While it hasn't released in theaters yet. Little Women was expected to be a major awards contender this year in a number of categories, including Greta Gerwig, in the Best Director field. However, the 2020 Golden Globe nominations were announced earlier this week and Greta Gerwig's name was left off the list of nominees.
While she may not be getting recognized by the Golden Globes, the cast of Little Women is standing behind their director. Earlier this week Eliza Scanlan, Florence Pugh and Saoirse Ronan were all on Today in support of the film's upcoming release, and Ronan, who scored the movie's biggest nomination in the Best Actress category, said that Greta Gerwig was the "mastermind" behind the film and responsible for everything about it...
She has made one of the best movies of the year. Laura [Dern] made a really good point yesterday in ghat in a way it’s sort of vital for something like this to happen, because it reminds us of how far, obviously, we still need to go. [Greta is] a really brilliant filmmaker. We wouldn’t be here without her. Our performances rely so much on one another, but Greta is the one who brought us all together, and she’s the mastermind of the whole thing.
It's difficult to argue that a director doesn't have a big part in any actor's success. The director is intrinsic in defining a performance, and if that performance is recognized, the director should be as well.
While the lack of nomination for Greta Gerwig is certainly somewhat shocking, the five nominated directors are, once again, all male, it seems that Gerwig's snub may have been part of a larger snub for Little Women as a whole. Beyond Saoirse Ronan's Best Actress nomination, the only other place Little Women received any recognition at all was in the best Original Score category.
It could simply be that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association isn't as enamored with the movie as general critics, who almost universally are in love with the movie. It could also be that not enough of them have even seen it. While not often talked about, that's always a concern.
The Golden Globes certainly aren't a perfect barometer for the Oscars or other awards, but there is a general connection between them. Perhaps Little Women will get the recognition that people are expecting somewhere else. Of course, if people aren't talking about Little Women much because it fails to receive early nominations, that only increases the odds that other groups voting on awards will tend to forget about it.
This is the second time in recent years Greta Gerwig has failed to secure a Golden Globe nomination for her directing. She was snubbed back in 2017 for Lady Bird, though she was nominated for the film's screenplay. Gerwig did receive the Oscar nomination in the directing category back then, so perhaps history will repeat itself.
Saoirse Ronan says she's proud to represent Little Women at the Golden Globes next year. If she happens to give an acceptance speech, we can be sure Greta Gerwig will get her due at the Golden Globes.
