Politics, race, music dominate diverse Golden Globe film nominations

Movies about race, politics and music dominated nominations for the Golden Globe awards on Thursday, setting the stage for a lively Hollywood awards season leading up to the Oscars in February.

Dark comedy “Vice,” a scathing look at the rise to power of former US Vice President Dick Cheney, led all comers with six nods. It was followed by the Lady Gaga musical remake of “A Star is Born,” British historical comedy “The Favourite” and road trip movie through 1960s segregated America “Green Book” with five nods apiece.

Several expected contenders, including female-led heist thriller “Widows,” were left out in the cold, while moon landing movie “First Man” was snubbed in the best drama race and had to settle for just two nominations. 

“Vice” director Adam McKay described his film, which will be released on December 25, as “an amazing portrayal of power.”

“What we tried to do was reflect the times that we are living in, which can be pretty absurd and pretty dramatic and tragic at the same time,” McKay told Reuters on Thursday.

“Vice” also won nods for actors Christian Bale, as Dick Cheney, Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney, and Sam Rockwell as former U.S. President George W Bush. The film is distributed by independent Annapurna Pictures, which led studios with 10 nominations overall.

The Golden Globes, chosen by the small Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), will be handed out at in Beverly Hills on Jan 6 in the season’s first major show business awards ceremony.

The movie line-up includes two films about racial injustice - “If Beale Street Could Talk,” director Barry Jenkins’ follow-up to his 2017 Oscar best picture “Moonlight,” and director Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman.” Walt Disney Co black empowerment superhero movie “Black Panther” also got a best drama nomination.

“Green Book” star Viggo Mortensen, who was nominated along with Mahershala Ali, said in a statement that the Universal Pictures film asks audiences to “think profoundly about our society’s past and present.”

“Crazy Rich Asians,” the first big Hollywood movie in 25 years with an all-Asian cast, further diversified the Globes contenders with nods for best comedy and best actress for Constance Wu.

“Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think our movie would be embraced to this magnitude by the audience and now the HFPA,” “Crazy Rich Asians” director John Chu said in a statement.