A Star Is Snubbed and Long Live Olivia Colman: Alex Riddle Gives Us Five Takeaways from the Golden Globes

The Golden Globes delivered again, with a couple of gloriously madcap voting decisions, as Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book sprung major surprises in the Best Motion Picture Drama and Comedy/Musical categories. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association are a contrary bunch, and their choices have once again thrown the cat amongst the pigeons as we count down to the Oscars next month.

But what lessons can we learn from another night of shocks? With a pool of voters nearly a hundred times smaller than that of the Academy, and no crossover between the two, Globes and Oscars voters rarely see eye to eye. However, the Globes still have unique influence in helping set the agenda for the climactic weeks of awards season. Oscar nomination ballots opened this week, and so voters will be making their decisions in the shadows of Sunday’s ceremony, with Globes winners beaming back at them on front pages across the world and killer speeches doing the rounds online. The Golden Globes can shoot a film to the brink of glory, or cast an unscrubbable stink on those it snubbed… Who’s looking good for Oscar gold?

A Star Is Snubbed
No ceremony embraces the glitz and glamour of Hollywood quite like the Globes, and their desire to get the biggest names up on their stage has almost passed the point of parody (see Michael Douglas’ win for The Kominsky Method). A Star Is Born seemed tailored-made for the HFPA, and all set for a La La Land-style sweep. A dazzling love story set in the entertainment industry starring Bradley Cooper AND Lady Gaga? Give it all the gold we have. Instead, it proved a truly bleak night. Perhaps Sam Elliott’s surprise omission from the Best Supporting Actor category was a sign that the HFPA didn’t have quite the love for the film that most pundits imagined. But it was genuinely surprising to see Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, and the film itself all bested in their respective categories. To steal a phrase: To lose one Globe may be regarded as misfortune, to lose both looks like carelessness, but to lose all three? Unthinkable. It would be a mistake to believe that A Star Is Born is slipping out of contention, but its long-held frontrunner status is clearly weighing heavy, and the studio’s awards strategists will have to work hard to make sure this snub doesn’t stick.

Best Picture Race is Anybody’s Guess
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Lady Bird; The Revenant; and The Martian: All recent Golden Globes Best Picture winners that eventually missed out on top honours at the Oscars. The Globes are not a reliable bellwether, and one should take the wins for Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book with a serious pinch of salt. But what could easily have been a procession for A Star Is Born is now truly anybody’s guess. The major contenders all have question marks against their prospects. A Star Is Born is a remake with waning momentum; the two Globes winners have already been beset with controversy (Bohemian Rhapsody for director Bryan Singer’s involvement, while Green Book has faced allegations of taking historical liberties); Roma will have to fight off potential voter prejudice against its release on Netflix; and The Favourite may just have dropped one too many C-Bombs for many voters’ liking. Whatever happens, we have a real race on our hands.

Regina King Becomes a Sure Thing
It’s no secret that the HFPA loved Vice. The acidic Adam McKay comedy led the way with six Golden Globe nominations – dispensed before the film had even been released or the review embargo lifted. So all the signs pointed towards success for Amy Adams – off the back of a career-best year on both the big and small screen - in the Best Supporting Actress category. Instead the win went to If Beale Street Could Talk’s Regina King. Already considered a frontrunner at the Oscars, this minor Globes upset suggests a coronation for King is now inevitable at the Dolby Theatre next month. Her hopes were further bolstered by a pitch-perfect speech that called for gender equality on all future film projects, and praised her director Barry Jenkins to the hilt. That’s how you seize the moment and drive the Oscars narrative: it will do both King and the film’s chances the world of good.

Long Live Olivia Colman
It’s difficult not to feel a tinge of patriotic pride as we watch the actress once buried alive in a ball pit by Mark Corrigan now clutching Globes gold and calling Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz ‘my bitches’ from the podium. It’s too early to call The Favourite star the, err, favourite; but make no mistake: Colman has a real chance at Oscars glory. A BAFTA Best Actress win - and subsequent elevation to National Treasure status - is surely a given, and she’d then carry all kinds of momentum heading into February’s big ceremony. Most pundits would still have Lady Gaga and, especially, Glenn Close ahead of her (and the remarkable fact that Close has never received an Oscar across a stellar career puts her marginally out in front), but the only thing the Academy loves more than a Brit, is a Brit playing royalty. Colman ticks all the boxes.

Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph Ace Oscars Audition
And have we just watched next month’s Oscar hosts? Amy Poehler has set a high bar at previous Globes with her work with Tina Fey, but she partnered up with Bridesmaids star Maya Rudolph this time round, and the pair delivered in spades with a couple of solid skits and a marriage proposal. With Kevin Hart resigning from Oscar-hosting duties after a social media storm, the Academy will be looking for a safe pair of hands to take the helm. And while an Ellen DeGeneres interview sparked rumours of a possible late return for Hart, the Board of Governors could do a lot worse than handing the show over to these two. Certainly a safer bet than Hathaway and Franco…

Written by Alex Riddle