The nominations for the 2015 Golden Globes are in, and just like the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Birdman leads the race, with seven nominations. The big announcement was made today at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in LA, the same location for the actual ceremony on January 11. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association chose Peter Krause, Jeremy Piven, Kate Beckinsale and Paula Patton to unveil the nods, with the Globes the big predecessor for the Oscars. So who's going head to head?
Birdman has scored the most nominations, picking up nods in all the major categories including best actor in a motion picture, comedy or musical for Michael Keaton, a best actress recognition for Emma Stone, supporting actor for Edward Norton and best director for Alejandro González Iñárritu. It also scooped a nod for best motion picture, comedy or musical.
Starring one-time Batman Keaton in a genius piece of casting, Birdman follows Riggan Thompson, an actor who once portrayed the eponymous hero but is now a washed up star struggling to make his return on Broadway. Stone plays Riggan's disillusioned daughter while Norton stars as his rival. The film has been travelling the world opening the Venice Film Festival and also hitting Telluride and New York ahead of the general release. Rave reviews from the festival screenings combined with a stellar US opening total puts it in great stead, with critics singling out Keaton, because who doesn't love a comeback, as well as Iñárritu. Expect a haul full of nominatins at the Oscars following the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild recognition.
Congrats to Birdman
Birdman's closest rival at the Globes is Brit favourite The Imitation Game which picked up five nods. Benedict Cumberbatch scored a best actor in a drama nomination, Keira Knightley is also up, while there's also hope in the screenplay and best original score categories. The true life tale of WW2 codebreaker Alan Turing competes with Boyhood, Foxcatcher, Selma and another big British hitter, The Theory of Everything for the best motion picture, drama.
Speaking of The Theory of Everything, the Stephen Hawking biopic has won nods for Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, who play the physicist and his wife in the highly acclaimed movie.
The other big contender is Gone Girl with the brilliant Rosamund Pike adding to her SAG nomination with another best actress nod, but she's got stiff competition from big names like Reese Witherspoon for Wild, Jennifer Aniston for Cake, Julianne Moore for Still Alice and Felicity, in a mirror of the best leading actress category at the SAGs.
Don't underestimate Selma's chances to. The Martin Luther King biopic failed to get any recognition in the SAGs, but it picked up four nominations at the Globes. Heading into the season, many awards watchers speculated that Unbroken director Angelina Jolie would be the female filmmaker with the biggest chance but instead Selma's Ava DuVernay earned the best director nomination alongside Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel), David Fincher (Gone Girl), Inarritu (Birdman) and Richard Linklater (Boyhood).
The 72nd Golden Globes take place in Los Angeles on January 11. Check out the full list of nominations for the movie categories here.
