Bohemian Rhapsody challenges A Star Is Born for Best Drama at Golden Globes

Two films about musicians that are bursting with songs are among the nominees for the top Golden Globe awards – in the drama categories.

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga are both nominated for A Star Is Born

The latest remake of A Star Is Born and the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody are both in the running for the Best Motion Picture – Drama award, with their respective lead actors Bradley Cooper and Rami Malek up against each other. Cooper is also in the running for Best Director, while Lady Gaga is nominated for her second – and third – Golden Globe, in the lead dramatic actress category and for the best original song, a category clearly denied to  Bohemian Rhapsody.

Olivia Colman (right) and Rachel Weisz have two of The Favourite's 13 BIFA nominations
Olivia Colman (right) and Rachel Weisz have two of The Favourite’s 5 Golden Globe nominations

Sharing 5 nominations with A Star Is Born are the award season favourite The Favourite, which is up for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical and Best Screenplay, with Olivia Colman being recognised in the corresponding lead actress category and co-stars Rachel Weisz up against each other in the contest for best supporting actress, potentially splitting the vote in one of the key categories.

Peter Farrelly’s Toronto Film Festival winner Green Book has also emerged with 5 nominations, including for Viggo Mortensen, despite controversy over his use of the N-word while promoting the race relations comedy.

But the film with most nominations is Adam McKay’s Vice, in which Christian Bale is recognised for his portrayal of George W Bush’s Vice President, Dick Cheney. Sam Rockwell and Amy Adams are also in the running in the supporting categories.

Adam Driver and John David Washington as Colorado Springs police officers in Spike Lee's BLACKkKLANSMAN.
Adam Driver (left) and John David Washington are both nominated for Spike Lee’s BLACKkKLANSMAN.

There are 4 nominations apiece for the Emily Blunt-starring comedy Mary Poppins Returns and Spike Lee’s darkly comic BLACKkKLANSMAN, which is recognised in the drama categories.

The other Best Dramatic Film nominees are If Beale Street Could talk, from Moonlight director Barry Jenkins, and Marvel’s Black Panther, whose only other nominations are in the music categories, which could limit its prospects further down the line during awards season.

The other Best Comedy/Musical nominee is Crazy Rich Asians, completing the kind of broad ethnic spread that might be seen as being more likely from The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which runs the Golden Globes. The HFPA’s broader global outlook has also recognised the Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron’s Spanish-language Roma in two of the key categories.

Robert Redford has secured only his second Golden Globe nomination for acting

While awards ceremonies often home in on films regarded to be worthy or intellectual, with its separation of drama and comedies/musicals, the Globes have more nominees to play with, increasing their hit rate when it comes to others following suit, but also allowing room for more crowd-pleasing fare, with John C Reilly’s portrayal of Oliver Hardy in Stan & Laurel and the veteran Robert Redford, in The Old Man And The Gun also being very deserving of their nominations.

There will be the usual strong display from British nominees, with Blunt and Colman up against each other for the best comedy actress, while Rosamund Pike is in the running for best dramatic actress, for A Private War, Bale is flying the flag in the comedy actor contest, with First Man’s Claire Foy and Richard E Grant challenging on the supporting categories.

While most industry insiders consider the Globes largely as an early indication of where other awards bodies might be looking for nominees, later in Awards Season, the HFPA also recognises achievements in TV.

There is strong British interest here too, with the BBC shows Bodyguard and Killing Eve bring represented, while there nominations for Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw, for A Very British Scandal, with Sacha Baron Cohen, Matthew Rhys and Thandie Newton also up for awards.

And in keeping with the HFPA’s desire to feel fresh, while attracting healthy TV audiences to watch the biggest stars on the red carpet, the TV nominations also include Julian Roberts in Homecoming and Michael Douglas in The Kominsky Method.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Beverly Hills on 6th January 2019, from the following full list of nominees:

Film categories

Best motion picture – drama
■ Black Panther
■ BLACKkKLANSMAN
■ Bohemian Rhapsody
■ If Beale Street Could Talk
■ A Star is Born

Best motion picture – comedy or musical
■ Crazy Rich Asians
■ The Favourite
■ Green Book
■ Mary Poppins Returns
■ Vice

Best performance by an actor in a motion picture – drama
■ Bradley Cooper – A Star is Born
■ Willem Dafoe – At Eternity’s Gate
■ Lucas Hedges – Boy Erased
■ Rami Malek – Bohemian Rhapsody
■ John David Washington – BLACKkKLANSMAN

Best performance by an actress in a motion picture – drama
■ Glenn Close – The Wife
■ Lady Gaga – A Star is Born
■ Nicole Kidman – Destroyer
■ Melissa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me?
■ Rosamund Pike – A Private War

