The HFPA have done everything that’s been demanded of them to comply, to repair their image, to do bylaws, DEI mandate that, add new members, more bylaws this and that and whatnot, and all the while hoping to gain back their luster after being swarmed and canceled by the activists who now police the film industry. Good times, my friends. Good times.
If you’re wondering why more people don’t talk about it, it’s for two reasons. First, they’re true believers. They are 100% down with everything we’ve just lived through and want more of it. They think the witch hunt was “necessary” and “in good faith,” while some of us were in the background screaming, It’s the Golden f*cking Globes!”
But hitherto and so forth, we have now arrived at the moment of truth. Whereupon the Globes have assigned etcetera, bylaws and such and such, etcetera — ahem, drumroll, please! Will it please the Court that the HFPA has complied with bylaws and such and such? Can we please return to the business of meaningless film awards? Kay, thanks.
At any rate, they Globes have announced that they are now 60% diverse. How do you like them now? HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM NOW??
THE GOLDEN GLOBES® ANNOUNCES VOTING BODY FOR
THE 81ST ANNUAL AWARDS SHOWVoting Body Now Totals 300 Voters and Reflects 60% Diversity
The Live Ceremony Will Take Place on Sunday, January 7, 2024
Submission website now open HERE | Awards Timetable, Rules and Categories HERE
Los Angeles, CA – (October 2, 2023) – Today, the Golden Globes® announced the full list of voters for the 81st Golden Globe Awards, now totaling 300 journalists from around the world, making it the most ethnically diverse of all the major award shows. The 81st Golden Globe Awards will take place on Sunday, January 7, 2024.
“Our commitment to maintaining the diversity of our voting body continues,” said Helen Hoehne, President, Golden Globes. “Our voters represent 76 countries bringing a unique international perspective on nominating the best in motion pictures and television this year.”
“I was very impressed by the number of global applicants and the quality of their work,” said Tim Gray, Executive Vice President, Golden Globes. “The membership committee had a tough time narrowing down the field, but we’re all pleased with the results.”
The voting body includes international voters from countries including Armenia, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Serbia and Tanzania. The new breakdown is 47% female, and 60% racially and ethnically diverse, with 26.3% Latinx, 13.3% Asian, 11% Black, and 9% Middle Eastern.
Somehow, I never really thought it was about diversity so much as mass hysteria, but there is nothing wrong with pretending otherwise, especially if it helps everyone put the train back on the tracks and everyone feels better represented and is not being cheated out of nominations.
I mean, it could be worse, right? There isn’t much left of the film industry at the moment – it’s not quite a grease stain on the carpet, but it could always get worse, RIGHT?
The sort of perplexing conundrum is how big the Oscar race has gotten. And how many sites are now competing for a piece of the pie? How can they be necessary, influential, and, more importantly — get that ice or no dice?
We didn’t plan on things becoming this sparse with such a massive top-heavy industry to cover it. Who could have predicted COVID or the writers and actors’ strikes? Things are precarious now, with literally only Barbenheimer holding up the dream.
This is kind of like what the Oscar race is like now every time a movie drops:
There isn’t much left of the movies hurled into the churn of this kind of dynamic – with so many hungry seagulls to feed. It’s not the movies’ fault, directors, actors, or writers. They’re doing the hard job of making art. But the Oscar race has a way of wringing the neck and choking the life out of art by making it a contest.
I know, I know. This is the mother ship. At any rate, now that I have you here, let’s do a little Globes prognosticating. I tried this on Twitter, but the response was:
That probably isn’t the fault of the Globes, as I am pretty much the most hated person on Film Twitter, or certainly in the top five. So it is probably not them, it’s me. I still find them interesting, even if they’ve been to hell and back.
The Globes have two separate categories for Drama and Musical/Comedy. They also have that new action/cinematic/blockbuster category that Film Twitter treated like someone just served them a Big Mac at Tavern on the Green. But hey, do you want a film industry or not? Do you think you can manifest it with Twitter enthusiasm? You can’t. There needs to be a thriving film industry – you know, people paying money to see movies instead of getting invited to see them for free like most of us?
