Golden Globes Snubs & Surprises: ‘Game Of Thrones’, Female Directors, Robert De Niro, Host Ricky Gervais, ‘Watchmen’s Regina King & ‘When They See Us’

Dominic Patten

Click here to read the full article.

One day, perhaps, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association will join the 21st century and realize they don’t need to announce the Golden Globes nominations before dawn anymore. However, that’s not today, as Dakota Fanning, Susan Kelechi Watson, a giggling Tim Allen and HFPA chief Lorenzo Soria unveiled in the early AM who and what is in the running for the 77th annual Globes on January 5 next year.

Still one of the most unwieldy and well-lubricated of awards ceremonies, the upcoming NBC broadcast of the 2020 Globes sees the return of Ricky Gervais as host for a fourth and he says last time. It should be noted that the After Life star has said that before, but maybe he really means it after getting snubbed in the nominations this morning.

More from Deadline

Golden Globes
Golden Globes

In that vein, again Sacha Baron Cohen, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Killing Eve received nominations this chilly L.A. morning, as did the apparent final season of Amazon’s Emmy-winning Fleabag and the first season of the star-studded The Morning Show on AppleTV+. On the big screen, so to speak, the Martin Scorsese-directed The Irishman, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, the bloody blockbuster The Joker, The Two Popes and the Elton John biopic Rocketman are among those heading to the Beverly Hilton for the party next month.

They will not be joined by the likes of HBO’s Game of Thrones or Veep, The Irishman‘s Robert De Niro nor Netflix’s Emmy-winning When They See Us from director Ava DuVernay, among notable absences. In that vein, here are some of the biggest snubs by the notoriously fickle HFPA.

Game of Thrones – Yes, Kit Harington scored a best actor in a drama series nod this morning but otherwise the HBO blockbuster was roasted like King’s Landing in its final season. After five Best Drama nominations and more over the eight-season run of series executive produced David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, winter truly came today to cap off a last run full of controversy.

Saoirse Ronan and Greta Gerwig behind the scenes of 'Little Women'
Saoirse Ronan and Greta Gerwig behind the scenes of 'Little Women'

Female Film Directors – The Globes has long had a problem with women behind the camera, with less than 10 nominations in over seven decades for a female for best director. And today proved that problem hasn’t gotten any better. You’ll see Tom Hanks rightfully in the running for the Mister Rogers pic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, but not Marielle Heller. Also, Little Women’s Greta Gerwig, The Farewell’s Lulu Wang and Hustlers’ Lorene Scafaria didn’t make the Boys Club this year either, even as their films and stars were recognized. Are we heading to #OscarsSoDude?

Robert De Niro – Young De Niro, middle aged De Niro, and very old De Niro is all over The Irishman. Yet for all the nominations tossed at Martin Scorsese’s very long epic of the American underworld, it is nadda besides a producing nom for the lead actor who holds it all together as assassin and labor heavy Frank Sheeran. Bob, the HFPA were distinctly not talking to you this year.

Network TV – The Golden Globes is on NBC, but nothing from the Comcast-owned net — nor ABC, CBS or Fox — made it into the major categories this season.

When They See Us
When They See Us

When They See Us – The HFPA had a real blind spot when it came to the DuVernay-helmed, Emmy-winning miniseries about the horrible rape and attack on a female jogger in Central Park in 1989 and the terrible miscarriage of justice that followed.

Ricky Gervais – The HFPA and NBC convinced The Office co-creator to come back and turn up the heat on Hollywood as Globes host again, but they couldn’t find it in themselves to give him some love for the much acclaimed After Life, which is back for a second season on Netflix next year.

Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell – With the exception of a Best Supporting nom for Kathy Bates, no other mentions for the Warner Bros flick from the multiple Oscar winner about what really went down at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Veep – The multiple Emmy-winning Julia Louis-Dreyfus-led political satire has long had a complicated (to put it mildly) relationship with the members of the HFPA. Yet, something almost reeks of voter fraud to leave out the final season of the HBO series as happened today.

The Politician – After a critical drubbing, it was a true surprise to see Ryan Murphy’s first glossy effort under his big-bucks Netflix’s deal do well this morning, with two series nods and praise for star Ben Platt.

Noah Baumbach – The HFPA soundly divorced the Marriage Story director this morning, even as the Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson breakup film topped the feature nominations. He did get a Screenplay nom at least.

Lupita Nyong’o and Adam Sandler – The Globes also snubbed the Oscar winner and the Saturday Night Live alum who both have been garnering awards attention for their performances in Us and Uncut Gems, respectively, landing multiple nominations and one major award each. Nyong’o won best actress at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards; Sandler was named best actor by the National Board of Review.

Schitt’s Creek – That’s exactly what the hilarious Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara comedy unfairly went up this morning.

Regina King – The Oscar and Emmy winner is kicking ass as Sister Night on HBO’s Watchmen, but neither she nor the Damon Lindelof series based off Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ iconic comic series landed a single punch today.

Euphoria – The Globes were not high on HBO’s Zendaya-led hardcore coming-of-age drama.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.