2025 Golden Globe Nominations Reaction (Film)

Best Motion Picture Drama:

The Brutalist

Blitz – Nickel Boys

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Dune: Part Two

The Piano Lesson – September 5

Streaming ain’t the way this year. Theaters have made a comeback! I think September 5 is more of a surprise than Nickel Boys.

Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical:

Anora

A Real Pain

Challengers

Emilia Perez

Saturday Night – The Substance

Wicked

You have to take the GG awards with a grain of salt. They love their stars. Plus they’re the least indicative of what is to come in the awards races. However, The Substance may be a real player this season, we will have to wait and see.

Best Actor Drama:

Adrien Brody for The Brutalist

Colman Domingo for Sing Sing

Daniel Craig for Queer

Paul Mescal for Gladiator II – Sebastian Stan for The Apprentice

Ralph Fiennes for Conclave

Timothee Chalamet for A Complete Unknown

Again, nothing too surprising. Sebastian Stan getting in for playing Donald Trump is interesting. That fifth slot is wide open in Best Actor, so he could sneak in there for the Oscars.

I’d be surprised if he got in at the Oscars for The Apprentice. That film plays better outside of the US for obvious reasons.

Best Actor Comedy or Musical:

Gabriel LaBelle for Saturday Night

Glen Powell for Hit Man

Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain

Jesse Plemons for Kinds of Kindness

Ryan Gosling for The Fall Guy – Hugh Grant for Heretic

Ryan Reynolds for Deadpool and Wolverine – Sebastian Stan for A Different Man

Not to be a hater but I am glad I was wrong about Ryan Reynolds. It’s also cool to have Hugh Grant here, who cooks in Heretic.

Overall, I don’t think anyone here is competing for the Oscar, the one spoiler maybe Jesse Eisenberg. However, he’ll likely get nominated in writing only. Again, watch for Sebastian Stan to get in at the Oscars for one of his two lead noms here.

Best Actress Drama:

Angelina Jolie for Maria

Kate Winslet for Lee

Marianne Jean-Baptiste for Hard Truths – Pamela Anderson for The Last Showgirl

Nicole Kidman for Babygirl

Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun – Fernanda Torres for I’m Still Here

Tilda Swinton for The Room Next Door

Best Actress has a full field this year. I’d say there are eight women competing for the Oscar. Marianne seems to be more fringe than we thought. GG does like their stars, so maybe that’s the only reason Pamela is here.

She is getting raves for her performance but it is a small film. So a nomination like this can boost her awareness. And hurt it with no nomination like Marianne Jean-Baptiste. We’ll see if Fernanda is now here to compete as well.

Also, Saoirse might be dead in the water in both Lead and Supporting. Maybe the BAFTAs give her a boost?

Best Actress Comedy or Musical:

Amy Adams - Nightbitch

Cynthia Erivo – Wicked

Demi Moore – The Substance

Karla Sofia Gascon – Emilia Perez

Mikey Madison – Anora

Zendaya – Challengers

The first category I got completely right. With the popularity between the four films in this category it’ll be interesting to see who wins. Sorry Zendaya, but I don’t think she is actually competing here. I’m guessing Cynthia or Karla at this moment.

Supporting Actor:

Brian Tyree Henry for The Fire Inside – Yura Borisov for Anora

Denzel Washington for Gladiator II

Guy Pierce for The Brutalist

Josh O’Connor for Challengers - Edward Norton for A Complete Unknown

Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain

Stanley Tucci for Conclave – Jeremy Strong for The Apprentice

Sometimes, the Globes like to nominate things not out yet. I thought The Fire Inside would be that film; I guess not. Yuri was a nice surprise in this category. Hopefully, this will be momentum for him going forward.

Another surprise is Josh O’Connor missing here. Challengers got in a few places here and I thought Josh was the standout in this film. He’s not dead yet, but this would’ve been a nice reminder for him.

