2020 Golden Globes: Biggest Snubs and Surprises

Erik Anderson December 9, 2019

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced its nominations for the best in motion pictures and television for 2019 but they didn’t come without some jaw-dropping snubs and some welcome surprises. Here are some of the biggest ones from this morning.

Snub: Robert De Niro (The Irishman) in Best Actor – Drama

Despite The Irishman showing up nearly everywhere, including two Supporting Actor nominations for Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, the film’s star was nowhere to be found. A crowded field? Sure, but there’s also that feeling that the HFPA didn’t take too kindly to De Niro’s swipe of the group during his Cecil B. DeMille speech from them and decided to take a pass on the award-winning actor this time.

Surprise: Cate Blanchett (Where’d You Go, Bernadette) in Best Actress – Comedy

Although this was a relatively fluid category, Blanchett showing up in one of the biggest flops of the year is still a surprise…until you remember this is her 10^th Golden Globe nomination. When they love you, they love you no matter what. (See also: Emma Thompson in Late Night)

Snub: Lupita Nyong’o (Us) in Best Actress – Drama

Nyong’o has been scooping up Best Actress wins left and right (including New York) and was a nominee in supporting actress for 12 Years a Slave but today didn’t find a spot for her multi-faceted, dual performance. Horror genre stigma? Probably a bit of that. Critics favorite Toni Collette’s train stopped here last year, too.

Snub: Zhao Shuzhen (The Farewell) in Supporting Actress

The Farewell popped up in Foreign Language Film (where it had to compete for a top prize) and Awkwafina was nominated for Comedy Actress but the film’s heart and core was not among the five actresses this morning. She did earn a Critics Choice nomination this weekend but she’s probably going to need a Screen Actors Guild nod to stay in the race.

Snub: Florence Pugh (Little Women) in Supporting Actress

Despite receiving the best notices in the ensemble, and in a huge breakout year for her, Pugh did not show up here, as many expected. Will SAG and BAFTA save her?

Snub: Willem Dafoe (The Lighthouse) in Supporting Actor

The Golden Globes is where we got our first true inkling that Dafoe was going to make it into Oscar’s Best Actor for At Eternity’s Gate last year as his film’s sole nomination and most expected him to do that again here in supporting.

Surprise: The Two Popes revived

After an anemic showing at the Critics Choice nominations and general critics awards so far, The Two Popes found new life at the Globes this morning with nominations for Best Picture – Drama, Best Actor (Jonathan Pryce), Supporting Actor (Anthony Hopkins) and Screenplay. This is the comeback the film needed to stay in the race. Let’s see what SAG has to say on Wednesday.

Surprise: Christian Bale (Ford v Ferrari) in Best Actor – Drama

Maybe not so much a surprise but we didn’t know if the Globes were going to go for the racing drama or leave it at the starting gate. Did he take De Niro’s spot? Maybe, but there’s no arguing he didn’t earn it for his thrilling turn as race car driver Kenny Miles.

Surprise: Kathy Bates (Richard Jewell) in Supporting Actress

It was a tough call wondering what the Globes were going to do with Clint Eastwood’s late-breaking film. Would he get in Director? Paul Walter Hauser in Actor? Turns out it was only Kathy Bates who survived and this could be the beginning of a play for her to earn another Oscar nomination. Weirdly, she was submitted in Lead at SAG, which seems an unlikely get but boy, look out if she does.

Snub: ANY female writer or director

It’s only been two years since Natalie Portman’s “and here are the all-male nominees” ad-lib when introducing Best Director at the Globes and not much has changed. In another year with stellar films written and directed by women not a one showed up today. No Lulu Wang. No Greta Gerwig. None. I suppose it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise; they have as bad a record as the Oscars for nominating women in Best Director; only five have made the cut (Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola, Barbra Streisand, Kathryn Bigelow and Ava DuVernay – only Streisand has won). At least Gerwig can console partner Noah Baumbach, who was also snubbed in director.

Snub: When They See Us anywhere

Despite leading the Emmy nominations this summer and Jharrel Jerome winning Best Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie, Ava DuVernay’s searing four-part series on the 1989 Central Park jogger case that incarcerated four innocent black teen boys came up empty-handed this morning.

Surprise: Unbelievable everywhere

Just as Netlfix’s When They See Us was snubbed, the streamer’s drama about a teenager who was charged with lying about having been raped, found itself with the most nominations on the television side.

Snub: Pose in Best Drama Series

After breaking in at the Emmys, Pose seemed poised to do the same at the Globes but ended up only being a play for Emmy winner Billy Porter. Instead, they went for second seasons of Big Little Lies and Succession.

Snub: Euphoria in Drama Series and Drama Actress

For a group that absolutely loves freshman shows and young ingenues, the snub for Euphoria, and specifically Zendaya, is kind of shocking.

Surprise: Ramy Youssef in Best Actor – Comedy

Despite not getting any love from the Emmys, Youssef pulled out a Best Actor nomination over formidable competition like Ted Danson (The Good Place) for his semi-autobiographical show that was a critical hit.

Snub: Final seasons of Game of Thrones and Veep

These two Emmy-winning hits went out with a whimper instead of a bang this morning, as the Globes made way for new and buzzier shows instead of giving any last love to them. Only Kit Harington (??) managed a mention from either of the two HBO shows, which itself is a mystery.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.