2023 Golden Globes: The biggest snubs and surprises

The Golden Globes will return to TV next month after being yanked from the air in 2022 due to a diversity scandal. But the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's nominations this year aren't any less chaotic than usual. Here are the biggest snubs and surprises:

Snub: No 'Women Talking' for Best Picture or Best Supporting Actress

Sarah Polley's acclaimed drama Women Talking was seen as a major Best Picture Oscar contender, but its momentum hit a speed bump after the film only earned two nominations at the Golden Globes.

Women Talking surprisingly wasn't nominated for Best Motion Picture - Drama, nor was Polley nominated for Best Director. Even more shocking, neither Claire Foy nor Jessie Buckley earned nominations for Best Supporting Actress, even though many pundits thought one of them would win the Oscar. Ben Whishaw didn't get a Best Supporting Actor nomination, either. Yet Women Talking was nominated for Best Screenplay and Best Score, so voters clearly watched the film and just failed to fully embrace it.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The Golden Globes' picks don't always line up with the Oscars, so Women Talking isn't necessarily out of the race now. But the most important benefit of the Globes is that it draws a fairly large televised audience, so if a person wins and gives a humdinger of a speech, that can significantly boost their Oscar momentum. The fact that Foy and Buckley have been denied that opportunity is a blow to Women Talking's campaign.

Surprise: Ana de Armas for Best Actress

What controversy? Ana de Armas unexpectedly earned a nod for Best Actress in a Drama for Blonde, despite the Marilyn Monroe biopic sparking major backlash this year. This could indicate the movie won't be as divisive with awards voters as it was with the general public, but it seems more likely to be one of those famous, bizarre Golden Globes flukes — like when they nominated the widely panned Sia movie Music.

Snub: No Danielle Deadwyler for Best Actress

De Armas' nod was even more shocking when you realize Danielle Deadwyler was left out for Till, probably the biggest snub of the morning considering she is seen as one of the Best Actress frontrunners at the Oscars. That makes defeating Cate Blanchett or Michelle Yeoh for the Academy Award even more of an uphill battle.

Snub: No Tom Cruise for Best Actor

Pundits have been struggling to figure out who will be nominated for the Best Actor Oscar other than Brendan Fraser, Austin Butler, and Colin Farrell, all of whom earned Golden Globe nods. But given the race is wide open, some suggested Tom Cruise could squeeze in for Top Gun: Maverick.

Cruise was left out at the Golden Globes, though, despite Top Gun being nominated for Best Picture. But don't fully count him out of the Oscar race just yet. This snub could have something to do with Cruise famously returning his Golden Globes after the HFPA was embroiled in its diversity scandal in 2021.

Surprise: Jeremy Pope for Best Actor

Cruise's absence from Best Actor left room for Jeremy Pope to sneak in for The Inspection, a boost for a somewhat under-the-radar film that Academy voters could now be more inclined to check out. Could it be Pope, not Cruise, who snatches one of those competitive Best Actor slots?

Surprise: Adam Driver and Ralph Fiennes for Best Actor

Lead Actor in a Musical or Comedy Film featured two surprises, the first being Adam Driver getting in for White Noise. Most pundits wrote off the Netflix film's Oscar chances after it received mixed reviews, but could the HFPA help put it back in play?

Ralph Fiennes also earned a surprise nomination for The Menu, a film that isn't really in the Oscar conversation and probably still won't be. Anya Taylor-Joy was also nominated for The Menu, though the film didn't have quite enough momentum to get into Best Picture.

Snub: No George Clooney or Julia Roberts for Best Actor and Best Actress

The Golden Globes love to honor big stars, and unlike the Oscars, they have a category specifically for comedies (and musicals). But the HFPA missed a chance to honor two of Hollywood's biggest stars, George Clooney or Julia Roberts, who appeared together in a splashy rom-com Ticket to Paradise. At least Roberts was nominated for her series Gaslit, though.

Snub: No Hong Chau, Stephanie Hsu, or Janelle Monáe for Best Supporting Actress

On top of Foy and Buckley being excluded, the Best Supporting Actress category was complete chaos in general, with several more expected Oscar contenders being left out.

For one, Stephanie Hsu wasn't nominated for Everything Everywhere All at Once, with co-star Jamie Lee Curtis getting the nod instead. It's increasingly looking like Curtis, not Hsu, is the Everything Everywhere contender voters will latch onto this year, and this snub strengthened that notion. Janelle Monáe also wasn't nominated for Supporting Actress, even though the HFPA liked Glass Onion enough to nominate it for Best Picture and Daniel Craig for Best Actor. Plus, there was no Hong Chau for The Whale, though her co-star Fraser made it in. Keke Palmer also wasn't nominated for Nope after gaining some Oscar buzz when New York critics gave her a Supporting Actress prize.

