'Emilia Pérez' leads Golden Globe nominations

Los Angeles, Dec. 11: Jacques Audiard's audacious musical "Emilia Pérez," about a Mexican drug lord who undergoes gender-affirming surgery, led nominations to the 82nd Golden Globes on Monday, scoring 10 nods to lead it over other contenders like the musical smash "Wicked," the papal thriller "Conclave" and the postwar epic "The Brutalist."

The nominations for the Globes, which will be televised by CBS and streamed on Paramount+ on Jan. 5, were announced on Monday morning by Mindy Kaling and Morris Chestnut.

The embattled Globes, which are no longer presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are still in comeback mode after years of scandal and organizational upheaval. Working in the Globe's favour this year: an especially starry field of nominees. Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig, Denzel Washington, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Glen Powell and Selena Gomez all scored nominations.

The young Donald Trump drama "The Apprentice" also landed nominations for its two central performances, by Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn. The president-elect has called "The Apprentice" a "politically disgusting hatchet job" made by "human scum."

How much the recent presidential election will figure into Hollywood's awards season remains to be seen. In the season's first awards ceremony, the Gotham Awards, Trump went unmentioned but sometimes alluded to. Stan also received a nomination Monday for the dark comedy "A Different Man."

While "Oppenheimer" and, to a lesser degree, "Barbie," sailed into the Globes nominations as the clear heavyweights of awards season, no such frontrunner has emerged this year — and, with the exception of "Wicked," most of the contenders are far lighter on box office. The Globes don't often align with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, a much larger group that far more closely reflects the film industry. But they can give movies a major boost, and ripe fodder for their awards marketing.

Netflix, which acquired "Emilia Pérez" after its Cannes Film Festival debut, dominated the nominations, leading all studios in both film nods (13) and in the TV categories (23).

"Emilia Pérez," an operatic genre-skipping movie that combines elements of a narco thriller, a Broadway musical and a trans drama, scored nominations for its three stars: Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña and Gomez. No comedy or musical has ever received more Globe nominations.

Brady Corbet's "The Brutalist" landed seven nominations, including best picture, drama, and acting nods for Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce. The soon-to-be-released film, from A24, is uncommonly ambitious, with a runtime of three-and-a-half hours, including an intermission.

A24 narrowly trailed Netflix in the film categories, scoring 12 nominations overall, including best actor, drama, for Hugh Grant's darkest turn yet in the horror film "Heretic." Grant, in a statement, thanked the directors, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods "for spotting my need to kill."

Close behind it was Edward Berger's "Conclave," starring Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal tasked with leading the conclave to elect a new pope. It landed six nominations, including best picture, drama, and acting nods for Fiennes and Isabella Rossellini.

Sean Baker's Palme d'Or-winning "Anora," starring Mikey Madison as a Brooklyn sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, was nominated for five awards, including Best Picture, comedy or Musical, and Best Female Actor for Madison and best-supporting Actor for Yura Borisov.

The Globes will be hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser, who scored her own nomination for best stand-up special. CBS, which began airing the Globes last year on a new deal, will hope Glaser manages to do better than last year's emcee, Jo Koy, whose stint was widely panned. (AP)