First up, Best Picture. The first thing I notice is that, at least for now, each category will be a showdown between two frontrunners:
Drama:
Killers of the Flower Moon-locked
Oppenheimer-locked
Musical/comedy:
Barbie-locked
Poor Things-locked
How do you think those are gonna go? You have to factor in the diversity thing, though, because they’re not going to go to all that trouble to announce 300 of the most diverse voters in the known awards universe amid bylaws and whatnot only to go straight for merit. That won’t happen at the Globes, and it won’t happen at the Oscars. I would go so far as to say there will never be a day that film awards exist when we don’t think about inclusivity. Whether you think that is good or bad, it just is.
So maybe we might have for Drama:
Drama
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Maestro – subject matter, plus Netflix, plus Bradley Cooper
There are so many different movies and different ways this could go. They could surprise everyone and pick David FIncher’s ice-cold but brilliant revenge film, The Killer. They could choose the Matt Damon/Ben Affleck joint Air and catapult them into screenplay and Viola Davis in Supporting Actress; that seems like a very Globes thing to do.
But that was the old Globes. Both the Academy and the Golden Globes, and all of the industry, have changed their demographic so dramatically that precedent doesn’t matter anymore.
But I have a feeling about George Clooney’s The Boys in the Boat. I think it has a good shot of making a last-minute rally (unless they push it to next year).
Rustin – for several reasons. The first, it’s Barack and Michelle Obama’s Netflix movie. Second, it’s about an openly gay Black Civil Rights leader. Third, it’s got heat in the Best Actor race. All of these together make me think it could get in.
Could Nyad make it in? Maybe. It seems like it would have had a better shot back in the day, with the 90-member Globes. But who knows!
Todd Haynes’ May December is another one, but I’m unsure if it goes in Drama or Musical/Comedy.
Musical/Comedy
Barbie
Poor Things
The Holdovers
American Fiction
The Color Purple
This seems a little easier to predict. At least four out of five of these seem fairly locked at the moment. Little Mermaid is likely making it into the blockbuster/cinematic achievement category. There is Next Goal Wins which could do very well with this crowd.
Maybe the romcom No Hard Feelings with Jennifer Lawrence? Maybe Wonka? Blackberry?
Figuring out the acting categories isn’t that hard once you start with the top-line Best Picture contenders. Since they split them into categories, it’s easier to make room for people who would not ordinarily get in.
Best Actor Drama
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers of the Flower Moon
Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Colman Domingo, Rustin
Andrew Scott, All of us Strangers
Anthony Hopkins, Freud’s Last Session maybe?
Alt. Joaquin Phoenix, Napoleon, Barry Keoghan, Saltburn
Best Actor Musical/Comedy
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction
Michael Fassbender, Next Goal Wins
Timothee Chalamet, Wonka
Matt Damon, Air
Alt. Gael Garcia Bernal, Cassandro; Jay Baruchel, Blackberry — maybe?
Best Actress Drama
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Annette Bening, Nyad
Carrie Mulligan, Maestro
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Origin
Sandra Huller, Anatomy of a Fall
Natalie Portman, May/December
Alt. Jodie Comer, the Bikeriders
Best Actress Musical/Comedy
Emma Stone, Poor Things
Margot Robbie, Marbie
Fantasia Barrino, The Color Purple
Jennifer Lawrence, No Hard Feelings
Julia Louis Dreyfus, You Hurt My Feelings
Director
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Marty Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
Greta Gerwig, Barbie
Alexander Payne, The Holdovers
Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things
Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall
Alt. Celine Song, Past Lives; Bradley Cooper, Maestro; Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
It could go that way, but it’s still too early to know anything about anything.
Oh, and in case you were wondering where Anatomy of a Fall and Zone of Interest went, they’re here:
Foreign Language (because they don’t go by country’s submission)
Anatomy of a Fall
The Zone of Interest
The Taste of Things
Past Lives
El Conde
