Surprises, Snubs & Takeaways From The 2018 Golden Globe Nominations

​By Daniel Howat 

​This morning the Hollywood Foreign Press unveiled the nominations for the 76th Golden Globe Awards. While the Globes can sometimes be a strange detour on the awards path, their status as the second-biggest televised awards show gives their awards merit. As always, there were plenty of expected nominations that missed, movies that underperformed and overperformed, and lots of learnings for where the race is headed. Let’s break down the snubs, surprises, and takeaways from the Golden Globe nominations.

SURPRISE - Vice Leads Nominations
While it was certainly expected to receive plenty of nods today, “Vice” leading the nominations is a bit of a surprise. The review embargo will end today and is expected to reveal decidedly mixed reviews for Adam McKay’s film. Some truly love it, calling it one of the best of the year, while some really hate it. Still, it landed nominations in Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy, Actor - Musical/Comedy (Christian Bale), Supporting Actress (Amy Adams), Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell), Director, and Screenplay. This is a very successful morning for the Dick Cheney biopic. Rockwell’s nomination for his portrayal of George W. Bush was especially surprising. Still, let’s not forget that “Carol” led the film nominations in 2015, yet went on to miss a Best Picture nomination entirely at the Oscars. “Vice” still has a lot of work to do in order to do well at the Oscars, especially if the reviews don’t do it any favors.

SNUB - Beale Street Misses Director and Score
Possibly the most damning snubs of the morning belonged to “If Beale Street Could Talk.” Nicholas Britell’s score has been long viewed as the favorite to win Best Score at the Oscars but missed a nomination completely here. This isn’t a fatal blow, as The Grand Budapest Hotel missed a score nomination at the Globes while still winning the Oscar. The bigger snub: Barry Jenkins missed a nomination for Best Director. Even though he scored a screenplay nomination, and the film made it into Best Motion Picture - Drama, missing Best Director is a huge loss. The last film to win Best Picture at the Oscars without a Director nomination at the Globes was “Crash.” That’s not the sort of Oscar company you want to be in. This is a loss for a film whose profile had been rising in recent days, with some believing it could end up winning Picture just two years after Jenkins’ Picture-winning “Moonlight.” Here’s hoping Regina King can still continue her successful run in Best Supporting Actress.

TAKEAWAY - Black Panther Is Here To Stay
Despite being decidedly not a normal Globes type of film, and missing nominations for screenplay and director, “Black Panther” scored a Best Motion Picture - Drama nomination. It’s the first superhero film ever nominated in this category. This is a massive success for the film that came out ten months ago. Missing that nomination wouldn’t have even harmed “Black Panther’s” chances all that much since it’s not a film the Globes would typically reward. The fact that it scored a Best Motion Picture nomination is a big deal, only proving that it’s not fading away anytime soon.

SURPRISE - Elsie Fisher Nominated
Not that it’s a huge surprise, but one of the most delightful nominations of the morning belonged to Elsie Fisher in “Eighth Grade” in Best Actress - Musical/Comedy. The young star of Bo Burnham’s film has been capturing hearts since the summer. Some were worried about her chances after “Eighth Grade” underperformed at the box office. Still, the past two weeks of critics’ awards helped to bolster Fisher’s profile, who scored nominations with various groups. Like “Black Panther” this is a sort of film that the HFPA doesn’t typically go for. Fisher still has an uphill battle for an Oscar nomination, but this tells us that the A24 film itself is well loved. This could be an early sign that “Eighth Grade” could be a contender elsewhere, like Original Screenplay or even Best Picture. Keep an eye out for this one.

SNUB - First Reformed Shut Out
While A24’s “Eighth Grade” scored a major nomination, their other contender was completely shut out. Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed” was expected to score at least a few major nominations, especially in Screenplay and Best Actor - Drama for Ethan Hawke. Like “Eighth Grade,” it had been doing incredibly well in the critics' groups. This is a pretty solid blow, especially when it seems like a film that the HFPA would typically love. Still, the overperformance of “First Reformed” with critics bodes well for Hawke and Schrader in Actor and Screenplay, and the film can still break into Picture at the Oscars. This is likely more of a fluke than a sign of danger ahead, but it still hurts the film.