Best performance by an actor in a motion picture – comedy or musical
■ Christian Bale – Vice
■ Lin-Manuel Miranda – Mary Poppins Returns
■ Viggo Mortensen – Green Book
■ Robert Redford – The Old Man and the Gun
■ John C Reilly – Stan and Ollie

Best performance by an actress in a motion picture – comedy or musical
■ Emily Blunt – Mary Poppins Returns
■ Olivia Colman – The Favourite
■ Elsie Fisher – Eighth Grade
■ Charlize Theron – Tully
■ Constance Wu – Crazy Rich Asians

Best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a motion picture
■ Mahershala Ali – Green Book
■ Timothee Chalamet – Beautiful Boy
■ Adam Driver – BLACKkKLANSMAN
■ Richard E Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me?
■ Sam Rockwell – Vice

Best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a motion picture
■ Amy Adams – Vice
■ Claire Foy – First Man
■ Regina King – If Beale Street Could Talk
■ Emma Stone – The Favourite
■ Rachel Weisz – The Favourite

Best director – motion picture
■ Bradley Cooper – A Star is Born
■ Alfonso Cuaron – Roma
■ Peter Farrelly – Green Book
■ Spike Lee – BLACKkKLANSMAN
■ Adam McKay – Vice

Best screenplay – motion picture
■ The Favourite
■ Green Book
■ If Beale Street Could Talk
■ Roma
■ Vice

Best animated film
■ Incredibles 2
■ Isle of Dogs
■ Mirai
■ Ralph Breaks the Internet
■ Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best foreign language film
■ Capernaum
■ Girl
■ Never Look Away
■ Roma
■ Shoplifters

Best original score
■ Black Panther – Ludwig Göransson
■ First Man – Justin Hurwitz
■ Isle of Dogs – Alexandre Desplat
■ Mary Poppins Returns – Marc Shaiman
■ A Quiet Place – Marco Beltrami

Best original song – motion picture
■ All the Stars – Black Panther (Kendrick Lamar)
■ Girl in the Movies – Dumplin’ (Dolly Parton, Linda Perry)
■ Requiem for a Private War – A Private War (Annie Lennox)
■ Revelation – Boy Erased (Troye Sivan)
■ Shallow – A Star is Born (Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson)

Television categories

Best television series – drama
■ The Americans
■ Bodyguard
■ Homecoming
■ Killing Eve
■ Pose

Best television series – comedy
■ Barry
■ The Good Place
■ Kidding
■ The Kominsky Method
■ The Marvellous Mrs Maisel

Best actor in a television series – drama
■ Jason Bateman – Ozark
■ Stephan James – Homecoming
■ Richard Madden – Bodyguard
■ Billy Porter – Pose
■ Matthew Rhys – The Americans

Best actress in a television series – drama
■ Caitriona Balfe – Outlander
■ Elisabeth Moss – The Handmaid’s Tale
■ Sandra Oh – Killing Eve
■ Julia Roberts – Homecoming
■ Keri Russell – The Americans

Best actor in a television series – musical or comedy
■ Sacha Baron Cohen – Who is America?
■ Jim Carrey – Kidding
■ Michael Douglas -The Kominsky Method
■ Donald Glover – Atlanta
■ Bill Hader – Barry

Best actress in a television series – musical or comedy:
■ Kristen Bell – The Good Place
■ Candice Bergen – Murphy Brown
■ Alison Brie – Glow
■ Rachel Brosnahan – The Marvellous Mrs Maisel
■ Debra Messing – Will and Grace

Best television limited series or motion picture made for television:
■ The Alienist
■ The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
■ Escape at Dannemora
■ Sharp Objects
■ A Very English Scandal

Best actor in a limited Series or motion picture made for television:
■ Antonio Banderas – Genius: Picasso
■ Daniel Brühl – The Alienist
■ Darren Criss – The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
■ Benedict Cumberbatch – Patrick Melrose
■ Hugh Grant – A Very English Scandal

Best actress in a limited series or motion picture made for television:
■ Amy Adams – Sharp Objects
■ Patricia Arquette – Escape at Dannemora
■ Connie Britton – Dirty John
■ Laura Dern – The Tale
■ Regina King – Seven Seconds

Best supporting actor in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television:
■ Alan Arkin – The Kominsky Method
■ Kieran Culkin – Succession
■ Edgar Ramirez – The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
■ Ben Whishaw – A Very English Scandal
■ Henry Winkler – Barry

Best supporting actress in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television:
■ Alex Bornstein – The Marvellous Mrs Maisel
■ Patricia Clarkson – Sharp Objects
■ Penelope Cruz – The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
■ Thandie Newton – Westworld
■ Yvonne Strahovski – The Handmaid’s Tale