Here are nominees for the 79th Annual Golden Globes, which will stream live on January 9, 2022. My projections of who will win are in bold parenthesis.
Best Picture Drama
- Belfast (winner)
- CODA
- Dune
- King Richard
- The Power of the Dog
Last year, “Nomadland” won Best Picture.
Best Picture Musical/Comedy
- Cyrano
- Licorice Pizza
- Don’t Look Up (winner)
- tick, tick… Boom!
- West Side Story
Last year’s winner was, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”.
Best Actress — Motion Picture Drama
- Lady Gaga (House of Gucci)
- Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)
- Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos)
- Kristen Stewart (Spencer) (winner)
- Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter)
Last year, Andra Day won for “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”.
Best Actor — Motion Picture Drama
- Mahershala Ali — Swan Song
- Javier Bardem — Being the Ricardos
- Benedict Cumberbatch — The Power of the Dog
- Will Smith — King Richard (winner)
- Denzel Washington — The Tragedy of Macbeth
Last year Chadwick Boseman won, posthumously, for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”.
Best Actress — Motion Picture Musical/Comedy
- Marion Cotillard — Annette
- Alana Haim — Licorice Pizza
- Jennifer Lawrence — Don’t Look Up (will win)
- Emma Stone — Cruella (should win)
- Rachel Zegler — West Side Story
Rosamund Pike won last year for her performance in “I Care A Lot”.
Best Actor — Motion Picture Musical/Comedy
- Leonardo DiCaprio — Don’t Look Up
- Peter Dinklage — Cyrano
- Andrew Garfield — tick, tick… Boom! (winner)
- Cooper Hoffman — Licorice Pizza
- Anthony Ramos — In The Heights
***I think Andrew Garfield runs away with this win, though Leonardo DiCaprio is favored to win.
Last year, Sasha Baron Cohen won for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”.
Best Supporting Actress — Motion Picture
- Caitriona Balfe — Belfast
- Ariana DeBose — West Side Story
- Kirsten Dunst — The Power of the Dog
- Aunjanue Ellis — King Richard (winner)
- Ruth Negga — Passing
Last year, Jodie Foster won for “The Mauritanian”. She was snubbed for an Oscar nomination last year for this role.
Best Supporting Actor — Motion Picture
- Ben Affleck — The Tender Bar
- Jamie Dornan — Belfast
- Ciaran Hinds — Belfast
- Troy Kotsur — CODA (winner)
- Kodi Smit-McPhee The Power of the Dog
Last year, Daniel Kaluuya won for “Judas and the Black Messiah”.
Best Director Motion Picture
- Kenneth Branagh — Belfast (his career best film)
- Jane Campion — The Power of the Dog
- Maggie Gyllenhaal — The Lost Daughter (winner)
- Steven Spielberg — West Side Story
- Denis Villeneuve — Dune
**I believe Gyllenhaal will win because she will be unfairly shutout of the Oscars. Campion will likely be the only woman nominated for a Best Director Oscar this year. In my opinion, Branagh will an Oscar for Best Picture and Campion will get an Oscar for Best Director. So Gyllenhaal will win a Best Director Golden Globe this year and she deserves to win.
Last year, Chloe Zhao won Best Director for “Nomadland”. I’m quite surprised she wasn’t nominated for Best Directing this year for “Eternals”.
Best Screenplay Motion Picture
Side Note — The Globes needs a category for Best Series Pilot Script
- Licorice Pizza — Paul Thomas Anderson (winner)
- Belfast — Kenneth Branagh
- The Power of the Dog — Jane Campion
- Don’t Look Up — Adam McKay
- Being the Ricardos — Aaron Sorkin
Of these nominees, the page turner is “Being the Ricardos”. Sorkin may win the Oscar. He won a Best Screenplay Golden Globe last year for “The Trial of the Chicago 7”.
The funniest and easiest read is “Don’t Look Up”. “Belfast” and “The Power of the Dog” were beautifully written, and read like epic novels.
But the best screenplay overall, despite its controversy is “Licorice Pizza”.
Best Picture — Animated
- Encanto (winner)
- Flee
- Luca
- My Sunny Maad
- Raya and the Last Dragon
“Soul” won last year.
It will be interesting which of these gets Animation Oscar nominations. Of course this is the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and foreign films are eligible in this category. But,“Flee,” which is a Danish documentary with animation and “My Sunny Maad,” which is a foreign animated film may not meet the Oscars basic criteria for eligibility in the Feature Animation category.
“Luca” is a Disney/Pixar animation — Pixar has won all, but three of it’s Feature Animated Oscars nominations.
“Encanto” should win and I believe it will win. If “Encanto” is nominated and wins an Oscar, it would make Lin-Manuel Miranda the 17th EGOT laureate in history.
Best Song — Motion Picture
- Be Alive — Beyonce (King Richard)
- Dos Oruguitas — Sebastian Yatra (Encanto)
- Down to Joy — Van Morrison (Belfast) (winner)
- Here I Am (Singing My Way Home) — Jennifer Hudson (Respect)
- No Time To Die — Billie Eilish (No Time To Die)
In my gut, I feel like Van Morrison will win. The favorite going in is Billie Eilish. “No Time To Die” is very Bond-ish, fits perfectly into the series and with the other songs that have won over the years. And, she campaigned to win.