TAKEAWAY - First Man and Widows Are Done
It wasn’t all that surprising, but the final nail is in the coffin for “First Man’s” Best Picture chances. After a dreadful box office run and missing at many of the critics' groups, Damien Chazelle’s film only scored two nominations: Best Supporting Actress (Claire Foy) and Best Original Score. Though the film received plenty of acclaim, it’s profile had been sinking further and further every day. If a major star like Ryan Gosling can’t even get a Golden Globe nomination, his chances look grim for the Oscars. It will likely still do well in the below-the-line categories, like Cinematography and Score, but it’s looking like Claire Foy may be their only shot at an above-the-line nomination.

Similarly, though slightly less surprising, is the death of “Widows.” The film wasn’t expected to do well, but this shut-out solidifies the film’s demise. It could get a nomination or two somewhere, likely below-the-line, but Viola Davis, Daniel Kaluuya, Picture, Screenplay, or Director all seem completely out of reach now.

SNUB - Sam Elliott and Nicole Kidman Miss in Supporting
Even though many are predicting a win for Sam Elliott’s short performance in “A Star Is Born,” he completely missed out on a nomination. He’s someone with a long career that the Academy could be ready to reward, but missing here hurts. The last two Best Supporting Actor Oscar winners who missed at the Globes were Alan Arkin and James Coburn. Interestingly, both of those were also seen as career-wins. Elliott could follow a similar path. Of course, his role in the film is very brief. Still, we should still feel comfortable predicting a nomination for him.

Nicole Kidman scored a Best Actress - Drama nomination for “Destroyer,” but missed for her role in “Boy Erased.” Unlike Elliott, she’s hasn’t been headed for a win there, but it’s still a blow for arguably the best performance in the film. Interestingly, Lucas Hedges did score a nomination for his leading role in the film. His profile had been lowering as the season moved on. Perhaps would shouldn’t rule him out of contention.

TAKEAWAY - BlacKkKlansman Surges
After “BlacKkKlansman” didn’t do super well in the critics' groups, the first half of the Golden Globe nominations seemed like they would continue the trend. Spike Lee missed a very important screenplay nomination. During the break in the nominations announcement, some of us speculated that the film might be almost shut out in the bigger categories. It did exactly the opposite. “BlacKkKlansman” scored Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Actor - Drama (John David Washington), Best Supporting Actor (Adam Driver), and Best Director nominations. Some of these, like Washington, weren’t too widely predicted. This overperformance bodes very well for the film, which needed this boost. Driver and Washington are fully in the race.

SNUB - Mary Poppins Returns Misses Song
This one is a little inexplicable. “Mary Poppins Returns” did pretty well this morning, scoring nominations in Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy, Best Actress - Musical/Comedy (Emily Blunt), and Best Original Score, but missed a key nomination in Best Original Song. It’s possible that this was due to vote splitting between multiple songs. In its place was a surprise nomination for “Requiem for a Private War” from “A Private War.” The song was written by Annie Lennox, a Globes favorite, so perhaps this shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise. Rosamund Pike also scored a nomination for Best Actress - Drama as well, giving her a much-needed boost.

SNUB - The Favourite Misses Director
Yet another surprising director snub belonged to “The Favourite’s” Yorgos Lanthiamos. His miss here hurts, especially as he’s seen as a lock for an Oscar nomination. Still, this isn’t nearly as bad of a miss as Jenkins, as “The Favourite” isn’t really seen as a threat to win Picture (or Director for that matter). He should still feel comfortable to receive his first directing nomination as we approach the Oscars. The film itself still did very well elsewhere, scoring nominations for Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy, Best Actress - Musical/Comedy (Olivia Colman), Best Supporting Actress (Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz), and Best Screenplay.

SURPRISE - Roma Gets Screenplay
We’ve known all season that “Roma” would do very well. It’s widely considered a masterpiece and easily one of the best of the year. Still, with not being eligible for Best Motion Picture - Drama, most thought it would miss in Best Screenplay. Instead, the film scored there, a sign that the film should never be underestimated. It’s certainly a lock for nominations in Picture, Director, and elsewhere, but Screenplay could be another major play for Alfonso Cuaron. Netflix has a monster contender here.

What did you think of the nominations this morning? Did we miss any major snubs or surprises? What were your major takeaways as we approach the Oscars? Let us know in the comments section below.

​You can follow Daniel and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars and Film on Twitter at @howatdk