Golden Globes Noms Analysis: Feinberg’s 5 Biggest Takeaways

Scott Feinberg

Mon, December 9, 2024 at 3:22 PM UTC

6 min read

Emilia Perez's musical film receives a record-breaking 10 Golden Globe nominations, including a historic nod for a trans performer.
The Golden Globes organization has undergone significant changes, with a more diverse group of 334 journalists voting on nominations, leading to a shift in nomination trends.
A notable one-third of the directing nominees are women, with unexpected nods for female directors in a category typically dominated by men.

Below are The Hollywood Reporter's executive editor (awards) Scott Feinberg's five biggest takeaways from Monday's announcement of the 2025 Golden Globes nominations on the film side.

1. Emilia Pérez surges back to life

In last week's flurry of awards announcements, the top critics groups on both coasts, the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, as well as the Gotham Awards and the National Board of Review, almost entirely snubbed Emilia Pérez . But Netflix's Spanish-language musical roared back to life on Sunday with a sweep of the European Film Awards , and on Monday with a field-leading 10 Golden Globe nominations, surpassing Cabaret 's and Barbie 's nine to set a new all-time record on the musical/comedy side. (It finished just one behind drama Nashville for the all-time Globes record.)

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It was widely expected that the highly unusual film would land eight noms — for best musical/comedy picture, director ( Jacques Audiard), screenplay, non-English-language film, original score, "El Mal" in the song category, Karla Sofía Gascónin the lead actress category (who becomes the first trans performer ever nominated for a film acting Globe) and Zoe Saldañain the supporting actress category — but it also scored a second supporting actress nom, for Selena Gomez(who additionally nabbed a TV acting nom for Only Murders in the Building ), and a second song nom, for "Mi Camino" (the song that Gomez performs in the film).

Audiard alone is technically nominated for five awards, which is as many as any film except for A24's The Brutalist (seven) and Focus' Conclave (six): as a producer of a best picture nominee and of a best non-English-language film nominee, as a best director nominee, as the screenwriter and as a co-writer of "El Mal."

2. The Golden Globes organization shows it is not the HFPA

The strong showing by Emilia Pérez , plus other major noms for Sony Classics' Brazilian film I'm Still Here ( Fernanda Torresfor best drama actress) and Janus/Sideshow's Indian film All We Imagine as Light ( Payal Kapadiafor best director), comes on the heels of last year's Globe noms, in which three of the six best drama picture nominees were non-English-language films.

The Globes have always been voted on primarily by non-Americans. But until last year, Globe noms were solely determined by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of fewer than 100 people based in and around LA. The HFPA operated like a club, with cliques of members often banding together to push through Hollywood's biggest names (remember Angelina Jolie's nom for The Tourist ?), which made the ceremony more fun for members and the telecast more likely to generate big ratings.

But that sort of coordination seems to have markedly decreased since the HFPA was sold and its members were either disinvited from or absorbed into the new Golden Globes organization. Today, 334 journalists based around the world — a combination of members and non-members — vote on the Globes. Many of the non-member voters are drawn from FIPRESCI, an international federation of critics who attend many of the major film festivals across the globe, and whose tastes differ from those of the old HFPA's.

3. One-third of the directing nominees are women

The Globes have multiple categories in a number of areas (separating dramas and musicals/comedies), but, like every other major awards show, only one category for directors. Therefore, it is very notable that the voters nominated two women for best director — Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light and Coralie Fargeatfor MUBI's The Substance — over a number of men who had been widely regarded as stronger bets, including Ridley Scottfor Paramount's Gladiator II , Denis Villeneuvefor Warners' Dune: Part Two , Jon M. Chufor Universal's Wicked and RaMell Rossfor Amazon/MGM's Nickel Boys .

Oddly enough, while Fargeat's film was also nominated for best picture (musical/comedy) and she herself was also nominated for best screenplay, Kapadia's film was not also nominated for best picture (drama) and she herself was not also nominated for best screenplay. However, All We Imagine as Light is nominated for best non-English-language film — a category it has virtually swept in the precursor awards announcements — opposite, among others, Emilia Pérez .

4. Much-needed boosts

A number of films that received Globe noms badly needed them, having largely underperformed thus far. Take, for example, The Substance . Its five-nom showing — it's up for best musical/comedy picture, director, actress ( Demi Moore), supporting actress ( Margaret Qualley) and screenplay — is a huge shot of momentum for this body-horror satire of Hollywood, and may well lead voters from other awards groups to prioritize watching it.

Searchlight's A Complete Unknown , meanwhile, was a late release and had only spots on the AFI's and NBR's top 10 lists to confirm that it was resonating — until the Globes nominated it for best drama picture, actor ( Timothée Chalamet) and supporting actor ( Edward Norton).

Briarcliff/Rich Spirit's two-hander The Apprentice had been largely ignored until Monday, when Sebastian Stanwas nominated for best drama actor and Jeremy Strongwas nominated for best supporting actor. (Stan also received a best comedy actor nom for A Different Man .) Also receiving two noms: Roadside's The Last Showgirl , with Pamela Andersonmaking the cut for best drama actress and the Miley Cyrustune "Beautiful That Way" landing a best original song slot.

Kate Winsletsnuck into the best drama actress category as the sole nominee from Roadside's Lee (in addition to landing a TV acting nom for The Regime ).

And two films landed only one nom, and it was for best drama picture: Nickel Boys , which has done very well with the recent awards announcements; and Paramount's September 5 which was MIA from them (save for a best editing LAFCA award).

5. Hard knocks

Speaking of Paramount, its other big awards hopeful, Gladiator II , received noms only for cinematic/box-office achievement and Denzel Washingtonin the supporting actor category — no best drama picture, no Ridley Scott for best director, no Paul Mescalfor best drama actor and no score. That's rough.

A24's Sing Sing also underperformed. Colman Domingois a finalist for best drama actor, but the film was missing from the best drama picture race, and also came up short with its screenplay, original song "Like a Bird" and supporting actor Clarence Maclin.

Totally MIA from the noms: Bleecker Street's Hard Truths ( Marianne Jean-Baptistewas widely expected to be a best drama actress nominee), Netflix's The Piano Lesson (most pundits predicted Danielle Deadwylerfor a best supporting actress nom) and both of Saoirse Ronan's 2024 vehicles, Apple's Blitz and Sony Classics' The Outrun . ( Head here for more snubs and surprises .)

Note: Golden Globes producer Dick Clark Productions is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge that also owns The Hollywood Reporter.

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