Golden Globe Nominations: 'La La Land' and 'The People v. O.J. Simpson' Lead the Pack

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — The nostalgic musical "La La Land" led the pack of Golden Globe Award-nominated films this morning with seven nods, including best picture, followed closely by the nuanced coming-of-age story "Moonlight" with six and "Manchester by the Sea" with five nominations.

"The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" was the leader on the television front, picking up five nominations and edging out the four nods for "The Night Manager." The biggest television winner was HBO, which far outpaced all the other networks with 14 total nominations as awards season got into high gear with the early morning announcement for the 74th annual Golden Globe Awards.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has two best picture categories, for dramas and comedy/musicals, increasing the number of award winners.

Nominees for best motion picture drama are Mel Gibson's "Hacksaw Ridge," David Mackenzie's "Hell or High Water," Garth Davis' "Lion," Kenneth Lonergan's "Manchester by the Sea" and Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight." Nominated musicals or comedies included Mike Mills' "20th Century Women," Tim Miller's "Deadpool," Stephen Frears' "Florence Foster Jenkins," Damien Chazelle's "La La Land" and John Carney's "Sing Street."

"La La Land's" other nominations were for Ryan Gosling for best actor, Emma Stone for best actress, best director for Chazelle, best score, best original song and best screenplay. The jazz-infused musical has been the darling of many critics and is widely expected to do well at the Oscars. It picked up a best picture win at the Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica last night, along with seven other awards.

Though the film has opened at only five theaters domestically, it also seems to be a box-office winner, pulling in $855,000 in that limited release this weekend.

"Moonlight" is another critical favorite, picking up other nods for Jenkins for best director and screenplay, best original score and nominations in the supporting acting categories for Mahershala Ali for his portrayal of a drug dealer-father figure and for Naomie Harris, who plays the lead character Chiron's drug-addicted mother.

Though Denzel Washington's adaptation of August Wilson's "Fences" didn't get a best picture nod, Washington picked up a best acting award nomination for his role as a former baseball star turned garbage collector, as did Viola Davis for her supporting role as his wife.

Other best acting nominations in the drama category went to Casey Affleck for his portrayal of an uncle forced to adopt his teen nephew in "Manchester by the Sea," Joel Edgerton for his half of an 1960s-era interracial couple fighting for their love in "Loving," Andrew Garfield as a conscientious objector in "Hacksaw Ridge" and Viggo Mortensen as a free-spirited father in "Captain Fantastic."

The nominees for best actress in a drama went to Amy Adams as a translator for alien beings in "Arrival," Jessica Chastain as a ruthless lobbyist in "Miss Sloane," Isabelle Huppert for her portrayal of a rape victim in "Elle," Ruth Negga as the quietly defiant wife in "Loving" and Natalie Portman for her role as first lady in "Jackie."

Actresses who joined Stone with a nod for their musical or comedy roles included Annette Bening for "20th Century Women," Lily Collins in "Rules Don't Apply," Hailee Steinfeld for "The Edge of Seventeen" and Meryl Streep for "Florence Foster Jenkins."

Streep, who will receive the 2017 Cecil B. DeMille Award this year, has been nominated a record 30 times and won eight Golden Globes.

The best acting nominees in a musical or comedy are Colin Farrell for "Lobster," Ryan Gosling for "La La Land," Hugh Grant for "Florence Foster Jenkins," Jonah Hill for "War Dogs" and Ryan Reynolds for "Deadpool."

Directors of three of the five best dramas — Gibson, Jenkins and Lonergan — also garnered nominations for helming the pictures, joining Chazelle as well as Tom Ford, who scored a directing nomination for his work on "Nocturnal Animals."

The Golden Globes are often viewed as predictive of Oscar nominations, but the record is mixed. Since the Hollywood Foreign Press Association divided the film category into two formats for the Golden Globes in 1963, 64 percent of the films that ended up with best picture Academy Awards had first received a Golden Globe.

The Golden Globe drama winner has gone on to win a best picture Oscar 27 of 53 times. The musical/comedy winner has won seven times at the Oscars.

Other supporting actress nominees are Nicole Kidman for "Lion," Octavia Spencer for "Hidden Figures" and Michelle Williams for "Manchester by the Sea."

Other actors scoring recognition for their supporting roles include Jeff Bridges for "Hell or High Water," Simon Helberg for "Florence Foster Jenkins," Dev Patel for "Lion" and Aaron Taylor-Johnson for "Nocturnal Animals."

This year's Golden Globe nominations were announced at the Beverly Hilton by actor and two-time Golden Globe winner Don Cheadle, three-time Golden Globe winner Laura Dern and Golden Globe nominee Anna Kendrick. The announcements came two days before the nominees for Screen Actors Guild Awards were set to be revealed, and one day after the Broadcast Film Critics Association's 22nd annual Critics' Choice Awards were announced.

In television, the best comedy series Golden Globe nominees included "Atlanta," "Black-ish," "Mozart in the Jungle," "Transparent" and "Veep." Drama nods went to "The Crown," "Game of Thrones, "Stranger Things," "This Is Us" and "Westworld."

Nominations in the best television limited series or motion picture made for television went to "American Crime," "The Dresser," "The Night Manager," "The Night Of" and "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story."

Best actress nominations for a television series drama went to Caitriona Balfe in "Outlander," Claire Foy in "The Crown," Keri Russell in "The Americans," Winona Ryder in "Stranger Things" and Evan Rachel Wood for "Westworld."

Comedy actresses scoring nods for their television work include Rachel Bloom for "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," Julia Louis-Dreyfus for "Veep," Sarah Jessica Parker for "Divorce," Issa Rae for "Insecure," Gina Rodriguez for "Jane the Virgin" and Tracee Ellis Ross for "Black-ish."

Anthony Anderson also picked up a nomination for "Black-ish," along with Gael Garcia Bernal for "Mozart in the Jungle," Donald Glover for "Atlanta," Nick Nolte for "Graves" and Jeffrey Tambor for "Transparent."

Actors in a television drama nominated included Rami Malek for "Mr. Robot," Bob Odenkirk for "Better Call Saul," Matthew Rhys for "The Americans," Liev Schreiber for "Ray Donovan" and Billy Bob Thornton for "Goliath."

The Golden Globes will be presented Jan. 8, also at the Beverly Hilton, in a ceremony hosted by comedian and "The Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon.

City News Service

Photo Courtesy of Lionsgate