Leonardo DiCaprio has never won an Oscar, although he has been nominated five times. This February, most experts believe he will take the golden trophy for his work in Alejandro G Iñárritu’s big-scale survivalist drama The Revenant .
But before the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences undoes the wrong it has so far done to the Hollywood star, DiCaprio’s fate will be decided by a more friendly group of people. This Sunday, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), a group of approximately 90 Los Angeles-based international journalists, writing for foreign publications, will mark its annual Golden Globes awards event.
HFPA members love movie stars. They often spend time getting their pictures taken with celebrities who they nominate. DiCaprio is as big a star as they get. It is also true that he was terrific in The Revenant . And so, DiCaprio is sure to win his third Golden Globe as the best actor in the drama category.
It is amazing how many people — entertainment journalists, bloggers — look down upon the Golden Globes as a poor cousin of the Oscars. Yet the awards’ broadcast ratings remain high. Unlike the Oscar show breaking into dances, songs and other showy segments, the Globes are about awards (for films and television), celebrities and stargazing.
Also, unlike the Oscars, the Globes break up the awards for films in the drama and musical/comedy categories. This broadens the reach of the awards and also makes the Globes more mainstream and audience-friendly.
So, in addition to the actor in the drama category, Matt Damon has a strong chance of winning the comedy/ musical segment of the award for The Martian . His closest rivals are Steve Carell and Christian Bale. Both the actors are nominated for the housing crisis-fuelled Wall Street expose The Big Short , but they are expected to split the vote and the new found love for the film.
In the category for the best actress in drama, Brie Larson has been the frontrunner for a while for her role in Room . But the recent surge of passion for Brooklyn , a small Irish immigrant love story set in New York City, could improve the chances of the film’s 21-year-old lead, Saoirse (pronounced as Sur-sha) Ronan.
The picture is much clearer in the best actress in musical/ comedy group. If HFPA was only searching for the star quotient, they would once again award the trophy to Jennifer Lawrence for Joy . She has won twice before for Silver Lining Playbook and American Hustle , and still, is a darling of the critics. But I think the award would go to Amy Schumer — the more popular comedian for her work in Trainwreck — a hit summer release that has grossed over $110 million in the US alone.
The best picture drama race is strong, with two women-driven films: Carol , Room , and two that would appeal more to men: Mad Max: Fury Road and The Revenant . But a group made up of journalists should award what is considered the frontrunner even in the Oscar race: Spotlight , a gripping tale of committed Boston Globe reporters and their quest to unearth the dirt about the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal.
The director of Spotlight , Thomas McCarthy, has a good chance of winning the trophy awarded to the best filmmaker. But there is a chance for an upset in this race. George Miller, the 70-year-old director, has made a huge comeback for his cult favourite Mad Max series. It would be a great way to honour a senior filmmaker who has also worked on a range of other films, including two kids’ focused works, Babe and Happy Feet . More importantly, he is an Australian, and sometimes, foreigners have an upper edge with the HFPA.
For the best musical or comedy film, the common belief this Fall was that The Martian — Ridley Scott’s grand-scale picture about an astronaut stranded on Mars, was the film to beat. But the last minute entry of The Big Short in the race and the strong buzz it has created will ensure that producers of the Wall Street scandal film take home the trophy.
There will be more to the Golden Globes: television awards and of course, the fashion parade on the red carpet. But watch out for the brief moments before and after commercial breaks.
That is when the stars get up from their seats, mingle and appear like regular human beings. And those are the best moments for stargazing in Hollywood.
Aseem Chhabra is a freelance writer based in New York
The Golden Globes
Other Categories
- › Best Actor in a Leading Role
- Bryan Cranston for Trumbo Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl Will Smith Concussion
- › Best Actress in a Leading Role
- Cate Blanchett in Carol Rooney Mara for Carol Brie Larson in Room Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl
- › Best Motion Picture - Musicial or Comedy
- The Big Short Joy The Martian Spy Trainwreck
- › Best Motion Picture - Animated
- Anomalisa The Good Dinosaur Inside Out The Peanuts Home Shuan The Sheep Movie
