Following the festivities of Christmas and New Year’s, last night’s Golden Globes served as a reminder that the awards season celebrating 2024’s finest cinematic achievements is still pressing on, and will eventually culminate in the Oscars ceremony come March.
While admittedly not the most prestigious award ceremony in either film or television, it is however the most revered awards show to recognise both mediums, and also serves as a notable indicator of how voters are leaning at this crucial stage of the season.
A total of seven Canadians were nominated in four categories:
- Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama: Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl)
- Best Motion Picture – Drama: Denis Villeneuve and Tanya Lapointe (Dune: Part Two), Trevor Matthews (The Brutalist)
- Best Performance in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: Gabriel LaBelle (Saturday Night)
- Award for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement: Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine)
Anderson ultimately lost to Brazillian actress Fernanda Torres for her intensely acclaimed performance as the late real-life activist Eunice Paiva in I’m Still Here. This year’s Best Actress race is looking to be one of the tightest in recent memory, as Demi Moore won in the Musical or Comedy acting category for her career-best performance in The Substance, beating out two other hot-favourites, Cynthia Erivo and Mikey Madison, for their performances in Wicked and Anora respectively. It doesn’t seem likely that Anderson can beat out any of these other performers, but she certainly has a decent chance of landing a nomination for Best Actress at the Oscars.
Denis Villeneuve and his wife Tonya Lapointe were nominated in the drama category of Best Motion Picture for producing the sci-fi event of 2024, Dune: Part Two, but it was Brady Corbet’s revered historical epic The Brutalist that took home the award, with Welsh-Canadian producer Trevor Matthews being one of the its recipients for his work on the film. After also taking home Best Director for Corbet and Best Actor in the drama category for Adrian Brody, The Brutalist is likely the favourite to win big at the Oscars in each of these categories and more.
Then, Vancouver actor Gabriel LaBelle was recognised for his work playing the legendary Lorne Michaels in fellow Canadian Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night, though the award for Best Actor in a comedy went to Sebastian Stan in the end for his performance in A Different Man, while he was also nominated the drama category for his portrayal of Donald Trump in The Apprentice. This could spell some kind of nomination for Stan at the Oscars, but even if he does land it, he stands little-to-no chance against Brody, or even Ralph Fiennes (Conclave) and dark horse Hugh Grant (Heretic), for that matter.
Finally, there was the recently added category for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, which, according to the organising body behind the Golden Globes event, has voters considering “the year’s most acclaimed, highest-earning and/or most viewed films that have garnered extensive global audience support and attained cinematic excellence.” While Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds certainly had a good shot at winning the award with Deadpool & Wolverine – it certainly made a lot of money with its global box office totalling over $1.3 billion USD – but seemingly Wicked had the edge, as it became a worldwide phenomenon in addition to its impressive technical and cinematic achievements, which transcended the musical genre in a manner few others have this century.
Stay tuned for more coverage on the Academy Awards, as the nominations are set to be announced on January 17th.