The Hollywood Foreign Press weighed in today and essentially seemed to rubber stamp the expected heavyweights (Birdman led with 7 noms, Boyhood and Imitation right behind it with 5), giving a little more of a boost to some other films coming up on the outside, particularly The Grand Budapest Hotel, which was nominated for Picture, Director, Actor and Screenplay. The big showing for the Wes Anderson hit helps its visibility a lot going forward, as we'll have to see if the coming guilds remember it fondly as well (like SAG did yesterday). The thing about the HFPA is that there is no direct overlap with industry voters, this is simply the taste of under 90 foreign journalists, but lately they seem to be trying to make their selections in order to be taken a little more seriously, and an example of that today shows in the total shutout of Angelina Jolie and Unbroken, while they embraced Selma in Picture, Director and Actor, helping that film quite a bit after it's poor SAG showing yesterday.
Best Motion Picture - Drama
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Into the Woods
Pride
St. Vincent
Best Director
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ava DuVernay, Selma
David Fincher, Gone Girl
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Best Actress - Drama
Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Best Actor - Drama
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nighcrawler
David Oyelowo, Selma
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Best Actress - Comedy
Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Emily Blunt, Into the Woods
Helen Mirren, The Hundred Foot Journey
Julianne Moore, Maps to the Stars
Quvenzhané Wallis, Annie
Best Actor - Comedy/Musical
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Bill Murray, St. Vincent
Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice
Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes
Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Kiera Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Best Screenplay
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gone Girl
Birdman
Boyhood
The Imitation Game
Best Foreign Film
Force Majeure
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
Ida
Leviathan
Tangerine Manderin
Best Animated Feature
Big Hero 6
Book of Life
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Boxtrolls
The Lego Movie
Best Original Score
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything
Gone Girl
Birdman
Interstellar
Best Original Song
"Big Eyes" – Big Eyes (Lana Del Ray)
"Glory" – Selma (John Legend, COmmon)
"Mercy Is" – Noah (Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye)
"Opportunity" – Annie
"Yellow Flicker Beat" – The Hunger Games, Mockingjy Pt 1 (Lorde)
There were some typically wacky Globes choices in here (10-year-old Wallis for Annie? Really?), but the fact that they nominated Gone Girl in Director and Screenplay is pretty cool, and overall I'd say their nominees this year are fairly respectable. I still wouldn't read anything into Jake Gyllenhaal and Jennifer Aniston showing up again- those two remain long shots for Oscar noms, because they're in small films that few will see (it's easier to court the tiny HFPA group than the actor's branch of the Academy), but they do have some precursor support behind them to try for a bigger campaign if they wanted to (I'm sure Aniston will). Frankly, I think that ever since the Hollywood Foreign Press was publicly roasted by Ricky Gervais for nominating The Tourist a few years ago, it's put them off their usual celebrity worship reputation and that explains the Jolie rejection here- these guys are obviously trying to change their image. But hey, that's a good thing- why should she be recognized for making a shitty movie just because they want her to come to their awards ceremony? If she's only as good a director as she is an actress (ahem) no one should really be nominating her for anything. The Globes are taking place Jan 11th on NBC.
