‘Carol,’ ‘The Big Short’ lead varied field in Golden Globe film race

Members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, organizers of the Golden Globes, recognized a slew of new acting talent, such as Rachel Bloom, 28, star of the CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, who landed her first major nomination.

In a widespread field of nominations announced Thursday in Beverly Hills, California, “Carol” solidified its growing Oscar hopes with nods for its two stars, Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, and for Haynes’ direction.

In the best actor – drama category “The Revenant” star DiCaprio, who is yet to win an Oscar despite acclaimed roles, will fight it out with this year’s Oscar victor Eddie Redmayne for his gender bending role in “The Danish Girl”. That’s especially evident in the Globes’ comedy series category where four of the six nominees (Hulu’s “Casual”, Amazon’s “Mozart In the Jungle” and “Transparent” and Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black”) hail from digital outlets (and the other two, “Silicon Valley” and “Veep” are available on streamer HBO Now). Both “Outlander”, with its European setting and cast, and “Mr. Robot“, an edgy, cinematic drama beloved by TV geeks, are typical of the worthy but more out-there choices often made by the HFPA, which previous year awarded Showtime’s “The Affair” best drama series (but failed to even nominate it this time around). The streaming service garnered eight nominations, with the cable networks HBO and Starz following at a close second with seven nominations each. Meanwhile, “Martian” hero Matt Damon is vying for best actor alongside Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Al Pacino, and Mark Ruffalo.

Saoirse Ronan is in the running for best actress following her lead performance as a homesick immigrant in Brooklyn, the screen adaption of the Colm Tóibín novel of the same name.

Jennifer Lawrence for “Joy”, Amy Schumer for “Trainwreck”, Lily Tomlin for “Grandma”, Melissa McCarthy for “Spy” and Maggie Smith for “The Lady in the Van”.

The nominees for best director are Tom McCarthy (Spotlight), Ridley Scott (The Martian), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant), George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road), and Todd Haynes (Carol). Such questions should lend drama to the Globes, which will be hosted again by its grinning nemesis, Ricky Gervais. “The best picture nomination really speaks to that”.

How did the other video streaming providers do for the Golden Globes nominations this year?

A number of performers came away with multiple nods.

Nominees for the best actress in a TV series- drama also include Caitriona Balfe (‘Outlander’), Eva Green (‘Penny Dreadful’) and Robin Wright (‘House of Cards’).

Mark Ruffalo gave one of the year’s finest performances in the ensemble drama “Spotlight” as the excitable reporter Michael Rezendes, but the HFPA went a different direction in honoring Ruffalo, picking out his performance as a bipolar adult in the little-seen indie “Infinitely Polar Bear”.

Amy Poehler and Amy Schumer were snubbed in the same category for their roles in “Parks And Recreation” and “Inside Amy Schumer” respectively, and there weren’t any laughs for the stars of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Broad City” – both shows missed out on Best Comedy nods.