After conquering the summer box office, “Barbenheimer” is staging an Oscar-season sequel – beginning at the Golden Globes.
On Monday, blockbuster hit “Barbie” earned nine nominations, including best comedy or musical and best actress for star Margot Robbie, while atomic bomb biopic “Oppenheimer” scored best drama as part of its eight nods at the 81st annual Golden Globe Awards airing Jan. 7 (8 p.m. ET/5 PT). This year’s event also marks a new era for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s annual shindig: The embattled organization weathered a diversity controversy and now has a new home on CBS and Paramount+.
Fresh off a National Board of Review win for best film, Martin Scorsese’s crime epic “Killers of the Flower Moon” is contending for top drama, a field which also includes “Oppenheimer,” Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro,” love story “Past Lives,” French courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall” and unsettling Holocaust film “The Zone of Interest.”
Greta Gerwig’s runaway phenomenon “Barbie” heads the pack tussling for best comedy or musical. Also in the mix is the fantastical tale “Poor Things,” 1970s holiday throwback “The Holdovers,” Ben Affleck’s 1980s sneaker movie “Air,” and cultural satires “American Fiction and “May December.”
The category for best actress in a comedy/musical is stacked, featuring Robbie, Emma Stone (“Poor Things”), Natalie Portman (“May December”), Fantasia Barrino (“The Color Purple”), Jennifer Lawrence (“No Hard Feelings”) and Alma Pöysti (“Fallen Leaves”). Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”) is up for best actor in a comedy/musical alongside Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”), Timothée Chalamet (“Wonka”), Nicolas Cage (“Dream Scenario”), Joaquin Phoenix (“Beau Is Afraid”) and Matt Damon (“Air”).
Cillian Murphy’s acclaimed turn in the title role of “Oppenheimer” garnered him a Globes nomination for best actor in a drama, and he’s competing against Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”), Leonardo DiCaprio (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Colman Domingo (“Rustin”), Andrew Scott (“All of Us Strangers”) and Barry Keoghan (“Saltburn”). DiCaprio’s “Flower Moon” co-star Lily Gladstone is up for best actress in a drama vs. Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”), Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall”), Annette Bening (“Nyad”), Greta Lee (“Past Lives”) and Cailee Spaeny (“Priscilla”).
Past supporting actor nominees – and Marvel superhero pals – Robert Downey Jr. (“Oppenheimer”) and Mark Ruffalo (“Poor Things”) are back in the category alongside Ryan Gosling (“Barbie”), Robert De Niro (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Charles Melton (“May December”) and Ruffalo’s “Poor Things” co-star Willem Dafoe. The contingent of supporting actress contenders includes Danielle Brooks (“The Color Purple”), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”), Julianne Moore (“May December”), Emily Blunt (“Oppenheimer”), Jodie Foster (“Nyad”) and Rosamund Pike (“Saltburn”).
The Golden Globes are emerging from a period of tumult: In 2021, the Los Angeles Times reported that none of the HFPA’s 87 voting journalists were Black, spurring studios and publicists to threaten a boycott. NBC dropped the Globes amid the controversy but aired the 2023 edition of the awards show after the HFPA took steps to address representation in the group. In 2022, a pandemic-era event was held without nominees or an audience in attendance.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Golden Globes 2024: ‘Barbie,’ ‘Oppenheimer’ lead nominations
