Golden Globes 2021: British stars lead nominations in many of the major categories

The Golden Globes have kicked off a delayed awards season, with British stars leading the way in some of the biggest categories.

Revenge thriller Promising Young Woman earned its leading lady Carey Mulligan an acting nod, while filmmaker Emerald Fennell picked up two nominations, for best director and best screenplay.

The Crown’s Josh O’Connor and Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones both received TV acting nods, Riz Ahmed was recognised for his portrayal of a punk drummer battling hearing loss in Sound Of Metal and Vanessa Kirby for playing a grieving mother in Pieces Of A Woman.

British stars Sir Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman, Olivia Colman (who got a double nod), Jodie Comer, Daniel Kaluuya, Dev Patel, Rosamund Pike, Hugh Grant, Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Corrin and James Corden also scored nominations in the acting categories.

Versatile British comedian and actor Sacha Baron Cohen got nods for both his dramatic performance in The Trial Of The Chicago 7 and his comedy turn in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.

And actress Anya Taylor-Joy – who has joint British nationality along with American and Argentinian – received a double nod too – for both her performance in surprise Chess hit The Queen’s Gambit and period film Emma, while British-American actress Lily Collins (and daughter of rock star Phil Collins) got a surprise nomination for the much-watched, but critically derided Emily In Paris.

In an almost unheard of turn of events, women dominated the best director category, with Regina King and Chloe Zhao joining Promising Young Woman’s Fennell in the line-up for One Night in Miami and Nomadland respectively.

Only one woman has ever won a Golden Globe in that category – Barbara Streisand for musical drama Yentl – and that was back in 1983.

As was widely expected, Chadwick Boseman received a posthumous nomination for his lead role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The much-loved Black Panther star died of cancer at the age of 43 last August.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, due to the fact that cinemas across the world were closed throughout the majority of 2020 due to coronavirus, streaming services have come into their own over the last 10 months and provided the lion’s share of the nods.

Netflix led the studios with 42 Golden Globe nominations, building on their impressive showing last year, where they received a whopping 34 nods.

Although the streaming giant is gaining credibility at ceremonies year-on-year, they are still yet to take home the top prize – best picture at the Oscars.

Competing streaming platform Amazon Studios achieved 10 Golden Globe nominations, while newer platforms Apple TV+ took two and Disney + claimed one.

Proving that Hollywood loves nothing better than a story about Hollywood, David Fincher’s Citizen Kane homage Mank led the film nominations with five nods.

Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 – based on the infamous 1969 court case – followed closely behind with four nominations.

Meanwhile in the world of TV, royal saga The Crown led the way with six nods, followed by father-and-son offbeat comedy Schitt’s Creak followed up its 2020 Emmy success with five nods.

The Golden Globe ceremony usually takes place in January but was delayed this year after the Academy Awards – the biggest event in Hollywood’s calendar – was pushed back to April.

All eyes will now be on the Golden Globe contenders, which are likely to point towards films that will make the Oscars shortlist.

Unlike the Academy Awards, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Golden Globes celebrates TV as well as film, and further widens its categories by splitting the comedy/musical and drama genres.

Last year’s Golden Globe ceremony was hosted by British comedian Ricky Gervais, with his usual mix of controversial humour and bum-clenching celebrity put downs.

This year’s awards will be hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who have fronted the event twice before.

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However, this time they will present separately – Poehler from The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles and Fey from Rainbow Room in New York due to coronavirus social distancing restrictions.

Nominees are expected to appear remotely from locations around the world.

The 78th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday 28 February, and air on NBC.

(c) Sky News 2021: Golden Globes 2021: British stars lead nominations in many of the major categories