I personally think Jennifer Hudson should win. She sang the song, still in character, as if she were Aretha Franklin. She also sings the song rhythmically and soulfully like Aretha did on her live Gospel album. The song starts out very reminiscent of Aretha’s rendition of “Still Waters Run Deep”.
But I think Van Morrison will win. It’s a beautiful song with raw vocals and recorded with live instruments — no computers, which makes it sonically pure.
Last year, Diane Warren won for “The Life Ahead”.
Best Drama Series
- Lupin
- The Morning Show
- Pose
- Squid Game (winner)
- Succession
Last year, Netflix’s “The Crown” won best Drama Series.
Best Comedy Series
- The Great
- Hacks (winner)
- Only Murders in the Building
- Reservation Dogs
- Ted Lasso
Last year, “Schitt’s Creek” won Best Comedy Series for Apple TV+.
Best Limited Series — Motion Picture
- Dopesick (Hulu)
- Impeachment: American Crime Story (FX)
- Maid (Netflix) (winner)
- Mare of Easttown (HBO Max)
- The Underground Railroad (Prime Video)
Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit” won last year.
Best Actress — TV Motion Picture
- Jessica Chastain — Scenes from a Marriage (winner)
- Cynthia Erivo — Genius: Aretha
- Elizabeth Olsen — WandaVision
- Margaret Qualley — Maid
- Kate Winslet — Mare of Easttown
Anya Taylor-Joy won in this category last year for her performance in “The Queen’s Gambit”.
Best Actor — TV Motion Picture
- Paul Bettany — WandaVision
- Oscar Isaac — Scenes from a Marriage (loses by a hair)
- Michael Keaton — Dopesick
- Ewan McGregor — Halston (winner)
- Tahir Rahim — The Serpent
I think Oscar Isaac gave the performance of his career, but Ewan McGregor inhabited Roy Halston. His performance is unbeatable.
Mark Ruffalo won last year for his performance in “I Know This Much is True”.
Best TV Actress — Drama Series
- Uzo Aduba — In Treatment
- Jennifer Aniston — The Morning Show
- Christine Baranski — The Good Fight
- Elisabeth Moss — The Handmaid’s Tale
- Michaela Jae Rodriguez — Pose (winner)
- Jennifer’s performance on this season’s The Morning Show, was brilliant.
Although this wasn’t MJ’s best season on Pose, she will be rewarded for all the past seasons she gave stellar performances. This also gives the HFPA a chance to redeem itself by being more inclusive, particularly to transgender thespians.
Emma Corrin won last year for her portrayal of Princess Diana in “The Crown.”
Best TV Actor — Drama Series
- Brian Cox — Succession
- Lee Jung-jae — Squid Game
- Bill Porter — Pose
- Jeremy Strong — Succession (winner)
- Omar Sy — Lupin
Last year, Josh O’Connor won for “The Crown”.
Best TV Actress — Musical/Comedy Series
- Hannah Einbinder — Hacks
- Elle Fanning — The Great
- Issa Rae — Insecure (winner)
- Tracee Ellis Ross — Black-ish
- Jean Smart — Hacks
The money is on Jean Smart, she’s favored to win. But I think this will be the year the HFPA rewards Issa Rae for her groundbreaking series and performance on HBO’s “Insecure”.
Of course last year, Catherine O’Hara won for Schitt’s Creek.
Best TV Actor — Musical/Comedy Series
- Anthony Anderson — Blackish
- Nicholas Hoult — The Great
- Steve Martin — Only Murders in the Building
- Martin Short — Only Murders in the Building
- Jason Sudeikis — Ted Lasso (winner) He won last year. I think he’ll win again.
Best Supporting Actress — TV
- Jennifer Coolidge — The White Lotus
- Kaitlyn Deve — Dopesick
- Andie MacDowell — Maid
- Sarah Snook — Succession (winner)
- Hannah Waddingham — Ted Lasso
Andie McDowell was absolutely superb in “Maid”. But Sarah Snook is superb on “Succession”. Her stiffest competition may be Hannah Waddingham, but I think Snook gets the edge.
Gillian Anderson helped continue The Crown’s sweep last year for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher.
Best Supporting Actor — TV
- Billy Crudup — The Morning Show
- Kieran Culkin — Succession (winner)
- Mark Duplass — The Morning Show
- Brett Goldstein — Ted Lasso
- O Yeong-su — Squid Game
John Boyega shocked us all last year when he won for “Small Axe”.
Kieran lost to Stellan Skarsgard in “Chernobyl” in 2020. I think he wins this year.
The recipients of the Cecil B. DeMille and Carol Burnett honors have not been announced at this time. Last year, Jane Fonda was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award and Norman Lear was honored with the Carol Burnett Award.
Personally, I’m hoping that Angela Bassett is honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award and Eddie Murphy is honored with the Carol Burnett Award for their respective contributions to film and filmmaking.
Well, there you have it. My predictions for the winners of the 79th Annual Golden Globes. I’ll be tweeting live on January 9th as the winners are announced.
For the latest press releases, visit https://www.goldenglobes.com/
