Damien Chazelle’s delightful modern musical “La La Land” picked up seven nominations for the 74th annual Golden Globes on Monday, including recognition for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Director and for its two stars, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.
Barry Jenkins’ indie drama “Moonlight” earned six nominations, including Best Picture – Drama and Best Director. And Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester by the Sea” followed with five nominations.
In the television categories, FX’s much-praised “The People v. O.J. Simpson” collected five nominations — including for Best Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television as well as for stars Sarah Paulson, Courtney B. Vance, John Travolta and Sterling K. Brown.
“La La Land” is the front-runner in the musical-comedy category, though the Hollywood Foreign Press Association also nominated “20th Century Women,” “Deadpool,” “Sing Street” and “Florence Foster Jenkins” — for which star Meryl Streep earned her 30th Golden Globe nomination. (Co-stars Hugh Grant and Simon Helberg were also recognized.)
While Denzel Washington and Viola Davis both earned nominations for Washington’s adaptation of the award-winning August Wilson play “Fences,” the film itself fell short in the top drama and directing categories. Martin Scorsese’s period drama “Silence” was also completely shut out of the nominations.
In addition to “Moonlight” and “Manchester,” the nominees for Best Most Picture Drama include the thriller “Hell or High Water,” “Lion” and “Hacksaw Ridge,” which also earned a surprise nomination for director Mel Gibson.
The HFPA spread the wealth around in the TV categories, and true to tradition rewarded new series like “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” Netflix’s “The Crown” and NBC’s “This Is Us.”
“Game of Thrones” was the lone returning show in the top drama category, joined by freshmen like “This Is Us,” HBO’s “Westworld,” and Netflix’s “The Crown” and “Stranger Things.”
The change could also be seen in the comedy categories, where past favorites like “Orange Is the New Black” and “Modern Family” failed to earn a single nomination.
In Best TV Series – Musical or Comedy, FX’s “Atlanta” broke through to join “Black-ish,” “Transparent,” “Veep” and last year’s surprise winner, Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle.”
“Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon will also emcee the Golden Globes ceremony, airing on NBC Sunday, January 8, 2017 starting at 8 p.m. ET.