The Golden Globes kicks off the awards party tonight – and there could be a few surprises | Ents & Arts News

While the Oscars bestows the film industry’s highest honours, the Golden Globes is the ceremony that gets the awards season party started.

Emilia Perez, which stars Selena Gomez and tells the story of a Mexican drug lord who changes gender, leads the nominations with 10, while postwar epic The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody, has seven, and papal thriller Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, has six.

After surpassing Mamma Mia earlier this week to become the highest-grossing film ever adapted from a Broadway musical, Wicked has four nods – and seems certain to follow in the perfectly arched footsteps of Barbie by clinching the prize for cinematic and box office achievement.

The Golden Globes also celebrates TV – with The Bear, Shogun, Only Murders In The Building, Baby Reindeer, The Penguin and Monsters among the big nominees.

This year’s ceremony takes place in Los Angeles later today, so you’ll have to stay up late if you plan to follow in the UK.

Ahead of the show, here are a few things to look out for.

Musicals lead the way

All singing, often dancing – it seems the world has really been holding space for musicals over the past 12 months.

Operatic musical Emilia Perez comfortably has the most nominations of all the films in the running, while Wicked, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, has been the most talked about film of the year (not least because of the viral press tour).

Both Erivo and Grande are nominated in acting categories – for Grande, it is her first Golden Globe nod for her performance as Glinda, and she competes in the best supporting female actor in a motion picture category against fellow pop star Gomez and Zoe Saldana, who also stars in Emilia Perez.

Erivo is up for the award for best female actor in a motion picture musical or comedy, alongside Zendaya for romantic sports film Challengers, Karla Sofia Gascon for Emilia Perez, Demi Moore for The Substance, Amy Adams for Nightbitch, and a breakout performance from Mikey Madison for Anora, a film about a young sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch.

Read more: Anora – the film opening the conversation about sex work

Surprise surprise

Last year’s nominations were led by Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, the latter of which went on to win pretty much every award going, including best picture at the Oscars.

While the Barbenheimer buzz was fun for a while, Oppenheimer’s domination made awards season pretty predictable (and, some might say, a little dull). This year, Wicked aside, there are no such obvious contenders.

The Brutalist, which follows Brody as a Hungarian architect attempting to build a life in the US after the Second World War, seems to be a favourite for best drama, as well as a best actor win for its star, and best director for Brady Corbet.

But it faces tough competition from Conclave, in which Fiennes plays a priest who has to select a new pope, as well as A Complete Unknown, starring Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan. Awards voters love a biopic, after all.

In the musical/comedy category, experts for awards prediction site Gold Derby seem to be split three ways, between Wicked, Emilia Perez, and Anora – whose star Madison is also tipped to beat the likes of Erivo and Moore in her category.

Read more: The full list of nominations

Celeb spotting

After a difficult few years, the Golden Globes are still in comeback mode.

Following an expose over a lack of diversity among members, the ceremony was held in private and boycotted by celebs in 2022 and didn’t quite fully bounce back in 2023.

Now, with a new organising body and after appearances by lots of A-listers last year, it looks set to bring some mega-watt star appeal once again.

Angelina Jolie – a favourite for best actress for her portrayal of opera singer Maria Callas in Maria – Denzel Washington, Nicole Kidman, Chalamet and Moore are just a few of the big-name nominees, alongside Grande and Gomez. Pamela Anderson is also on the list – nominated for best actress in a drama for her performance in The Last Showgirl.

Read more: Ralph Fiennes on Conclave: ‘It’s not a facile takedown’

British and Irish hopefuls

And it’s not just Hollywood making up the star-studded guest list, as loads of British celebs are in the running for awards, too, from Eddie Redmayne for his performance in Sky’s The Day Of The Jackal, to Keira Knightley for Netflix’s Black Doves.

Other British stars on the shortlists include Kate Winslet (nominated in both the TV and film categories for The Regime and Lee), Gary Oldman for hit Apple TV+ series Slow Horses, Hugh Grant for horror movie Heretic, Felicity Jones for The Brutalist, Colin Farrell for The Penguin, and Daniel Craig for his film Queer, based on the 1985 novella by William S Burroughs. And Erivo, too.

Robbie Williams also gets a nod for best original song for his unique biopic, Better Man – his life story told through the medium of a computer-generated monkey.

Read more: Robbie Williams on Better Man

The stars who missed out

Unlike the Oscars, the Globes covers both TV and film and also includes genre splits – with separate awards for dramas, and comedies and musicals. It means there are a lot of nominees in the running for awards.

Still, there were a few big names absent from the shortlists.

While his co-star Washington is up for a supporting award, Gladiator II star Paul Mescal missed out on a nod – as did director Sir Ridley Scott.

The original film won the best picture Golden Globe in 2001 and star Russell Crowe was nominated in the best acting category for his performance.

British director Sir Steve McQueen’s Second World War drama film Blitz, starring Saoirse Ronan, is also absent from the nominations.

And while Dune: Part Two is up for best picture and best original score by Hans Zimmer, director Denis Villeneuve has not been recognised.

Read more: Paul Mescal on Gladiator II

First female solo host

Yes, you read that right. While Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the ceremony several times as a double act, comedian Nikki Glaser will be the first woman to take the reins solo.

Some of the ceremony’s most memorable moments have come not from the stars, but the hosts themselves – Ricky Gervais‘s caustic takedowns of the A-listers in the audience were always a favourite.

It’s a big gig, with not just the audience to impress, but the millions who will watch and see the clips all over social media later on. Jo Koy, who hosted last year, didn’t go down particularly well.

Fortunately, this year’s show should be suitably sharp in the hands of US stand-up Glaser, a comedian who is not afraid of being savage.

“It’s the best of TV and film coming together with one common goal: to receive the love and validation they never got as children from their parents,” she said. “Sunday night is a night to celebrate TV and film, actors and directors, Xanax and tequila.”

The Golden Globes take place in LA, with the red carpet starting at about 11.30pm UK time and the ceremony starting at 1am on Monday.