There were few major snubs or surprises to be found in this morning’s (December 13th) Golden Globe Awards nominations, with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association trying to bounce back from a rough year of controversy by honoring a pretty tame collection of films and shows from across the realms of film and television.
During the press conference for the nominations, HFPA president Helen Hoehne made a big point of the changes in play for this year’s ceremony, while not really highlighting the biggest one: For the first time in a long time, the Globes will not be televised — instead, the awards will be live-streamed in a scaled-back ceremony on January 9th, 2022.
Without Tina Fey and Amy Poehler delivering one of their signature roasts on NBC, this year’s awards will likely rely on star power to bring in interest. But the most notable thing about today’s Golden Globes nominations announcement was how… un-noteworthy it was. After a year of “changes,” otherwise known as massive reforms following extensive reporting about issues within the organization, there was no sign of the out-of-nowhere nominations that used to slip into the lineup.
Put it another way, this year there was no Emily in Paris. (The Netflix series was nominated for its first season last year, reportedly after HFPA members were flown to Paris for a luxury set visit in 2019.) One of the biggest changes made to this year’s awards was that networks and studios were no longer required to submit their programming for consideration, meaning that the membership considered the full spectrum of film and TV released during the eligibility period.
Most of those picks, therefore, aligned with the biggest awards season frontrunners. Netflix movies including The Power of the Dog and Don’t Look Up dominated the film nominations, while HBO and HBO Max topped the list of nominations for television. Kenneth Branagh‘s Belfast was the most-nominated film with seven honors, including Jamie Dornan as supporting actor and Van Morrison for the original song “Down to Joy,” while Succession received five nominations for its stellar third season.
The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
This year’s membership did nominate multiple people of color in multiple categories: in fact, only three acting categories consist of all white actors, specifically Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama, Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama, and Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role on Television.
But, on the TV side, compare this year’s list of nominations to the 2021 Emmy Awards, and you’ll find a great deal of overlap: While this year’s outstanding drama winner, The Crown, wasn’t eligible, Ted Lasso and Mare of Easttown was well-represented, as well as WandaVision and other past Emmy favorites like Succession, Pose, and Hacks.
The biggest surprise was the love received for two of Netflix’s international offerings — the French caper series Lupin and South Korean juggernaut Squid Game, both of which were recognized for both drama series as well as their respective lead actors. Squid Game received an additional nomination as well for O Yeong-Su in the supporting actor category.
Squid Game (Netflix)
Of course, if the Globes nominations are just going to be a replica of other awards shows, what’s the point of them? The opportunity to highlight more international productions (which seems like a solid fit for the organization’s core reason for existence) might be a direction worth pursuing.
Even before this year’s existential crisis, as an awards body, the HFPA had never been an organization that earned much respect for its selections; while in 2021, its issues were laid bare, it’s arguably a reckoning that was a long time in the making. Perhaps being comparatively boring is just what it needs to move forward in the future — given that the alternative is to stop existing at all.
Check out the full list of 2022 Golden Globes nominations here.
