend, why not buy a ticket to Golden Globe nominees Promising Young Woman, the hot favourite to win a Best Actress prize for star Carey Mulligan, or Minari, the Korean American drama poised to win Best Foreign Film on Monday.
Not since 2008, when the Hollywood writer’s strike cancelled the Golden Globes — awards were instead mailed to recipients, which is why we never got the pleasure of seeing Jon Hamm give an acceptance speech for his performance in Mad Men — has there been such a strange awards season.
But with the coronavirus pandemic continuing to alter life in the US, where most of awards season takes place, and with allegations of “ethical lapses” around payment and membership within the organisation that runs the Golden Globes, this year’s ceremony looks set to be one of the strangest on record.
What is the 2021 Golden Globes actually going to look like? Ahead of the event, taking place on the morning of 1 March in Australia, we take a peek inside the virtual ballroom.
A remote ceremony — with two hosts
In a normal year, the Golden Globes would be gearing up to take over the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, laying on a three course meal — infamously, complete with drinks — for its guests. This year, only a small cohort will be found at the Beverly Hilton: co-host Amy Poehler and a few select producers, technicians and presenters.
Because the 2021 Golden Globes will be held remotely, with the two co-hosts, Poehler and Tina Fey, presenting the ceremony from their hometowns of Los Angeles and New York respectively. Fey will be found co-hosting from the top of the Rockefeller Center.
If you’re worried about Zoom awkwardness, don’t be concerned: Poehler and Fey are longtime best friends and frequent collaborators, who previously co-hosted the Golden Globes for three years in 2013, 2014 and 2015. If anyone can make a dual-city ceremony work, it’s these two.
What about presenters? They’ll be in person too, either in New York or Los Angeles, which rules out a lot of the big names that are currently working and living in Australia. A full list of presenters at the 2021 Golden Globes has yet to be announced.
The nominees, however, will be at home. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) has asked all nominees to attend the ceremony from their homes with only those in their immediate family or bubble attending.
This is a departure from what we have previously seen at the last Zoom awards ceremony, the Emmys, where small groups gathered together to watch the show as a unit: Dan Levy and the Schitt’s Creek crew, for example, or Zendaya, star of Euphoria, and her support bubble.
The HFPA has requested that this not take place at the Golden Globes, according to a report in Variety. “Our vision for the show is to have our nominees in a safe place, preferably their homes, surrounded only by people in their immediate households. The production is not comfortable with any other gatherings that are not supervised by our team. Thank you for understanding.”
Speaking to Variety, Levy confirmed that the castmembers of Schitt’s Creek, which has been nominated for five Golden Globes and is available to stream in Australia on Netflix, will be Zooming into the ceremony individually from their own homes. We can’t wait to see Catherine O’Hara’s Zoom background.
No red carpet - no fashion?
No ceremony means no red carpet, but that doesn’t mean that the fashion at this year’s Golden Globes will be in any way lacking. Celebrity stylists have been working overtime this year to prove that remote press and Zoom events can still be as fashion forward and chic as their in-person counterparts. The Emmys were a great example of this, with several nominees staging photoshoots in glamorous gowns before the ceremony, releasing the pictures on their social media feeds, after which they changed into their ceremony attire: blinged-out tracksuits and comfortable sneakers.
You can expect something similar from the Golden Globes. With nominees based all around the world, there will be a mix of fashion on display. We hope that the strange nature of this year’s ceremony encourages some of the nominees to get creative with their red carpet looks: smaller designers, sustainable brands, playful styling. Stay tuned to Instagram on Monday morning to catch all the red carpet imagery.
No ceremony also means a huge impact on the ancillary industries working in tandem with awards season. The Hollywood Reporter reports that small businesses that operate in the bubble of the awards season cottage industry, such as florists, caterers, event planners and photographers, have seen a huge financial hit. Usually, awards season would spell multiple events thrown to fete the year’s best film and television, each of which would start with a catering budget in the vicinity of USD$100,000. This year, there have been none.
“An event that you used to be able to produce with, say, 20 people is now virtual, and you need four people to do that. It‘s devastating what it did to our team,” Joe Lewis, an event planner who helps organise the Oscars red carpet, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Members on high alert
The HFPA will be on high alert after reports that there have been “ethical lapses” inside their organisation. The allegations came in the wake of a controversial year of nominees, which saw critical favourites such as Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You (available in Australia on Binge) completely shut-out in favour of Netflix’s Emily In Paris.