Also surprising is Stanley Tucci missing. I won’t be surprised if he misses the Oscar, he doesn’t have that standout scene a signature supporting performance should. However, I also won’t be surprised if he is nominated. Conclave is popular as well as Stanley Tucci.

I’m bummed Clarence Maclin missed here for Sing Sing. I hope his awards run is not over.

Supporting Actress:

Ariana Grande for Wicked

Danielle Deadwyler for The Piano Lesson – Felicity Jones for The Brutalist

Isabella Rossellini for Conclave

Margaret Qualley for The Substance

Saoirse Ronan for Blitz – Selena Gomez for Emilia Perez

Zoe Saldana for Emilia Perez

Whelp, I don’t have to eat my hat. Ariana got nominated. Isabella is well on her way to her first Oscar nomination. Same for Margaret and Zoe.

Those four are secure for the Oscar at this point. The Fifth could be between Felicity or Selena. Depends on which film is stronger at the Oscars.

Both films were stronger than I anticipated, at least with the Globes.

Best Director:

Brady Corbet for The Brutalist

Denis Villenueve for Dune: Part Two - Jacques Audiard for Emilia Perez

Edward Berger for Conclave

Ridley Scott for Gladiator II – Coralie Fargeat for The Substance

Sean Baker for Anora

Pedro Almodovar for The Room Next Door – Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine As Light

Shocked Denis missed here. Will he miss at the Oscars? I’m pretty confident he still gets in. But Jacques and Coralie could have the international backing. The three I did get correct feel pretty safe come February.

Best Screenplay:

Anora by Sean Baker

A Real Pain by Jesse Eisenberg

The Brutalist by Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold

Conclave by Peter Straughan

The Substance by Coralie Fargeat

Saturday Night by Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman – Jacques Audiard by Emilia Perez

The Globes only have one category for Screenplay. Therefore, there is a chance all six nominees here repeat at the Oscars.

I suspect as much. I think Saturday Night still has a chance at the Oscars. If the Academy loves Emilia Perez as much as the Globes did I guess it’ll get in there.

Best Score:

The Brutalist – Daniel Blumberg

Challengers – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Conclave – Volker Bertelmann

Dune: Part Two – Hans Zimmer

Emilia Perez – Clement Ducol, Camille

Saturday Night – Jon Batiste – The Wild Robot – Kris Bowers

One thing to note is the Dune: Part Two score is ineligible for the Oscar. So that is one spot that is now open. I’d love to see Flow get in there.

The Wild Robot is a good nomination. I’d love for both animated films to get in. I expect The Brutalist, Conclave, Challengers, and Emilia Perez to likely repeat at the Oscars.

Best Song:

Emilia Perez – “Mi Camino”

Emilia Perez – “El Mal”

Piece by Piece – “Piece by Piece”; Challengers - “Compress/Repress”

Better Man – “Forbidden Road”

Joker: Folie a Deux – “Folie a Deux”; The Wild Robot – “Kiss the Sky”

The Last Showgirl – “Beautiful That Way”

Challengers getting in here is very cool. I just watched The Piano Lesson and I am rooting for Frank Ocean’s song “Wither” to get nominated at the Oscars. Also thought Smile 2 could get in here. No clues as to what will win, or even a front runner.

Best Animated Feature:

Flow

Inside Out

Memoir of a Snail

Moana 2

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

The Wild Robot

No surprises here, as you can see I was perfect in this category prediction. I just saw Flow over the weekend and will be championing that film for the Oscar.

Best Non-English Language Feature:

All We Imagine as Light

Armand – The Girl with the Needle

Emilia Perez

I’m Still Here

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Kneecap – Vermiglio

Given the nominations, it looks like Emilia Perez will win this one. But don’t count The Seed and the Sacred Fig out. I have that as the front-runner for the Oscar. I still believe in Kneecap as well.

Well, that’s that. Golden Globes will be held on 1/5/25 at 7 pm on CBS. Then, I’ll see you on January 8th for the SAG nominations.