"La La Land," "Moonlight" tops in Golden Globes nominations
LOS ANGELES - "La La Land," a musical ode to Los Angeles, topped the Golden Globe nominations on Monday, picking up seven nods. It was followed closely behind by "Moonlight," a low-budget coming-of-age drama that received six nods.
The two films have dominated the awards season so far, along with "Manchester by the Sea," which picked up five nominations on Monday, including a best drama nod.
Also nominated were "This is Us," created by University of Pennsylvania graduate Dan Fogelman; the song "City of Stars" from "La La Land," cowritten by Ardmore's own Benj Pasek; and "Hell and High Water," produced by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment.
See the full list of nominations here.
Unlike the Oscars, the Globes segregate comedies and musicals from dramatic films, and they recognize television programming. They also do not award below-the-line categories such as film editing, cinematography, or makeup.
"La La Land" will compete in the best musical or comedy category, alongside "20th Century Women," "Deadpool," "Florence Foster Jenkins," and "Sing Street." In addition to "Manchester" and "Moonlight," the films competing for drama honors are "Hacksaw Ridge," "Hell or High Water," and "Lion."
Read Steven Rea's review of "La La Land."
On the television front, "American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson" was tops with five nods. "The People vs. O.J. Simpson" is an acclaimed look at the football star's murder trial. It got Globes attention for the work of Sarah Paulson as Marcia Clark, Sterling K. Brown as Christopher Darden, and John Travolta as Robert Shapiro. FX backed the program.
Penn grad Dan Fogelman talks about "This is Us."
Globe voters chose to honor several new shows. "Game of Thrones" was the only veteran among best TV drama nominations. The group included "The Crown," "Stranger Things," "This Is Us," and "Westworld," all of which are in their initial seasons.
If "Manchester," "Moonlight," and "La La Land" were widely expected to be showered with Globes attention, there were nevertheless some big surprises. "Nocturnal Animals," a noir-ish thriller, got several top nods for Tom Ford, who was honored for writing the screenplay and for writing the film.
Friends Central's Benj Pasek talks songwriting
It was also a big morning for "Hacksaw Ridge" and its director Mel Gibson. The World War II drama was nominated for best drama, while Gibson was nominated for his directing. Gibson is a controversial figure in the industry. His career went into a tailspin after he was arrested for drug driving in 2006 and was caught on tape making anti-Semitic remarks to his arresting officer.
"The Tonight Show's" Jimmy Fallon will host the Globes broadcast, which is set to air on January 8 live from the Beverly Hilton. Fallon is the third person to emcee the program, following Ricky Gervais and the tag-team of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
The Globes unveiled its picks for best animated feature, a group that included box office smashes "Moana" and "Zootopia," as well as "Sing," an upcoming release about a music competition for animals. The group also recognized "Kubo and and the Two Strings," a stop-motion fantasy action- adventure film, and "My Life as a Zucchini," a lesser-known French-Swiss stop motion animated. "Finding Dory," the year's biggest domestic hit, was shut out.
The Globes are voted on by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an intimate group of roughly 100 foreign journalists. The organization has been criticized in the past for being overly cozy with studios and for accepting gifts, but it has tried to tighten rules in recent years. It has also raised eyebrows over some of its selections, infamously handing out an award to Pia Zadora in the 1980's as best newcomer and more recently recognizing "The Tourist" and "Burlesque," two critically derided pictures from 2010 that got top nominations.