‘La La Land,’ ‘Moonlight’ top Globes list

By Jake Coyle

AP Film Writer

Damien Chazelle’s Los Angeles musical “La La Land” sang and danced its way to a leading seven Golden Globes nominations, with Barry Jenkins’ celebrated coming-of-age tale “Moonlight” close on its heels with six nods.

“La La Land” earned nominations for its lead actors, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, as well best picture, comedy or musical. The film also scored nominations for directing, screenplay, score and original song in the nominations announced Monday in Los Angeles by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assocation.

“Moonlight” led the field in the dramatic categories, including best picture. It earned nods for Jenkins’ directing and script, supporting actor favorite Mahershala Ali and supporting actress Naomie Harris.

The other nominees for best picture, drama, were “Manchester by the Sea,” “Lion,” “Hell or High Water” and Mel Gibson’s “Hacksaw Ridge.”

On the television side, “The People v. O.J. Simpson” continued its awards success with five nominations, including best limited series. Other regulars (“Veep,” “Transparent”) were also recognized, though a number of more recent acclaimed shows not eligible for September’s Emmy Awards elbowed their way in, including “The Night Of,” “Westworld,” “Atlanta,” “This Is Us” and “Insecure.”

The film nominations also verified that this year’s awards season isn’t nearly so white as last year’s. Along with “Moonlight,” nominations were heaped on Denzel Washington’s August Wilson adaptation “Fences” (including acting nods for Washington and Viola Davis), the interracial marriage drama “Loving” (leads Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton were each nominated) and the inspirational NASA drama about African-American mathematicians “Hidden Figures” (including Octavia Spencer). Those nominations confirmed what has already solidified as a notably more diverse Oscar field.

Kenneth Lonergan’s tender portrait of grief, “Manchester by the Sea,” landed five nominations, including best actor in a drama for Casey Affleck. Producer Matt Damon, in a statement, thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press “for championing a little movie like ours.”

The best actress race is one of the year’s most competitive, though it’s so far been dominated by “Elle” star Isabelle Huppert. She was nominated for best actress in a drama, along with Amy Adams (“Arrival”), Natalie Portman (”Jackie”), Jessica Chastain (“Miss Sloane”) and Negga.

TELEVISION

In the Golden Globes television nominations, FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” claimed the lead in with five nods, followed by another miniseries, AMC’s “The Night Manager,” with four.

The nominations for the year’s best comedies include FX’s freshman “Atlanta” as well as the established series ABC’s “black-ish,” HBO’s “Veep” and Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle” and “Transparent.”

Best drama nominations include HBO juggernaut “Game of Thrones” plus a crop of new arrivals: HBO’s “Westworld,” Netflix’s “The Crown” and “Stranger Things,” and NBC’s “This Is Us.”

“This Is Us,” a gentle family drama that proved to be an instant sensation this fall, also has scored two supporting-actress Globes nominations, for Chrissy Metz and Mandy Moore.

With the Globes generally favoring edgier cable fare, “This Is Us” and “black-ish” are tied for most nominations among all series on traditional broadcast TV, with three apiece. Among networks overall, HBO leads with 14 nominations, while FX is runner-up with nine.