After a rocky few years and the dissolution of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Golden Globes appear to have settled down. Now the question is: can they still put on a good show?
The 82nd Golden Globe Awards, starting Sunday night at 8 PM ET, will feature the same frothy comic energy as Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted. I hope to bring it back to life. Last year’s comeback edition, hosted by Jo Koy, was widely criticized but achieved significant results. Ratings rebounded to about 10 million viewers, according to Nielsen. CBS signed on for five more years.
This time, comedian Nikki Glaser will host from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The Globes, now owned by Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries and Dick Clark Productions, airs live on CBS and will be live-streamed on Showtime to Paramount+ subscribers beginning at 8 PM ET.
The Glazers don’t have as many widely known competitors as last year, when ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Bobby’ were the headliners, but the show promises as much star power as Hollywood can muster. Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig, Denzel Washington, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and Selena Gomez were nominated.
Jacques Audiard’s Netflix musical “Emilia Pérez” was the leading nominee with 10 nods, followed by Brady Corbet’s postwar epic “The Brutalist” with seven and Edward Berger’s papal thriller “Conclave” with six. Top nominated series include ‘The Bear,’ ‘Shogun,’ and ‘Only Murders in the Building.’
Here are some things to look for when attending Sunday’s Globes:
The Best Actor in a Drama category goes to Bruiser, Ralph Fiennes (‘Conclave’), Adrien Brody (‘The Brutalist’), Daniel Craig (‘Queer’), Colman Domingo (‘Singin’), and Sebastian. Stan (“The Apprentice”) and Chalamet in the Bob Dylan film “A Complete Unknown.” Fiennes or Brody might take it, but Chalamet’s win would be the 29-year-old star’s first major award and would certainly lead to an Oscar talk.
Just before the Globes, Blake Lively sued ‘It Ends With Us’ director Justin Baldoni and several others associated with the romantic drama, accusing her of bullying and co-opting her reputation for disclosing her treatment on set. He claimed that he had launched a campaign. Baldoni, who denied this, joined the lawsuit accusing The New York Times of defamation in an article about his claims.
Whether or not any of this is said on stage at the Beverly Hilton Ballroom, it will certainly remain in the minds of many attendees. Among the box office hit candidates is ‘Deadpool.’ & ‘Wolverine’ is a film in which Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, stars and co-produces. Glaser, whose sharp joke about Tom Brady got her to this moment, isn’t known for biting her tongue.
“Emilia Pérez” may have been preferred over “Wicked” for best comedy or musical, but Jon M. Chu’s theatrical hit was also in the mix for the Globes’ earlier film box office achievement award. One or both of the “Wicked” heroines might win. Erivo could win in the Lead Actress category and Grande could win in the Supporting Actress category.
The Globes, held about two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, could become highly political if the presenters and winners are inclined to continue the mutually hostile relationship between Hollywood and Trump. But that’s highly unlikely. So far during Hollywood awards season, most nominees have been trying to stay out of the competition.
But there’s a major exception in the young Trump drama “The Apprentice,” starring Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong. Both were nominated by the Globes. Stan also received his second nomination for his performance in “A Different Man.”
It’s been an unusually uncertain awards season so far in many ways. Several films, including “Conclave,” “Anora,” “Wicked,” “Emilia Pérez” and “The Brutalist,” could all make decent cases, but none of them have really advanced as Best Picture contenders. It doesn’t usually take much work to sort the field, but the strong results above could give your Oscar campaign a boost.
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For more information about the 2025 Golden Globe Awards, visit https://apnews.com/hub/golden-globe-awards.
