Highlights From The 2021 Golden Globes Nominations!

At this time in any other “normal” year, we would be deep into Awards Season right now, with awards shows around every corner and Best Dressed Lists piling up all over the Internet. But, as we know, the past 11 months have been anything but normal. Shortly after the 2020 Academy Awards capped off last year’s Awards Season, all hell broke loose and subsequent award shows, like the Emmys, have had to get extremely creative to stay on the air.

Such continues to be the case into 2021, with the pandemic still in full force and award shows taking a more low-key approach. One of the biggest question marks facing the upcoming Golden Globes and Academy Awards ceremonies has been what the movie categories would look like. 2020 was, to put it lightly, not a great year for movies. Many films were pushed back into infinity and the movies that were released were by and large done so mostly on streaming services and with not a lot of  fanfare, leading many to wonder if there would even be enough content to fill out a Globes or Oscars ballot.

But now, with the Golden Globes nominations being announced this morning, we finally have a clearer picture of the film contenders from the past year, and what we will most likely see at the Oscars. Meanwhile, television flourished in 2020, so it’s not surprising to see the TV categories totally stacked.

Let’s break down some of the highlights!

- No surprise that a streaming platform – in this case, Netflix – leads the way in total nominations, with a whopping 42. Add Amazon, HBO Max, and Disney+ to the mix and, well, it’s a lot. And it’s completely expected considering how streamers have almost singlehandedly kept the entertainment biz alive during quarantine.

- Not one, not two, but THREE female directors landed in the Best Director – Motion Picture category this year, outnumbering male directors for the first time EVER! Among them include Regina King for her recent debut, One Night In Miami, as well as Chloé Zhao for Nomadland (making her the first Asian-American woman to be nominated in this category), and Emerald Fennell, whom you probably recognize as Camilla Parker-Bowles in the most recent season of “The Crown” – she is the mastermind behind the intense and critically-loved Promising Young Woman. We stan a multi-talent! Even with the numbers on their side, though, these ladies have intense competition from their male counterparts – both Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7) and David Fincher (Mank) are Awards Season darlings and churned out movies that award shows tend to swoon over. We shall see how this unfolds…

- “Schitt’s Creek” once again finds itself nestled comfortably in every major TV Comedy category. As I’m sure you’ll remember, the late-bloomer Canadian series made an unprecedented sweep at the Emmys last year; can they repeat that success this year? Their biggest competition in the Best Comedy Series category is probably Hulu’s “The Great” (which is NOT in the Limited Series Category, which suggests there is going to be a Season 2?!), a satirical look at the rise of Russia’s Catherine the Great starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult (both of whom got acting nods as well). The HFPA loves a good, lush period piece, so production value alone might leave Schitt’s Creek… well… up a creek.

- Another non-surprise is the appearance of Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit” on the roster, landing noms for Best Limited Series and for its star, who, let’s face it, made the show what it was, Anya Taylor-Joy for Best Actress in a Limited Series. She goes up against the likes of heavyweights Cate Blanchett (“Mrs. America”) and Nicole Kidman (“The Undoing”), but the Globes are always a great place for the underdog to shine. The series itself also has a pretty good chance of walking away the winner as well.

- Some shows getting noms that were a surprise include “Emily In Paris” and “Ratched”, two shows that many consider more guilty pleasures than serious awards show contenders. But in a year that put an emphasis on unapologetic self-care, it makes sense to recognize the shows that got us through the toughest times, even if they have slim chances of winning.

- John Boyega getting his first major acting award nomination? We love to see it! What is confusing some people, though, is why he is in the Supporting Actor category. His role in Steve McQueen’s anthology series “Small Axe” was 1000% a lead role, with him appearing in pretty much every scene of his episode (which is more like a mini-movie) “Red, White and Blue”. He is, in fact, the ONLY actor from this series nominated for a Globe, so it’s difficult to determine what the HFPA considers a “lead” and a “supporting” role with regards to this series, but it seems to indicate that they consider “Small Axe” an ensemble project. The fact is, putting Boyega in this category, which crosses both comedy and drama, puts him in the same company as, for example, Dan Levy from “Schitt’s Creek”. Which is weird. HOWEVER, he might actually have a better chance in that category since the Lead Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie category is stacked with the likes of Bryan Cranston, Jeff Daniels, and Hugh Grant. Perhaps putting Boyega in the Supporting category mitigates the chances of him getting lost in the shuffle. Fingers crossed!

- Disney+’s smash-hit Star Wars series “The Mandalorian” follows up its surprise showing at the Emmys with another nomination for Best Drama Series. But, as was the case with the Emmys, the show does not show up in any other major categories. (They received tons of technical accolades at the Emmys but those categories don’t exist at the Globes). Come on, not even a nod for Pedro Pascal?? It takes real talent to be able to convey subtle emotions from behind a helmet 99% of the time!

- Both Olivia Colman and Sacha Baron Cohen are double nominees this year, and for wildly different projects. Olivia is nominated in both the Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for The Father and as Queen Elizabeth in Netflix’s “The Crown”, which she won the Globe for last year. SBC has an even bigger tone gap between his two nominations – the first for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his now-iconic role as Borat in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, and Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his role as iconic activist Abbie Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago 7. The RANGE, y’all!

Those are just some of the highlights that jumped out at me. You can view the full list of nominees here and share your thoughts with us on Twitter!

Don’t miss the coast-to-coast simulcast of the 78th Annual Golden Globes, hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (yay!), on February 28!