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

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association really likes getting its TV online.

The Golden Globe winners will be announced at a televised ceremony in Los Angeles on January 10. Last year’s Golden Globe best comedy/musical film victor, Birdman, went on to win the best picture Oscar.

“Veep” earned nomination in the best television series? musical or comedy, and the best actress category for Julia Louis-Dreyfus. But for some reason, they weren’t moved by his gritty performance as Whitey Bulger in the Warner Bros. gangster movie.

Michael Fassbender’s turn as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is also a strong contender in this category and so is Bryan Cranston’s performance in the role of a blacklisted Hollywood writer Dalton Trumbo in “Trumbo” and Will Smith for sports thriller “Concussion”.

In the best director category Ridley Scott (The Martian), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant), Tom McCarthy’s “Spotlight”, Todd Haynes’s “Carol” and George Miller for “Mad Max: Fury Road” have been nominated. If he wants to be considered for an Oscar nomination, he’ll need to start campaigning.

But the Globes mirror picks by critics groups and are seen as one of the indicators of Oscar contenders.

The nominations also saw “The Big Short”, Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer “The Revenant” and Danny Boyle’s “Steve Jobs” garner four nominations each.

It’s not Hollywood glamorous, but Will Smith insists he was sleeping early Thursday morning when the Golden Globe nominations were taking place.

This is also a year of firsts for digital originals at the Globes.

SNUB: Blythe Danner, “I’ll See You in My Dreams” The scene where Danner gets high in this Sundance indie is hysterical enough for her to deserve recognition in the best actress in a comedy. SAG voters ignored it too.

“There is a wide range here when you’ve got “Carol, ‘ which is this 1952 romance, or a film like “Brooklyn, ‘ and then you’ve got ‘Mad Max” and ‘The Martian” which are big spectacles”, he told AFP.

The nominees for best TV drama are Empire, Game of Thrones, Mr. Robot, Narcos, and Outlander. Unlike the Emmys, the Globes actually like to nominate freshmen series and these veterans were shoved aside to make way for newer, buzzier, fare like USA’s “Mr. Robot” and Netflix’s “Narcos”. The film will compete against “Spotlight”, “The Revenant”, “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “Room” for best motion picture drama.

Mark Ruffalo’s nomination for “Infinitely Polar Bear” – a movie nearly no one saw – over “Spotlight” also befuddled.

Mendelsohn is nominated for best supporting actor in a TV series, movie or miniseries for Bloodline.

Gael García Bernal as Rodrigo in Netflix’s Mozart in the Jungle. The recognition is extra meaningful for “Casual” and “Mozart”, smaller shows that can use the attention.

More promising still, Fury Road was named Best Picture of the Year by the National Board of Review.

Swedish actress Alicia Vikander had a big day.

Timothy Gray, awards editor at industry magazine Variety, said the nominations reflected the cross-section of films in the running for this year’s prizes.