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Source: Searchlight Pictures

‘Nomadland’

Nomadland won best drama at the 78th Golden Globes on Sunday (February 28), capping off a solid night for the Searchlight Pictures film after Chloe Zhao became only the second woman to win a directing Globe nearly 40 years after Barbra Streisand did so for Yentl in 1984.

Zhao’s best director win for Nomadland delivered a significant milestone and positions her and her film as Oscar frontrunners.

She was one of three women in contention for the award alongside Regina King (One Night In Miami) and Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman), marking the first time more than one female director had been nominated in the same year.

Elsewhere, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which entered the ceremony under a cloud after a damning report in Los Angeles Times revealed there are currently no black voting members among the 87-strong voting group, shared its awards among a number of contenders.

The United States vs. Billie Holiday star Andra Day delivered an upset as she denied Nomadland’s Frances McDormand a best dramatic actress win.

Chadwick Boseman’s wife delivered an emotional acceptance speech after her late husband posthumously won best actor in a drama for Netflix’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

A24’s Minari was named best foreign language film.

Despite a strong night for Netflix, Mank, which began the night with the most nominations on six, did not win a single award. The Trial of The Chicago 7 had earned five nods and won one for Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay. Focus Features also missed out with Promising Young Woman, which had earned four nominations, starring Carey Mulligan.

Amazon Studios’ Borat Subsequent Moviefilm was named best musical or comedy and Sacha Baron Cohen won best actor for a musical or comedy for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.

Rosamund Pike won the corresponding actress award for Netflix’s I Care A Lot. Maria Bakalova was nominated in the same category for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and is regarded as a frontrunner for supporting actress in the Oscar race.

Jodie Foster delivered a surprise with her supporting actress award for her role in BBC Films’ The Mauritanian, released in the US via STXfilms. Towards the start of the show, Daniel Kaluuya won best supporting actor for Warner Bros’ Judas And The Black Messiah.

Pixar’s Soul was named best animated feature and also won for best original score by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste. Netflix’s The Life Ahead won best song for “Io Si (Seen)” by Diane Warren, Laura Pausini, Niccolò Agliardi.

Netflix’s The Crown dominated the TV categories, converting four of its six nods for best TV drama series, and individual wins for Emma Corrin, Josh O’Connor and Gillian for their portrayals of Princess Diana, Prince Charles, and Margaret Thatcher, respectively.

Anya Taylor-Joy won best actress in a limited series or TV film for Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, which was also named best limited series.

John Boyega took the award for best performance by an actor in a television supporting role for Amazon Studios’ Small Axe. Schitt’s Creek was named best TV musical or comedy series.

The 2021 Golden Globe Awards took place as a hybrid event with returning hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler presiding over the ceremony from the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles and New York. Frontline and essential workers were among a limited audience at the bicoastal sites, and winners accepted awards from their homes via video link.

Notable wins on the night for Day, Boseman, Kaluuya, Boyega and Soul co-director Kemp Powers come at an turbulent time in the HFPA’s history.

The group had come under fire from advocacy group Time’s Up and celebrities following last week’s report in the Los Angeles Times. The HFPA, which has members of colour within its ranks, has said it is devising an action plan to bring in black members.

There was disappointment last month when the HFPA’s nominations did not contain a single best film contender directed by a black person, while many observers felt that black people had been overlooked in other categories.

During the show, HFPA board chair Meher Tatna, president Ali Sar, and vice president Helen Hoehne addressed the matter of diversity within the organisation when they said they needed to do more, without offering detail.

After the ceremony, Time’s Up president and CEO Tina Tchen sent a blunt letter to the HFPA and awards broadcaster NBC saying the HFPA’s pledge to recruit black members was not enough.

“The HFPA’s statements tonight and over the last several days indicate a fundamental lack of understanding of the depth of the problems at hand,” said Tchen. “Your stated version of change is cosmetic – find Black people. That is not a solution.”

In her opening monologue co-host Tina Fey said, “The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is made up of around 90 international non-black journalists who attend movie junkets each year in search of a better life.”

Co-host Amy Poehler referred to “everybody” being upset at the HFPA and its choices, and intimated that it was the group’s style to nominate “flashy garbage”, adding: “But a number of black actors and black-led projects were overlooked.”

Zhao’s best director award meant she became the second Asian person to win the category after Ang Lee, who won twice for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2001, and Brokeback Mountain in 2006. Minari director Lee Isaac Chung was the other Asian filmmaker to win on the night in the foreign language category.

Winners in each category appear below in bold.

