Golden Globes 2019: who is predicted to win?

The 2019 Golden Globes nominations are in - and there are a few surprises in the mix.

Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut A Star is Born has been expected to be a major success during awards season, but scored a relatively disappointing five nominations, tying with Green Book and The Favourite. Instead, the shock front-runner is Dick Cheney biopic Vice, which has bagged six.

The political comedy stars Christian Bale as George W. Bush’s deputy and hits UK cinemas in January.

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By contrast, A Star is Born, starring Lady Gaga and Cooper, has “already stormed both the box office and pop charts” and was expected to “launch its assault proper on awards season”, says The Guardian. “But in the end, Bradley Cooper’s remake of the classic Hollywood saga had to make do with nods for himself as actor and director, best original song (for Shallow), best leading actress in a drama for Lady Gaga, and best drama,” the newspaper continues.

Here is a full list of the main nominations and the experts’ predictions.

Best Drama

• Black Panther
• BlackKklansman
• Bohemian Rhapsody
• If Beale Street Could Talk
• A Star is Born

Marvel’s Black Panther has “made a nice bit of history by becoming the first superhero movie ever nominated in the Globes’ top race”, says Yahoo! Entertainment. And surprisingly, “despite mixed reviews from critics, the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody beat out films like Widows and First Man”, the entertainment news site adds.

But A Star is Born is the clear favourite to claim the gong. Bookmakers William Hill puts the musical remake at 1/4 to take home the top prize, far ahead of all the other contenders.

Best Musical or Comedy

• Crazy Rich Asians
• The Favourite
• Green Book
• Mary Poppins Returns
• Vice

This category is proving more difficult to predict than the best drama field. However, Vanity Fair believes that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association - which chooses the winners of the Golden Globes - will “love” Cheney biopic Vice.

Yet there is also “unexpectedly room for the mega-hit Crazy Rich Asians to nab a spot on the roster”, while Mary Poppins Returns could claim victory as a film that “in addition to having prestige, is genuinely funny”, the magazine says.

Best Actress in a 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)

“It’s a tight race,” says The Washington Post. “Can You Ever Forgive Me? is considered one of Melissa McCarthy’s first dramatic projects, while A Star is Born was Lady Gaga’s feature-film debut as a lead actress. On the other hand, we have veteran dramatic film actresses Glenn Close and Nicole Kidman.” Meanwhile, Rosamund Pike “falls somewhere in the middle”, says the newspaper.

Many other commentators are backing either Gaga and McCarthy.

Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy

• Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns)
• Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
• Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade)
• Charlize Theron (Tully)
• Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians)

At just 15 years old, “Elsie Fisher is likely one of the youngest actresses to be nominated in this category”, says the Post.

The Favourite lead Olivia Colman is currently favourite to take the gong, but Emily Blunt and Charlize Theron’s performances also “brought their respective films to life”, the paper says. In such a tight race, the only clear conclusion is that “Constance Wu doesn’t seem to stand much of a chance”.

Best Actor in a 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)

Cooper is comfortably the experts’ favourite here. As Vanity Fair puts it: “This feels like Cooper’s to lose, but then again, the Globes are weird.”

Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy

• Christian Bale (Vice)
• Lin-Manuel Miranda (Mary Poppins Returns)
• Vigo Mortensen (Green Book)
• Robert Redford (The Old Man in the Gun)
• John C. Reilly (Stan and Ollie)

According to Yahoo! Entertainment, there is “a ton of support out there for both Christian Bale and Viggo Mortensen” in this category, so “whichever pound-packing thespian wins here will get a nice boost in their Oscar showdown” against Cooper - who is hotly tipped to win the Academy Award’s Best Actor gong.

Best Director

• Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born)
• Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)
• Peter Farrelly (Green Book)
• Spike Lee (BlackKklansman)
• Adam McKay (Vice)

Despite missing out on a nomination for Best Drama owing to the English-language-only requirement, Alfonso Cuaron is the clear favourite to take home the prize for Best Director for his Spanish-language film Roma, which has received rave reviews since its release.

Entertainment news and awards predictions site Gold Derby has Cooper in second place to win, at 4/1.