Golden Globes nominations

Surprise! It’s ‘Vice’

By Jake Coyle

AP Film Writer

NEW YORK

Adam McKay’s Dick Cheney biopic “Vice” seized control of the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards with a leading six nominations, narrowly edging Bradley Cooper’s tear-jerking revival “A Star Is Born,” the interracial road-trip drama “Green Book” and the period romp “The Favourite.”

“Vice” topped all contenders Thursday in nominations announced at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., including best picture, comedy and best actor nominations for Christian Bale’s nearly unrecognizable performance as the former vice president. It also earned nominations for Amy Adams’ Lynne Cheney, Sam Rockwell’s George W. Bush and both the screenplay and direction by McKay, the veteran comedy filmmaker who once skewered politicians as a “Saturday Night Live” writer.

For even the often-quirky selections of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a collection of 88 mostly less-known freelance film journalists, the strong support for “Vice” (which arrives in theaters Dec. 25) was a surprise. Even its categorization of the film – a highly critical portrait of Cheney as a power-hungry, behind-the-scenes tyrant – as a comedy raised some eyebrows, just as Globes recent comedy selections “Get Out” and “The Martian” did.

But it was far from a runaway win for “Vice” since the press association typically spread its awards around. Oscar front-runners “A Star Is Born,” ‘’Green Book” and “The Favourite” trailed close behind with five nominations each.

On the television side, awards were even more widely dispersed among the likes of “The Americans,” ‘’Barry,” ‘’Homecoming,” ‘’The Kominsky Method” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Leading all small-screen nominees was the FX anthology series “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” with four nods.

Curiously, the Hollywood Foreign Press doesn’t consider foreign-language films for best film, so Alfonso Cuaron’s acclaimed Netflix drama “Roma” was left out of the Globes’ top category. It was still nominated for best screenplay, best director and best foreign language film.

For the first time, the Globes nominated three films directed by African-American filmmakers for best picture, drama: Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther,” Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” and Barry Jenkins’ James Baldwin adaption “If Beale Street Could Talk.” The other nominees are “A Star Is Born” and the Freddie Mercury biopic.

The ratings for last January’s broadcast, hosted by Seth Meyers and graced with an impassioned speech by Oprah Winfrey, dipped 5 percent with approximately 19 million viewers. As the first major award show following the Harvey Weinstein revelations and subsequent launch of the #MeToo movement, the usually more frivolous ceremony had an atypical edge of seriousness.

Whether this year will return the Globes to their more lighthearted celebrations will rest partly with its unexpected pairing of Andy Samberg and “Killing Eve” star Sandra Oh, who will co-host the Jan. 6 ceremony, to be broadcast live on NBC.