The reports detailed lavish press trips for members of the HFPA, flown to Paris to visit the set of the Lily Collins star vehicle, where they stayed at the luxurious Peninsula Hotel for two nights. The LA Times also alleged that the HFPA handed over almost $2 million to its members, paying them to join committees and watch certain films.
Often criticised for its lack of diverse nominees — at this year’s Golden Globes, only two women of colour were nominated in the acting categories across both film and television — reports allege this lack of representation goes right to the heart of the organisation. Despite having some members of colour, there is not a single Black member of the HFPA.
Who will win?
That’s really the most important question of all, isn’t it? There is a chance that this strange year of cinema could herald an exciting year of history-making winners. Or, knowing the erratic nature of the Golden Globes, it could yield a few surprising victors, a couple of locked-in favourites and even more head-scratching announcements.
Here are a few predictions from the top categories:
Best Picture, Drama: Nomadland. The Frances McDormand drama is coming into the ceremony on a high, winning several festival and critics awards, and fresh off a cinematic and streaming release in the US. You’ll be able to see it in Australia in cinemas from 4 March. The only potential spoiler here would be an award for Netflix’s Mank or Trial of Chicago 7.
Best Picture, Comedy or Musical: Hamilton. Let us not relitigate whether this Disney+ live recording of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s epic rap musical is a movie or a television show — or just, you know, a musical. It’s been nominated in the Best Picture category and it’s going to win.
Best Director: Chloé Zhao. The 38-year-old filmmaker behind Nomadland is one of three record-breaking women nominated in the Best Director category, and she’ll make history on Monday again when she wins the top prize, becoming only the second woman in Globes history to do so.
Best Actor, Drama: Chadwick Boseman. The late Black Panther star is nominated for his performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, streaming now on Netflix.
Best Actress, Drama: Carey Mulligan. In Promising Young Woman, Mulligan delivers a career best performance as a woman out for revenge. It’s been too long since she was last nominated at the Golden Globes and high time she won. You can still catch Promising Young Woman in cinemas around Australia, too.
Best Actor, Comedy or Musical: Sacha Baron Cohen. The actor won in this category back in 2007 for the original Borat film, so expect history to repeat itself this year for the Borat sequel, streaming now on Amazon Prime Video. Currently based in Australia, you can expect the actor to Zoom into the ceremony from Sydney.
Best Actress, Comedy or Musical: Maria Bakalova. Cohen’s Borat Subsequent Moviefilm co-star is the frontrunner to win here. The Golden Globes nominated Bakalova in the Best Actress category, while other awards bodies have placed her in Supporting Actress — she’ll likely end up in Supporting Actress when the Oscar nominations are announced on 15 March.
Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya. With a searing and indelible performance in Judas and the Black Messiah, set for cinematic release in Australia on 11 March, the Get Out star has become the quiet favourite in this stacked category.
Best Supporting Actress: It’s anyone’s game. This is the category that is currently wide open, and it really could go any way. Olivia Colman is a Golden Globes favourite, so she could take home the prize for The Father despite low buzz on the film. With Mank leading the overall nominations list, Amanda Seyfried could stake her claim with HFPA voters. And never count out Glenn Close, for her divisive performance in Hillbilly Elegy. Awards season is always more fun when there’s a bit of fight left in the race, and this one will be the most thrilling award to see play out on Monday.
Best Television Show, Drama: The Crown. The Golden Globes love The Crown. That’s all there is to it. A no-brainer. Expect Josh O’Connor, Emma Corrin and Gillian Anderson to take home acting prizes, too.
Best Television Show, Musical or Comedy: Schitt’s Creek. The final season of the beloved series swept the Emmys, and it’s going to sweep the Globes too. Star Eugene Levy may have competition from Jason Sudeikis (AppleTV+’s Ted Lasso) in Best Actor, but his co-star Catherine O’Hara is winning Best Actress, no question.
Best Limited Series: The Queen’s Gambit. One of the biggest shows of the year, this series will beat out The Undoing in this fiercely contested category. Don’t worry, The Undoing will take home a prize for Hugh Grant in the acting category, while Anya Taylor-Joy wins her Golden Globes for Best Actress.
Where can you watch the Golden Globes in Australia?
On Foxtel’s Fox Arena and Foxtel On Demand from 12PM on 1 March.