Today the Golden Globe nominations were officially announced, which means awards season has finally begun. Among the nominees were some critical gems that we definitely expected to see, such as The Shape of Water and Call Me By Your Name, but the announcement also came with more than a few surprises that took us off-guard. That is what we're going to talk about today, so let's dive in and discuss the most significant shockers from the 2018 Golden Globe announcements! If you haven't looked through them all yet, here's CinemaBlend's full list of nominees.
Christopher Plummer - All The Money In The World
Just a few months ago, it wouldn't have been a shock for All the Money in the World to show up as a contender at the Golden Globes. However, the person getting the recognition likely would've been Kevin Spacey, as awards chatter started before allegations of sexual misconduct by Star Trek Discovery's Anthony Rapp (followed by several others) led to his recasting with Christopher Plummer as J. Paul Getty. Plummer joined All the Money in the World barely a month ago, and the first trailers featuring him as Getty only debuted within the last couple of weeks, which ultimately makes his recognition at the Golden Globes incredibly surprising.
Hong Chao - Downsizing
The fact that Thai actress Hong Chau has started to receive praise from the Hollywood Foreign Press isn't necessarily the surprising thing here. What does surprise us is the fact that she's earning her praise for her role as Ngoc Lan Tran in Alexander Payne's Downsizing. The bizarre comedy about people opting to (quite literally) downsize their lives seems to have gone relatively overlooked as awards seasons has started to heat up, so it's good to see that she has been recognized for her great work on the project. Depending on how she does at the Golden Globes, we may even see Downsizing begin to get more notice, which wouldn't be a bad thing.
Ansel Elgort - Baby Driver
Edgar Wright's Baby Driver walks a fine line between auteur cinema and genuine blockbuster filmmaking, which arguably makes appropriately classifying many of its best traits incredibly tricky to figure out. While Ansel Elgort definitely delivers a star-making performance as Baby in the pseudo-musical heist film, many fans likely didn't expect to see him get recognized by the Hollywood Foreign Press for the performance. That said, it is nice to see the 23-year-old performer get a spot among the other actors in the Golden Globe nominations, as the role of Baby seemingly required far more intensity and raw coordination than one would likely pick up on during a first viewing of the movie.
Denzel Washington - Roman J. Israel Esq.
Seeing Denzel Washington enter the awards field isn't surprising, but seeing him do so for Dan Gilroy's Roman J. Israel Esq. (which mostly went overlooked when it debuted in November) is. All in all, it's a welcome addition to the last, as Washington does deliver a great performance as Israel. It's a more vulnerable turn than we're used to seeing from the typically stern Academy Award winner, so for the Hollywood Foreign Press to recognize the shift in method is a nice change of pace. Whether or not Washington will win for his turn as the eccentric lawyer remains to be seen, but it's good to know that his risk-taking has paid off.
The Boss Baby's Nomination - Best Animated Film
Narrowing the field of potential awards winners down to just animated movies inherently limits the possible contenders, but we think it is safe to assume that many fans likely didn't expect The Boss Baby to make the cut in 2018. Though financially successful, the family-oriented comedy proved divisive with critics, and it is currently sitting with a 51% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Couple that with the fact that more critically well-received family movies like The LEGO Batman Movie and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie walked away from the Golden Globes nominations empty-handed, and you are left with one of the biggest surprises of the morning.
The Greatest Showman Getting 3 Nominations
Every year we see a dark horse contender enter the playing field when awards season rolls around, and in 2018 it looks like that dark horse may turn out to be The Greatest Showman. The tale of P. T. Barnum and his legendary circus, The Greatest Showman (which debuts in theaters on December 20) arguably came out of nowhere when compared to other major 2018 Golden Globe contenders and landed three significant nominations for itself: Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, and Best Original Song. Now we just have to wait and see if it can actually win in those categories.
Wonder Woman's Snub In All Categories
There's a long debate to be had about whether or not Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman would go all the way at the Golden Globes if it received any nominations, but the fact that it received no recognition from the Hollywood Foreign Press seems somewhat baffling in retrospect. The film was not only a critical and commercial success, but it also won widespread praise for its cultural significance as the first mainstream, female-fronted superhero movie directed (and expertly so) a female director. Many fans had assumed that the film (or Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot, at least) would get some recognition at the start of awards season, but Wonder Woman went overlooked.
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