“Belfast, “The Power of the Dog” lead the way amid Golden Globes turmoil

By Javier Romualdo

Los Angeles, Dec 13 (EFE).- The coming-of-age comedy-drama “Belfast” and the Western drama film “The Power of the Dog” led the way in Golden Globe nods on the film side with seven apiece, although Monday’s announcement of the television and cinema nominees was overshadowed by a boycott of those awards by major production studios and the NBC television network.

On the television side, the satirical black-comedy drama series “Succession” was the most nominated with five nods, while the comedy “Ted Lasso” and the drama “The Morning Show” picked up four apiece.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which organizes the Golden Globe Awards, is determined to give out this year’s honors even though it is unclear how it intends to put on the Jan. 9 gala.

On Monday, the nominees were announced in a no-frills presentation that could only be followed on YouTube and featured rapper Snoop Dogg as the lone participating celebrity.

NBC, which has aired the Golden Globes gala since 1996, backed out after the HFPA – which until very recently was made up of a group of just 87 international journalists – came under fire for a lack of diversity in its ranks and for allegations that its members accepted a range of expensive perks from studios in exchange for their votes.

The association has carried out several reforms in response to the criticism, including approving a new code of conduct and admitting 21 new members, among them several Hispanics and African-Americans.

Even so, the HFPA remains a small group that excludes the vast majority of journalists covering the American film industry.

The reforms failed to sway the large production studios like Warner Bros. and Netflix, which led the way in film nominations (17) for pictures like “The Power of the Dog,” “Don’t Look Up” and “tick, tick … BOOM!” despite not campaigning for its movies.

The films in the running for Best Motion Picture: Drama are “Dune,” “CODA,” “Belfast,” “King Richard” and “The Power of the Dog,” while the nominees for Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy are “Cyrano,” “Don’t Look Up,” “Licorice Pizza”, “tick, tick … BOOM!” and “West Side Story.”

In the category of best actor in a Motion Picture: Drama, the nods went to Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos), Mahershala Ali (Swan Song), Will Smith (King Richard), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog) and Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth).

The best actress nominees in a drama film are Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye), Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter), Lady Gaga (House of Gucci), Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos) and Kristen Stewart (Spencer).

For comedy films or musicals, the best actress nominees are Marion Cotillard (Annette), Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza), Jennifer Lawrence (Don’t Look Up), Emma Stone (Cruella) and Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) and the best actor nominees are Leonardo DiCaprio (Don’t Look Up), Peter Dinklage (Cyrano), Andrew Garfield (tick, tick … BOOM!), Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza) and Anthony Ramos (In the Heights).

On the TV side, the nods for best drama series went to Netflix’s “Squid Game” and “Lupin”, the FX series “Pose,” Apple TV+’s “The Morning Show” and HBO’s “Succession” (HBO), while the nominees for best musical or comedy are Hulu’s “The Great” and “Only Murders in the Building,” HBO Max’s “Hacks,” FX on Hulu’s “Reservation Dogs” and Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso.”

Brian Cox (Succession), Lee Jung-jae (Squid Game), Billy Porter (Pose), Jeremy Strong (Succession) and Omar Sy (Lupin) were nominated for best actor in a TV drama series, while the best actress nods went to Uzo Aduba (In Treatment), Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show), Christine Baranski (The Good Fight), Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) and Mj Rodriguez (Pose).

The nominees for best actor in a TV musical or comedy series are Anthony Anderson (Black-ish), Nicholas Hoult (The Great), Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building), Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building) and Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso).

The best actress nominees are Hannah Einbinder (Hacks), Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish), Elle Fanning (The Great), Issa Rae (Insecure) and Jean Smart (Hacks). EFE

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