The Oscar race will be a marathon between these three movies: La La Land, Moonlight, and Manchester by the Sea.
That’s the major tea leaf confirmed by the announcement of the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards nominees, one of the big Oscar harbingers every year. Those three films, along with their directors, were all nominated for Best Motion Picture; that follows consistent citations for those three films and their filmmakers in various critics groups so far this year.
La La Land leads with 7 nominations, Moonlight follows with 6, and Manchester by the Sea grabbed 5.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association also threw Mel Gibson some love in major categories, giving his Hacksaw Ridge nominations for Best Motion Picture (Drama), Director (Gibson), and Male Performance (Drama) to Andrew Garfield. The Harvey Weinstein produced Lion garnered 4 nominations, including Best Picture (Drama) and Supporting nominations for Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel.
Fences, a major awards hopeful directed by Denzel Washington (and based on the August Wilson play), only nabbed two nominations: Male Performance (Drama) for Washington and Female Supporting Performance for Viola Davis. Still, if push comes to shove, my hunch is that the Academy will opt for Fences in major categories over Lion.
Hell or High Water also saw its profile boosted with a Best Motion Picture (Drama) nomination, along with nods for Jeff Bridges (Male Supporting Performance) and Taylor Sheridan (Screenplay).
Other possible Oscar contenders such as Arrival, Jackie, and Loving all received multiple nominations but none for Best Motion Picture, Director, or Screenplay.
Martin Scorsese‘s Silence, a big period religious epic that’s just beginning to be screened by critics, was shut out. Also snubbed? Clint Eastwood‘s Sully. Not even perennial favorite Tom Hanks was invited to the red carpet for his heralded portrayal of the real life hero pilot.
The 74th Golden Globe Awards will be handed out live on Sunday January 8, 2016 at 8pm EST/7pm CST on NBC, with host Jimmy Fallon.
74th GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS
Films of 2016
Best Motion Picture – Drama
– Hacksaw Ridge
– Hell or High Water
– Lion
– Manchester by the Sea
– Moonlight
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
– 20th Century Women
– La La Land
– Deadpool
– Florence Foster Jenkins
– Sing Street
Best Male Performance in a Motion Picture – Drama
– Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
– Joel Edgerton – Loving
– Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge
– Viggo Mortenson – Captain Fantastic
– Denzel Washington – Fences
Best Female Performance in a Motion Picture – Drama
– Amy Adams – Arrival
– Jessica Chastain – Miss Sloane
– Isabelle Huppert – Elle
– Ruth Negga – Loving
– Natalie Portman – Jackie
Best Male Performance in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
– Colin Farrell – The Lobster
– Ryan Gosling – La La Land
– Hugh Grant – Florence Foster Jenkins
– Jonah Hill – War Dogs
– Ryan Reynolds – Deadpool
Best Female Performance in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
– Annette Bening – 20th Century Women
– Lily Collins – Rules Don’t Apply
– Hailee Steinfeld – The Edge of Seventeen
– Emma Stone – La La Land
– Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins
Best Male Supporting Performance in a Motion Picture
– Mahershala Ali – Moonlight
– Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
– Dev Patel – Lion
– Simon Helberg – Florence Foster Jenkins
– Aaron-Taylor Johnson – Nocturnal Animals
Best Female Supporting Performance in a Motion Picture
– Viola Davis – Fences
– Naomie Harris – Moonlight
– Nicole Kidman – Lion
– Octavia Spencer – Hidden Figures
– Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea
Best Director
– Damien Chazelle – La La Land
– Tom Ford – Nocturnal Animals
– Mel Gibson – Hacksaw Ridge
– Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
– Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
Best Screenplay
– Damien Chazelle – La La Land
– Tom Ford – Nocturnal Animals
– Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
– Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
– Taylor Sheridan – Hell or High Water
Best Original Score
– Nicholas Britell – Moonlight
– Justin Hurwitz – La La Land
– Jóhann Jóhannsson – Arrival
– Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka – Lion
– Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams, Benjamin Wallfisch – Hidden Figures
Best Original Song
– “Can’t Stop the Feeling” – Trolls
– “City of Stars” – La La Land
– “Faith” – Sing
– “Gold” – Gold
– “How Far I’ll Go” – Moana
Best Animated Feature Film
– Kubo and the Two Strings
– Moana
– My Life as a Zucchini
– Sing
– Zootopia
Best Foreign Language Film
– Divines (France)
– Elle (France)
– Neruda (Chile)
– The Salesman (Iran)
– Toni Erdmann (Germany)
The Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award
Meryl Streep
(To see a full list of the Golden Globe Nominees that also includes Television categories, click here.)
Click on links below for other Critics Group Awards that have been announced so far this season:
Screen Actors Guild Nominees
Writers Guild of America Nominees
National Society of Film Critics
New York Film Critics Circle
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Boston Society of Film Critics
Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association
The National Board of Review
Critics’ Choice Awards Winners