All of these women were at risk of being snubbed at the Oscars before, so without a Golden Globes speech to give them a boost, their awards momentum could end here.

Surprise: Angela Bassett and Dolly De Leon for Best Supporting Actress

But Angela Bassett received an all-important boost with a surprise nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. This category at the Oscars is wide open, so if Bassett wins at the Globes and delivers memorable remarks, she could emerge as the Oscar frontrunner — potentially becoming the first actor from an MCU movie to be nominated for an Oscar, let alone win.

Also a surprise was Dolly De Leon being nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Triangle of Sadness, a film that performed better than expected overall. The Palme d'Or-winner was also nominated for Best Picture - Musical or Comedy, and if this inspires more Oscar voters to watch a film they might have missed this year, don't be surprised if it earns a Best Picture Oscar nomination, too.

Snub: No Paul Dano or Judd Hirsch for Best Supporting Actor

The male supporting actor category was also fairly unexpected, as neither of the contenders from The Fabelmans — Paul Dano or Judd Hirsch — made it in.

The Fabelmans was still nominated for Best Picture, and Steven Spielberg was nominated for Best Director. But could Dano or Hirsch's exclusion suggest the HFPA wasn't quite as hot on the semi-autobiographical film as expected, clearing a path for another movie — maybe even Top Gun: Maverick — to score the top prize? If that happens, the momentum in the Best Picture Oscar race could quickly begin to shift.

Meanwhile, Brad Pitt got into this Supporting Actor category over Dano and Hirsch, answering the question of whether Angelina Jolie's domestic abuse allegations would halt his momentum. Barry Keoghan was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for The Banshees of Inisherin, a movie the HFPA clearly loved, as it led the nominations. Along with The Fabelmans and Everything Everywhere All at Once, it may be time to start thinking of Banshees as one of the primary Best Picture Oscar frontrunners.

Surprise: Baz Luhrmann for Best Director

Thank you, thank you very much. It was a great morning for Elvis, which not only earned nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor, but also a surprise Best Director nod for Baz Luhrmann. Some pundits have suggested the musical biopic is such a crowd-pleaser that it could stand a real chance of winning Best Picture at the Oscars, and this directing nomination doesn't exactly go against that idea.

Surprise: Diego Luna for Best Actor

On the TV side, the Force was with Andor this morning, as the Star Wars show earned a surprise acting nomination for Diego Luna. He may have swiped that spot in the Lead Actor in a Drama category from The Crown's Dominic West, who was left out for his performance as Prince Charles.

Surprise: Hilary Swank for Best Actress

Hilary Swank is feeling like a million dollars, baby, after unexpectedly being recognized in the Best Actress in a Drama Series category for Alaska Daily — even though the awards prediction website Gold Derby showed her all the way down in the 22nd place in terms of likely nominees.

Snub: No Britt Lower or Patricia Arquette for Best Actress or Supporting Actress

But missing in the Lead Drama Actress category was Britt Lower for Severance, who was also one of the biggest snubs at the Emmys, and her co-star Patricia Arquette, who wasn't nominated for Supporting Actress, either. Today's dance party is officially canceled.

Snub: No 'Barry' for Best Comedy

The Best Comedy Series category mostly played out as expected with the exception of HBO's Barry missing, though Bill Hader and Henry Winkler were nominated for acting. On the other hand, Netflix's Wednesday was nominated for Best Musical or Comedy, which has to be at least 50 percent due to that dance scene.

Snub: No Paddy Considine or Matt Smith for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor

House of the Dragon performed fairly well by earning a Drama Series nod and Best Actress nomination for Emma D'Arcy. But there were still some notable snubs, namely Matt Smith not being nominated for Supporting Actor, and Paddy Considine also snubbed for Best Actor. That sound you hear is Smith unsheathing his sword and getting ready to behead whoever's responsible.

Snub: No 'Yellowstone' or 'Lord of the Rings' for Best Drama

Yellowstone fans will have to keep waiting for one of TV's biggest shows to be recognized at the Golden Globes, as the series was once again left out of the Drama Series category. Kevin Costner did at least get nominated for Best Actor, though his co-star Kelly Reilly was snubbed.

Amazon also can't be having a pleasant morning after The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power wasn't nominated for Best Drama Series, while HBO's House of the Dragon was. In fact, The Rings of Power received zero nominations at all, despite a $465 million investment from Amazon. After the epic fantasy series showdown of fall 2022, the HFPA has clearly made their choice. Better luck next time, Jeff Bezos!