The 75th Annual Golden Globes ceremony has arrived. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has made their selections in film and television. Despite the program covering so much ground, it is usually the most light-hearted of all the award programs. It isn’t necessarily the best in either film or television, it is just what the HFPA has decided to award this year. Make no mistake, the Golden Globes are more of a popularity contest than any other award show around. There are likely to be surprises and upsets because that’s just how they roll.
So what if Film School Rejects were choosing the Golden Globes. Well, I obviously can’t speak for the whole team, but given the results on our Best Films and Best TV of the year, I can probably come up with a happy result that would be reflective of our choices.
Film
Best Film (Drama)
Dunkirk
Now, this would still be a surprise even given the wide open Best Picture field this year. Most pundits will predict that The Shape of Water will take home the Best Drama in a field that includes Call Me By Your Name, The Post, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Dunkirk. Film School Rejects decided that Dunkirk was our second favorite film of the year and for good reason. The historical war film is a barrage to the senses. Featuring fantastic visuals from Hoyte Van Hoytema and incredible direction from Christopher Nolan, few could go against this artistic achievement. A Golden Globes win for Dunkirk would do a lot to strengthen its position going deeper into awards season.
Best Film (Musical or Comedy)
Get Out
Film School Rejects hasn’t gone into great detail this year about how silly the categories are for the Golden Globes. That’s because it isn’t the first time that it has come down to this. The HFPA needs to adjust their categories so they make better sense, but considering this event has occurred 74 previous times, it is unlikely to change anytime soon. Our selection, Get Out, really doesn’t fit in any neat categorization. At times it can be hilarious, especially when considering the effort of LilRel Howery as TSA agent Rod. Then there are other instances where it can be simply horrifying. Director Jordan Peele has even suggested that the film is a documentary. That might the scariest categorization of all.
Best actor (drama)
Timothée Chalamet for Call Me By Your Name
The Golden Globes aren’t likely to take any chances in this category and will likely stay with early front-runner Gary Oldman for his performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. It is a fantastic performance, but perhaps the only reason to watch the film. I’d like to imagine that Timothée Chalamet would win if we were selecting the awards. His performance in Call Me By Your Name as Ello is nothing short of a revelation. He has had previous roles in feature films before, but nothing as memorable as this. Expect this to be the watershed moment that really ignites his career.
Best actress (drama)
Frances McDormand for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
While Film School Rejects rated The Shape of Water as the better film than Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, many would be hard-pressed to go against the performance from Frances McDormand. While she originally didn’t want to appear in the feature, it is easily one of her best performances in years. As a mother grieving for her dead child, she converts that despair into a rage and will stop at nothing to find those responsible for taking her child from her.
Best actor (musical or comedy)
Daniel Kaluuya for Get Out
This category does feature a fantastic performance from James Franco in The Disaster Artist, but for Get Out to work as well as it does, this award goes to Daniel Kaluuya. His sweet nature gets him into trouble, but then he really goes the extra mile with one of the best performances in a horror film in a long time. Audiences have a hard time categorizing a film that doesn’t scare them with gore and jump scares as something in the horror genre, but make no mistake, this is an award-worthy performance in a film that is very much horror.
Best actress (musical or comedy)
Saoirse Ronan for Lady Bird
The only room for an upset comes from Margot Robbie in I, Tonya who has been getting behind the film in a big way lately. Though the amount of love for Saoirse Ronan in the role of Lady Bird is immense. The film came in at #3 in our overall poll for the film of the year. A lot of people have resonated with the performance Ronan achieves in Lady Bird, that of a lonely, yearning teenager who is about to step out on her own for the first time.
Best supporting actor
Willem Dafoe for The Florida Project
The Globes will likely take this opportunity to award Ridley Scott and those involved with All The Money in The World. The film, famously, changed an actor weeks before debut. Christopher Plummer supposedly does an amazing job stepping into the role and this would be the perfect award to give it attention. That doesn’t mean that Willem Dafoe isn’t fantastic in The Florida Project though. He has been the favorite all along and will likely take home the Oscar for his performance as a manager that doesn’t really have the best of clients.
Best supporting actress
Laurie Metcalf for Lady Bird
This was the year of moms in the supporting actress category. Three of the five actresses nominated for the award played mom’s in their films. The big competition comes between Laurie Metcalf and Allison Janney. Personally, I prefer Janney as the tough as nails mother to Tonya Harding. That is a mother few could even imagine being a real human being. That doesn’t mean Metcalf doesn’t put in the work to make her character a winner in Lady Bird. The reason Lady Bird works is the relationship between Lady Bird and her mother.
Best Director
Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird
We named Greta Gerwig for our filmmaker of the year. In our article, we proclaimed “A round of applause for the woman who made the best-reviewed film of all time on her first try.” There is a lot of love for Lady Bird and most of that comes from the great direction of Greta Gerwig. Then it is surprising that the Golden Globes didn’t even bother nominating her within their top five nominees. Perhaps more than anything that should be a precursor to Lady Bird losing to Get Out during the award ceremony. Of the men nominated, the Globes will likely go with Christopher Nolan for his superb work on Dunkirk.
Best screenplay
Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird
Perhaps the Globes will make it up to Greta Gerwig by giving her the award for Best Screenplay. It is a wonderful work through and through. The only issue would be that Aaron Sorkin is also nominated for his work in Molly’s Game. Usually, when he is nominated he is a shoe-in to win the award even if this isn’t his best work.
TV
Drama Series
Legion
The Film School Rejects team didn’t really go for The Handmaid’s Tale, even if it is the likely winner in this category.
Comedy Series
The Good Place
As mentioned at the top, The Golden Globes like to go with the next big thing. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel fits that mold perfectly. For our money, The Good Place is extremely entertaining and hilarious to boot.
Limited Series
American Vandal
Big Little Lies has been the default all season. If you consider American Vandal limited then assume that would be our selection for this category.
Drama Actor
Dan Stevens for Legion
Since Legion was our #1 show of the season, we’d probably lean towards Dan Stevens for his performance in Legion. There would also be those for Kyle MacLachlan in Twin Peaks: The Return, but that is considered a limited series. As for the Globes, expect them to go with Sterling K. Brown for his work on This is Us.
Drama Actress
Lena Headey for Game of Thrones
None of the big nominees in this category had shows that hit our top 25 television shows of 2017. One of our favorites has always been Lena Headey in Game of Thrones. Even though she didn’t have as much to do in season 7, we would love to see the Globes recognize her work on the show. Elizabeth Moss has this in the bag for The Handmaid’s Tale.
Comedy Actor
Ted Danson for The Good Place
Ted Danson is putting in some incredible work for his role as The Good Place‘s architect Michael. The entire cast is really a treat, but Danson shares the spotlight with Kristen Bell bringing fantastic comedy and devious turns at every opportunity. It would be great to see the Globes go with Aziz Ansari for his performance in season 2 of Master of None.
Comedy Actress
Allison Brie for GLOW
It would be easy to just say Kristen Bell for The Good Place as well, but Allison Brie does some terrific work in GLOW and she’s actually nominated in the category. Her character is a bit of train wreck but goes through quite a lot of growth during the first season of GLOW. The Globes will likely go with Rachel Brosnahan for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Related Topics: Awards, Golden Globes
