Another Hollywood awards season kicks off this weekend with the Golden Globes, the industry’s glitziest yet most consistently troubled ceremony.
Nominations for the 82nd edition are led by films such as Netflix musical Emilia Pérez, period saga The Brutalist, Broadway blockbuster Wicked and Vatican thriller Conclave, and promises to help steer an unusually confused race that’s yet to firm up clear frontrunners.
Last year was dominated by Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which took home five awards before going on to win best picture at the Oscars.
The season so far has seen Wicked named best film by the National Board of Review, A Different Man by the Gotham awards, The Brutalist by the New York Film Critics Circle and Anora by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. This week has also seen Bafta longlists led by Emilia Pérez and Conclave.
The New York Times awards specialist Kyle Buchanan has called it “a season that doesn’t appear to have an overwhelming sweeper” with “plenty of time for contenders to rise and fall”.
On the television side, there are far surer things such as Shōgun in the drama category and Netflix breakout Baby Reindeer on the limited series side.
The membership of voters who decide upon the winners has dramatically changed since a bombshell exposé in 2021 revealed both a lack of racial diversity and instances of corruption. In 2023, the number of voters expanded from 87 to more than 300, with 58% who “self-identify as ethnically diverse”.
It’s also made the Globes more global with 76 countries now represented, something that was seen in this year’s nominees, which saw inclusions for Brazil’s Fernanda Torres as best actress in a drama for I’m Still Here, India’s Payal Kapadia for best director for All We Imagine as Light, and Spain’s Karla Sofía Gascón as best actress in a musical or comedy for Emilia Pérez.
Gascón is also the first transgender woman to be nominated for a film acting Globe. “This nomination gives me hope for humanity,” Gascón wrote on Instagram.
But this year also saw some snubs for prominent actors and directors of colour, something that has reminded many of the older, less inclusive voting body. Widely tipped actors such as The Piano Lesson’s Danielle Deadwyler and Hard Truths’ Marianne Jean-Baptiste and directors such as Nickel Boys’ RaMell Ross were all excluded.
After last year’s host, comedian and actor Jo Koy, drew criticism for his performance from many, with Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson calling his opening monologue “a horrid, sophomoric mishmash of lazy jokes”, this year sees fellow comic Nikki Glaser take over. She will be the first solo female host ever at the Globes.
Glaser, whose recent special Someday You’ll Die was nominated for a Grammy, Emmy and a Golden Globe, also made headlines last year for her part in Netflix’s roast of Tom Brady with Vulture’s Kathryn VanArendonk calling her “confident and lancet-sharp”. Her humour is known for being fearless and often eviscerating.
“I’m ready for a challenge,” she said to Rolling Stone on appealing to a primetime audience with more restrictions than she is used to. “I think as an artist, you have to keep doing things that make you deeply uncomfortable … Now, what makes me very uncomfortable is having to do a hard thing, which is be clean.”
Glaser has already been working with producers on which celebrities to switch to for the best close-up reaction shots. She’s already highlighted Matt Damon, Jamie Lee Curtis and Robert De Niro. “I’ve noticed [they] are great laughers,” she said.
Presenters this weekend will include nominees such as Demi Moore, Colman Domingo and Kathy Bates, as well as Andrew Garfield, Sharon Stone, Viola Davis and Elton John.
The first awards show of the year comes after a surprisingly robust year for viewership in 2024. Ratings were up for the Oscars, the Emmys, the VMAs and the Golden Globes, which saw a 50% rise from the previous year.
Oscar nominations will be announced on 17 January.
