Awards season gathers steam on Sunday as Hollywood’s second most significant set of film prizes is handed out. The 74th Golden Globes promise a new emphasis on youth and diversity, in stark contrast to recent years, which have seen all major movie awards bodies dogged by accusations of prejudice and bias.
Yet, as far as the gongs themselves go, the Globes also seem certain to offer a night of no surprises – and certainly no indication of how the Oscars will shake down. Traditionally perceived as a barometer of Academy Awards glory, this year’s edition – because the Globes split their categories into drama and musical/comedy – looks likely to reward both Oscars frontrunners: coming-of-age tale Moonlight and tune-packed romance La La Land.
Moonlight, already the winner of more than 120 awards, has won much praise for its backstory as well as narrative: a black director and an all-black cast telling the life of a gay man in an impoverished Miami community. House of Cards star Mahershala Ali is favourite to win the Golden Globe for best supporting actor for his role as a fatherly drug dealer; although co-star Naomie Harris, best known for her role as Moneypenny in the Bond franchise, is likely to miss out on best supporting actress to Viola Davis for Fences, an adaptation of the August Wilson play directed by its star, Denzel Washington. Those victories would mean two wins for actors of colour; the first time in five years a black star has won a Globe.
The Oscar nominations on 24 January look set to follow suit in terms of their ethnic spread, in part the result of a clutch of films – also including Hidden Figures and The Birth of a Nation – offering actors of colour showcase roles, and in part a reaction to the #OscarsSoWhite backlash. The Academy has made concerted efforts over the past 12 months to broaden its pool of about 7,000 voters, with around half of a new intake of members last summer being either non-white or female. Similar efforts, however, do not seem to have been made at the Globes, which are voted for by 90-odd members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Success for La La Land would be a less immediately radical departure: a hymn to Hollywood in the mould of previous Oscar winners Argo and The Artist, which stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as toe-tapping, star-crossed wannabes in contemporary Los Angeles. Yet the youth of its director, Damien Chazelle, who at 31 is already on his third feature, as well as that of Moonlight’s 37-year-old director Barry Jenkins, is seen as a healthy indicator of movie industry renewal.
Meanwhile, veterans such as Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood have found themselves snubbed as both their new movies, Silence and Sully, failed to score a single nomination. The sole representative of old Hollywood comes in the unlikely form of Mel Gibson, whose grisly war drama Hacksaw Ridge is up for best director and best drama, as well as best actor for Andrew Garfield.
Kenneth Lonergan’s sombre Manchester By the Sea, which stars Casey Affleck as a janitor who becomes the guardian of his dead brother’s child, is also likely to do well. Affleck looks a strong bet for best actor (drama), while Lonergan could well carry off best director or screenwriter, or both.
With a ceremony traditionally more raucous and informal than the Oscars, the Globes have announced an eclectic list of stars as presenters, while law-enforcement agencies are promising a “tremendous” amount of security around the event.
This year’s host Jimmy Fallon has already said he will include multiple jokes aimed at reality star turned president-elect Donald Trump, but also suggested they won’t be unduly mean-spirited. “If I hit somebody, it’s a very subtle hit, and everyone’s in on the joke,” he told the Hollywood Reporter. “I want to make sure everyone’s laughing and having a good time. And I’m hopefully going to book the people in this crowd the next week, so I’ll be edgy, but it’s all in good fun, and I know how far I can take it.”
The ex-Saturday Night Live comic and current late-night host had attracted fire for inviting Trump on his show before the election and failing to quiz him on any of his more offensive remarks.
The Golden Globes awards ceremony will take place on 8 January, in Beverly Hills, California.