Nominations 

Film

Best Drama

  • The Father
  • Mank
  • Nomadland
  • Promising Young Woman
  • The Trial Of The Chicago 7

Best Musical or Comedy

  • Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
  • Hamilton
  • Music
  • Palm Springs
  • The Prom

Best Director - Motion Picture

  • David Fincher (Mank)
  • Regina King (One Night in Miami)
  • Aaron Sorkin (The Trial Of The Chicago 7)
  • Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)
  • Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)

Best Motion Picture – Animated

  • The Croods: A New Age 
  • Onward
  • Over The Moon 
  • Soul
  • Wolfwalkers

Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language

  • Another Round (Denmark) 
  • La Llorona (Guatemala / France) 
  • The Life Ahead (Italy) 
  • Minari (US) 
  • Two Of Us (France / US) 

Best Actor, Drama

  • Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal)
  • Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
  • Anthony Hopkins (The Father)
  • Gary Oldman (Mank)
  • Tahar Rahim (The Mauritanian)

Best Actress, Drama

  • Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)
  • Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
  • Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman)
  • Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
  • Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)

Best Actor, 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 Actress, Musical or Comedy

  • Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)
  • Michelle Pfeiffer (French Exit)
  • Anya Taylor-Joy (Emma)
  • Kate Hudson (Music)
  • Rosamund Pike (I Care a Lot)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

  • 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

  • Jodie Foster (The Mauritanian)
  • Olivia Colman (The Father)
  • Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy)
  • Amanda Seyfried (Mank)
  • Helena Zengel (News of the World)

Best Screenplay

  • Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)
  • Jack Fincher (Mank)
  • Aaron Sorkin (The Trial Of The Chicago 7)
  • Florian Zeller, Christopher Hampton (The Father)
  • Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)

Best Original Score

  • Alexandre Desplat (The Midnight Sky)
  • Ludwig Göransson (Tenet)
  • James Newton Howard (News Of The World)
  • Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross (Mank)
  • Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste (Soul)

Best Original Song – Motion Picture

  • Fight for You”, Judas And The Black Messiah – H.E.R., Dernst Emile II, Tiara Thomas
  • “Hear My Voice”, The Trial Of The Chicago 7 – Daniel Pemberton, Celeste
  • “Io Si (Seen)”, The Life Ahead  – Diane Warren, Laura Pausini, Niccolò Agliardi
  • “Speak Now”, One Night In Miami – Leslie Odom Jr, Sam Ashworth
  • “Tigress & Tweed”, The United States vs. Billie Holliday – Andra Day, Raphael Saadiq

TV

Best Television Series – Drama

  • The Crown (Netflix)
  • Lovecraft Country (HBO Max)
  • The Mandalorian (Disney Plus)
  • Ozark (Netflix)
  • Ratched (Netflix)

Best Actor in a TV Drama

  • Jason Bateman (Ozark)
  • Josh O’Connor (The Crown)
  • Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul)
  • Al Pacino (Hunters)
  • Matthew Rhys (Perry Mason)

Best Actress in a TV Drama

  • Emma Corrin (The Crown)
  • Olivia Colman (The Crown)
  • Jodie Comer (Killing Eve)
  • Laura Linney (Ozark)
  • Sarah Paulson (Ratched)

Best Limited Series, TV Film

  • Normal People
  • The Queen’s Gambit
  • Small Axe
  • The Undoing
  • Unorthodox

Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Film

  • Cate Blanchett (Mrs. America)
  • Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People)
  • Shira Haas (Unorthodox)
  • Nicole Kidman (The Undoing)
  • Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit)

Best Actor in a Limited Series or TV Film

  • Bryan Cranston (Your Honor)
  • Jeff Daniels (The Comey Rule)
  • Hugh Grant (The Undoing)
  • Ethan Hawke (The Good Lord Bird)
  • Mark Ruffalo (I Know This Much Is True)

Best TV Musical or Comedy

  • Emily in Paris
  • The Flight Attendant
  • Schitt’s Creek
  • The Great
  • Ted Lasso

Best 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 Actor In A Television Series – Musical Or Comedy

  • Don Cheadle  (Black Monday)
  • Nicholas Hoult  (The Great)
  • Eugene Levy  (Schitt’s Creek)
  • Jason Sudeikis  (Ted Lasso)
  • Ramy Youssef  (Ramy)

Best Actress In A Television Supporting Role

  • Gillian Anderson (The Crown) 
  • Helena Bonham Carter (The Crown)
  • Julia Garner (Ozark)
  • Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek)
  • Cynthia Nixon (Ratched) 

Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Supporting Role

  • John Boyega (Small Axe) 
  • Brendan Gleeson (The Comey Rule)
  • Daniel Levy (Schitt’s Creek)
  • Jim Parsons (Hollywood)
  • Donald Sutherland (The Undoing).

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