With the historic Hollywood strikes finally over, Tinseltown is gearing up for another award season. The strikes might have slowed down production, but it doesn’t seem to have hindered the steep competition fellow nominees will face on January 7th when the awards air live on CBS and Paramount+.
This year Golden Globes has a few changes in store, including an increase in nomination size across all categories from five to six nominees. Despite the addition, there were still plenty of snubbed actors, movies, and TV shows when the categories were announced earlier today. While it’s understandable that not everyone’s hard work can be acknowledged, I’m mad that the Hollywood Foreign Press decided to leave out a key member from the Barbie: America Ferrera.
In The Year Of Barbie, Where Is The Love For America Ferrera?
Surprising no one, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie leads the pack with a whopping ten nominations. According to Variety, this makes it the second most-nominated movie in the Golden Globes history, tying it with Cabaret.
The slew of nominations include Best Picture, Musical or Comedy, two nominations for Gerwig for directing and writing, two acting nominations (Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling), three (yes, three!) Best Original Song nominations (including Billie Eilish's "What Was I Made For?"), and a historic place in the brand new Cinematic and Box Office Achievement category. That’s plenty to celebrate for the historically pink film, and yet, I can’t help but wonder where is America Ferrera’s nomination.
Sure, Robbie and Gosling are the stars of Barbie, tasked with bringing the historic Mattel dolls to life, but it was Ferrera’s performance that is the movie’s heart. She’s the sole connection between the picture-perfect pink Barbie-world and the real world, provides amble conflict over the course of the movie, and delivers the movie’s iconic speech on how hard it is to be a woman. She may not have been decked out in pink or had an epic musical number, but she deserved a nomination as much as Robbie and Gosling did.
There’s not a doubt in my mind that the Ugly Betty star deserved a spot in this year's Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture category. Hopefully, this doesn’t set precedence and Ferrera will get her flowers and be nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award.
There Are Plenty Of Other Snubs To Be Upset About
While Ferrera’s absence is the most pressing on my mind, there are also a handful of other snubs that have me wondering what the Hollywood Foreign Press was thinking when they drew up this year's list of nominees.
On the TV side of things, I was shocked to learn that Ted Lasso has no representation in the Best Supporting Actor category. It’s not the first year the talented ensemble cast has been cast aside by the Golden Globes, but given this was their final run it’s surprising. At the very least I expected to see Brett Goldstein in the mix. Thankfully Goldstein will face off against co-star Phil Dunster at the Emmys a few weeks later.
Other surprising snubs include The Color Purple being excluded from Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy along with Wonka. Both managed to pick up Lead actor/actress nominations, but nothing for the team as a whole.
Adam Driver also joins the unfortunate snubbed club for his work in Ferrari as does Zac Efron who saw no recognition for The Iron Claw in any Golden Globe category. Unfortunately, it seems like the same movies and shows are getting nominated over and over again, leaving out many projects that deserve just as much love.
Despite my annoyance at the lack of recognition fro Ferrera and several other projects, I will be tuning in to see who comes home with the golden statues. You can catch the 2024 Golden Globes on CBS and streaming on Paramount+ with an active subscription on January 7th.
